This article may be referred to and designated as "The Municipal Public Improvement Act."

Before the passage of the final resolution or ordinance to make any improvement on any street, avenue, alley or sidewalk, the cost of which or any part thereof is to be assessed to the abutting property, if the grade of such street, avenue, alley or sidewalk has not been established or if said improvement necessitates a change of grade, the council shall, by ordinance, fix and establish the grade of such street, avenue, alley or sidewalk about to be improved and also the grade of the curb on each side thereof.

When an assessment for public improvements is levied against a tract of land owned by tenants in common, the governing body of any municipality may, upon petition of an owner or owners of said tract of land, split or divide the original assessment against the same and may apportion the cost of the improvements among the several portions or divisions of said tract of land and shall, upon the payment of the amount so charged or assessed against any separate portion or division, discharge said portion or division from the lien for improvements against the same.

When assessments are made for public improvements against property owned by tenants in common and one or more of the tenants in common to the property assessed desires that said assessments be paid, he may file a petition with the governing body of such municipality praying that such assessment may be split or divided among the tenants in common to said property.

The governing body of any municipality may divide such assessment proportionately among the tenants in common and allow any tenant in common to pay and discharge his proportionate share of such assessment, and the lien on his undivided interest shall be discharged upon payment in full, and this may be done before appeal, pending appeal or after final disposition, etc., and also after division, and the governing body of such municipality may adjust the cost of the proceedings with the petitioner and the action may proceed against the other tenants in common.

In all cases where assessments may be split or divided as authorized in this article, notice to owners of the property covered by such assessments or to their agents shall be given, either in person or by mail, where such owners or agents and their addresses are known or by publication in a newspaper published in the municipality once a week for two consecutive weeks, where such owners or agents and their addresses are unknown, before any final action shall be taken as provided in this article.

The owner of any portion of said tract of land may, after said tract and the original assessments have been divided, appeal from the resolution, judgment or order of the governing body levying said assessment in the same manner and under the same conditions as appeals are taken from original assessments; except, that said appeal must be taken within five days after said judgment, resolution or order.

The governing body of a municipality may, at any time before judgment entered in the circuit court, correct errors in the description of ownership of property against which an assessment has been made for public improvements and may, whenever in its judgment the assessment is in excess of the special benefits derived from such improvement, reduce the assessment pending appeal.

When any assessment is split or divided or errors corrected in the description of ownerships or assessments reduced, settled or compromised or any adjustment made or act done as authorized by this article, no lien on the property affected by the assessment under existing laws shall be discharged or impaired but shall be retained in full force and effect on the several parts or portions of the property which may be thereby affected.

(a) If the council shall finally order the making of the proposed improvement or improvements, notice shall be given asking for bids for such work, which notice shall describe in a general way the character and approximate quantities of such work and the types of materials, including alternates, if any, to be employed and shall be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in said city or town or, if there is no newspaper published in said city or town, in a newspaper of general circulation therein. The date for receiving bids as set out in said notice shall be not earlier than two weeks after the date of first publication of said notice.

The said municipal authorities must let the contract to the lowest responsible bidder; provided, that if the lowest responsible bidder has not bid a satisfactory price, the council may reject all bids and readvertise for bids in the same manner as hereinabove provided. The said municipal authorities may, by order, impose further conditions upon bidders with regard to bonds and surety for the faithful completion of such work according to contract or for any other purpose mentioned in the specifications. Surety bond for the faithful completion of said work shall be required, where same or any part thereof is let out by contract, in an amount not less than 50 percent of the estimated total of each contract.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, the city or town may elect

(1) To construct the said improvements or furnish labor or material or both for the same without asking for bids; or

(2) To contract with the State of Alabama or any of its departments or agencies for construction of the said improvements or the furnishing of labor, materials and services or any thereof for all or part of the said improvements.

All work done or improvements made under the provisions of this article shall be done under the supervision of the city or town engineer or other superintendent appointed for that purpose by the council of such city or town; provided, that the city or town engineer or other superintendent so appointed shall not be related by blood or by marriage to any contractor to whom work is awarded under the terms of Section 11-48-11 or, if said contractor is a corporation, to any stockholder thereof. Said city or town engineer or other superintendent so appointed shall not be interested in or have any share in the proceeds of any construction contract or any contract for the sale of materials to be employed in said work nor be a stockholder in the company selling said materials, nor shall said engineer or other superintendent so appointed be employed, directly or indirectly, by any parties having an interest in the proceeds of any such construction or sale of contract.

In case of any controversy or dispute, the council shall be invested with sole and exclusive power to determine whether any improvement constructed under the provision of this article has been completed in accordance with the terms of the contract therefor and to accept or reject such work on the part of the municipality.

(a) If any such improvement is finally ordered and constructed, the council shall have power and authority, after the completion and acceptance thereof, to assess the cost of constructing said improvements or any part thereof upon or against the property abutting on any street, avenue, alley, highway or other public place so opened, widened, improved, lighted, served or drained or against the property drained, protected or benefited by such improvement to the extent of the increased value of such property by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvements.

(b) If the construction or reconstruction of a system or systems of drainage of swamps or inundated or overflowed lands within the limits of any municipality having a population of 60,000 or more inhabitants according to the most recent federal census, is finally ordered and constructed, the council of said city shall have power and authority, after the completion and acceptance thereof, to assess the cost thereof or any part of the cost thereof upon and against the property elevated, filled, reclaimed, drained or benefited by such improvement to the extent of the increased value of such property by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvements.

Any and every city or town shall have the power to assess for the cost of street improvements and sewers any lot or lots, parcel or parcels of land purchased by the State of Alabama at any sale for the nonpayment of taxes, and where any such assessment is made against such lot or lots, parcel or parcels of land, a subsequent redemption thereof by any person authorized to redeem or sale thereof by the state shall not operate to discharge or in any manner affect the lien of such city or town for such assessment, but any redemptioner or purchaser at any sale by the state of any lot or lots, parcel or parcels of land upon which an assessment has been levied whether prior to or subsequent to a sale to the state for the nonpayment of taxes shall take the same subject to such assessment.

(a) If a landowner, whose property has not previously been assessed a fee for the public improvement of sanitary sewers or the sanitary sewer system, requests to be connected to the existing sanitary sewer after the term of a public improvement ordinance relating to that improvement has expired, the governing body of any city or town shall, if the improvement has sufficient capacity to add the user, assess a charge against the property to be drained, served, or benefitted by the sanitary sewers or sanitary sewer system to the extent of the increased value to the property by reason of the special benefit derived from the connection.

(b) The assessment shall be computed at the same rate, if readily available, for property originally assessed under the public improvement ordinance establishing the sanitary sewers to which the landowner desires to connect. If the governing body determines the rate is not readily available, the assessment shall be as determined by the governing body, but shall not be in excess of either (1) the reasonable front foot cost of the sewer at current construction costs under similar circumstances or (2) the increased value to the property by reason of the special benefit derived from the connection.

(c) The fee for the connection shall be assessed prior to a plumbing permit being issued to perform the connection. Payment for the assessment shall be allowed pursuant to Section 11-48-48, and arrangements for the payment shall be made prior to the issuance of any required plumbing permit for the connection.

(d) The provisions of this section are cumulative and shall not be construed to repeal or supersede any provisions of any local law or general law of local application relating to assessment of property owners by cities or towns for public improvements.

(a) When the improvement consists of a sanitary or storm water sewer or sewers or a sanitary or storm water sewer system, including sewage treatment or sewage disposal plants, the cost of any part thereof may be assessed in fair proportion against the frontage of the property drained by said sewer system or against all the lots or parcels of land lying within the district drained, served or benefited, but the assessment shall not exceed the increased value of such property by reason of the special benefits derived from the improvement.

(b) When the improvement consists of the draining of swamps or the elevating, filling, reclamation or draining of submerged, inundated or overflowed land, then the council shall have the power and authority, after the completion and acceptance of such improvement, to assess the cost thereof or any part thereof upon or against the property so drained, elevated or reclaimed and specially benefited thereby to the extent of the increased value of such property by reason of the special benefits derived by such property from such improvement.

(c) When such improvement consists of the construction of seawalls, dikes, levees, embankments or other protection against seas, waves, storms, floods, waters or rivers, then the council shall have power and authority, after the completion and acceptance thereof, to assess the cost of constructing said improvement or any part thereof upon or against the property abutting on such improvement and all other property protected or specially benefited thereby to the extent of the increased value of such property by reason of the special benefits derived by such property from such improvement.

Where the intersections of streets, avenues, alleys or other highways are improved, the cost of improving any intersection or any part thereof may be assessed against the lots or parcels of land abutting on each of the streets, avenues, alleys or other highways so intersecting for a half block in each direction therefrom; provided, that for the purpose of computing assessments under this section, no block shall be considered as extending more than 1,000 feet from any intersection so improved.

In the case of sidewalk improvements, including curbing and guttering, the costs or any part thereof of the improvement of the street or avenue corner may be assessed against the lots abutting on or nearest said improvement, and the entire cost or any part thereof of the sidewalks improvement, including curbing and guttering, at the intersection of any alley with a street or avenue or other highway may be assessed in fair proportion against the respective lots or parcels of land abutting or cornering on the alley at such intersection, but in no case shall the assessment against any lots or parcels of land be greater than the increased value of such lots or parcels of land by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvement.

If there is a street, electric or other railroad track or tracks on any street or highway improved or reimproved under this article, the cost of such improvement, except storm water and sanitary sewers, between the tracks and the rails of the tracks and, in case there are two or more tracks, the space between such tracks and 18 inches on each side of the tracks, including switches and turnouts, shall be paid by the owner of the railroad and shall be assessed against and form a lien on said railroad and the property connected therewith and, in the event that storm water sewers are constructed which drain, serve or benefit the streets or avenues or rights-of-way on which a street, electric or other railroad is located, whether the same is a continued or separate system, there shall be assessed against such railroad a fair and just proportion of the cost of construction of such sewer, to be determined by the council, and such assessment shall be a lien like other assessments and may be collected in like manner, and the council may require the owners of such street railroad or other railroad to prepare or construct its tracks for the receipt of such paving or other improvements in a manner satisfactory to the council.

In the event that seawalls or other protection against waves, storms and floods are constructed which protect or benefit streets or avenues or rights-of-way on which a street, electric or other railroad is located, whether the same is a continued or separate system, there shall be assessed against such railroad a fair and just proportion of the cost of construction of such seawall or other protection against waves, storms and floods, to be determined by the council, and such assessment shall be a lien like other assessments and may be collected in like manner; provided, however, that such assessments shall not exceed the increased value of such railroad by reason of the benefits received by such railroad from the construction of such seawall.

When used in this article, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings, respectively, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) COUNCIL. The council, mayor and aldermen, or other governing body.

(2) MUNICIPALITY. Any city or town now or hereafter created, except where clearly restricted.

When any improvement made under the provisions of this article is completed, the mayor or other chief executive officer shall cause to be prepared a roll or list showing the names of the property owners and opposite each name a description of each lot or parcel of land proposed to be assessed for such improvement belonging to such owner or owners and the amount proposed to be assessed against each lot or parcel of land.

Such list shall be entered in a well-bound book or loose-leaf book firmly bound, prepared for that purpose, and shall contain appropriate columns in which payments may be credited and the lien of the assessment satisfied by the proper officers of the municipality. Said book shall be known as the "assessment book for local improvements" and shall be a public record, and no error or mistake in regard to the name of the owner shall be held to invalidate any assessment, and it shall be sufficient if the name of the person in whose name such property was last assessed for taxes for state taxation is shown in said book.

After the completion of the proper entries of each improvement, said book shall be delivered to the city or town clerk, who shall thereupon give notice by publication one time in some newspaper published in said municipality or of general circulation therein that said assessment roll or list has been delivered to him and is open for inspection in the office of the person authorized to make collection of said assessments.

The notice provided for in Section 11-48-22 shall state that, at a time and place therein mentioned, not less than 20 days from the date of publication, the council shall meet to hear and determine any objections or defense that may be filed to such assessment or the amount thereof.

The notice required by Section 11-48-22 shall also state the general character of the improvements, the terminal points thereof and the streets, avenues, alleys or other highways or portions thereof along which the improvement has been constructed, and, if the improvement made consists of a sanitary or storm water sewer or sanitary or storm water sewer system, said notice shall also describe the frontage of the property drained by said sewers or the territory or area drained, served or benefited by said sewer or sewers by naming the streets, avenues, alleys or other highways or other lines by which said district is bounded.

If the improvement made consists of the draining, elevating, filling or reclaiming of swamps or overflowed, inundated or submerged land within the limits of any municipality having a population of 60,000 or more inhabitants according to the most recent federal census, said notice shall also describe the territory or area drained, filled, elevated or reclaimed and the territory benefited and increased in value by reason of such improvement.

If the improvement made consists of the construction of a seawall or other protection against waves, seas, storms and floods, said notice shall also describe the territory or area protected, benefited or increased in value by reason of the construction of such seawall or other protection against seas, waves, storms and floods.

If there is any defect in said notice or proceedings before or subsequent to said notice with respect to one or more interested persons, the same shall not affect such notice or proceedings except insofar as it may touch the interest or property of such person or persons and shall not avail any other person concerned therein. In the case of such defect, supplementary proceedings of the same general character as those prescribed in this article may be had in order to supply such defect.

The owner or owners of any real estate or any interest therein which it is proposed to assess for the cost or any part thereof of said improvement may appear at any time on or before the date named in said notice or at said meeting and file in writing with the clerk or in his office any objections or defense to the proposed assessment against said property or to the amount thereof, and persons who do not file objections or protests in writing against such assessment shall be held to have consented to the same.

The council shall hear and pass upon all such objections to and protests against the proposed assessment under such reasonable rules and regulations as it may adopt.

The council, by the mayor or clerk or other executive officer, may issue subpoenas for witnesses to appear before the council or any committee thereof and may administer oaths to any witness to be examined.

(a) At such meeting or any adjourned meeting the council shall proceed by order or resolution to fix the amount of the assessment against each lot or tract of land described and included in said assessment roll, and all such assessments from the date of such order or resolution shall be and constitute a lien on the respective lots or parcels of land upon which they are levied superior to all other liens, except those of the state and county for taxes.

(b) The council shall have no power to reduce or abate an assessment made for public improvements after such assessments shall have been made final, unless an appeal shall have been taken from such assessments within the time prescribed by law, except as provided in Sections 11-48-30 and 11-48-31, but this provision shall not affect the power of such council to split an assessment between two or more parties as now provided by law.

The provisions of this article shall apply to all municipalities of this state.

The council of any town or city having a population of less than 20,000 people according to the last federal census or which shall hereafter have such a population according to any such census that may be taken hereafter shall have the power to reduce or abate any assessments heretofore or hereafter made for public improvements in such town or city in cases where such assessments have been levied or attempted to be levied against property owned by the State of Alabama or by such town or city or by the county in which such town or city is located or owned by any church, hospital or other charitable organization, whether or not such assessment shall have been made final and the time to appeal therefrom expired.

Such council may also convey, with or without consideration, to the State of Alabama or to the county in which such town or city is located or to any church, hospital or other charitable organization any property which such town or city had acquired through foreclosure of an assessment and any conveyance heretofore made by any such town or city, with or without consideration, to any of the class defined in this section is hereby ratified, confirmed, validated and approved.

The council of any city having a population of 20,000 or more according to such census shall have power to reduce or abate any assessments heretofore or hereafter made for public improvements in such city in cases where such assessments have been levied or attempted to be levied against property owned by the State of Alabama or by such city or by the county in which such city is located or by any church, hospital or other charitable organization or in any case where the council after due inquiry has determined that the assessment on any particular property has been made erroneously or in excess of the benefit derived by such property or so great as to constitute an undue burden upon the property, having in view the value thereof, whether or not such assessment shall have been made final and the time to appeal therefrom expired.

Such city or town may transfer and assign such assessment liens to the contractor or contractors who made said improvement or improvements or to any other person.

In addition to the method hereinafter provided in this article for the collection of such assessments, the circuit court may enforce said liens, and in all civil actions which may be brought to enforce said liens either by the municipality or by its assigns, the complainant shall recover the amount of such assessment, with interest thereon, together with the cost of such proceedings.

(a) The enforcement by the state, county, city or town of its lien for taxes on any lot upon which has been levied an assessment for any improvement authorized by this article shall not operate to discharge or in any manner affect the lien of the municipality for the assessment, but any purchaser at any tax sale by the state, county, city or town of any lots or parcels of land upon which an assessment has been levied shall take them subject to such assessment.

(b) All liens for public improvements which cities and towns in this state now have or may hereafter acquire under the general laws of this state shall continue until they are paid or extinguished or until the expiration of 20 years from the date of default in payment of the assessment or from the date when there was a due recognition of the indebtedness after default, after which time the enforcement of the lien shall be barred and the indebtedness conclusively presumed to have been paid.

The enforcement by the municipality of its lien for an assessment levied for one improvement by the sale of the property shall not operate to discharge or in any way affect the lien of any other assessment for a different improvement on the same property, but the purchaser at such sale shall take the property subject to the lien of all other assessments and the right of the municipality to enforce the same.

Any person aggrieved by the decision in making any assessment may, within 20 days thereafter, appeal to the circuit court upon executing a bond in double the amount of the probable cost of the appeal.

The amount of such appeal bond shall be fixed and the sureties thereon shall be approved by the mayor or other chief executive officer, and the said bond shall be conditioned to prosecute said appeal to effect and pay the city or town any judgment that the circuit court may enter, and all damages that any person may suffer by such appeal.

Said appeal shall be entered on the trial docket in said court and shall be a preferred case therein.

Upon the filing and the approval of the appeal bond, the clerk of the city or town, upon notice thereof, shall immediately send to the clerk of the circuit court a transcript of all the proceedings of the municipality relating to such assessment, so far as the same concerns the property of the appellant. Such transcript shall contain a description of the property of such party or parties, the same to be described as accurately as possible according to the map of the city or town in common use, if there be such map, the name of the owner or owners of such property and the amount of the assessment.

All cities or towns in this state may design or cause to be designed, contract for and execute or cause to be executed a contract for the construction of the following named improvements or reimprovements to the streets or any portions thereof and the following named sewers or sewer systems and the following named water and gas mains and service connections. All cities or towns in this state having a population of 60,000 inhabitants or more according to the most recent federal census may design or cause to be designed, contract for and execute or cause to be executed a contract for the construction of the following named drainage improvements or drainage systems or reclamation systems and the filling in of swamps or inundated or overflowed or submerged lands within the limits of such municipality. All cities or towns in this state may design or cause to be designed, contract for and execute or cause to be executed a contract for the construction of the following named ornamental lighting systems or white way systems of lighting and also for the construction, acquisition, improvement and extension of seawalls, dikes, levees and embankments within the limits of the municipality for protection against streams, rivers, waters, floods, tides, seas and waves in such manner and with such material as such city or town may prescribe. Each city or town in this state may cause the cost and expense of all or any part of any improvement or reimprovement which it is authorized to make under the provisions of this section to be assessed against the property abutting on said street, avenue, alley, highway or other public place so improved or upon or along which such ornamental lighting system or white way is constructed or served by said water and gas mains and service connection or drained, served or benefited by said sewer or sewers or drained by such drainage system or reclaimed or elevated by such reclamation system or by the filling in of the same or protected or improved by such seawalls, dikes, levees or embankments to the extent of the increased value of said property by reason of the special benefits derived from said improvements.

(1) The opening, widening and extending of streets, avenues, alleys, highways and other public places and construction or reconstruction of improvements to streets, avenues, alleys, highways or other public places by filling, grading, leveling, graveling, slagging, cherting, macadamizing, paving, sidewalking, curbing, guttering, draining or otherwise improving any street, avenue, alley, highway or other public place; provided, that the cost and expense or any part thereof may be assessed against the property abutting on the portion of such street so opened, widened, extended or improved to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of the special benefits derived therefrom.

(2) The construction or reconstruction of sanitary sewers or sanitary sewer systems, including sewage treatment or sewage disposal plants; provided, that the cost and expense or any part thereof may be assessed against the property drained, served or benefited by said sanitary sewers or sanitary sewer systems to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of the special benefits derived therefrom.

(3) The construction or reconstruction of storm water sewers, main trunk storm sewers and storm water sewer systems; provided, that the cost and expense or any part thereof may be assessed in fair proportion against the district and against every piece of property therein drained, served or benefited by said storm water sewers, main trunk storm water sewers or storm water sewer system to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvement.

(4) The construction or reconstruction of combined sanitary and storm water sewers or combined sanitary and storm water sewer systems, including sewage treatment or sewage disposal plants; provided, that the cost and expense or any part thereof may be assessed against the property within said corporate limits, drained, served or benefited by said sewers or sewer systems, including sewage treatment or disposal plants, to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvement.

(5) The construction or reconstruction of storm water sewers or drains or lateral storm sewers in connection with the improvement or reimprovement of streets for the purpose of properly draining said streets and the property abutting thereon; provided, that the cost and expense or any part thereof of said storm water sewers or drains or lateral storm sewers may be assessed against the property abutting on the portions of said streets so drained, served or benefited to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvement.

(6) The construction or reconstruction of outlets for such sewers or sewer systems, either sanitary, storm, water or combined, including sewage treatment and sewage disposal plants, whether within or without the corporate limits; provided, that the cost and expense or any part thereof may be assessed against the property, within or without said corporate limits, drained, served or benefited by said sewers or sewer system outlets, including sewage disposal plants, to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvement.

(7) The construction or reconstruction of water and gas mains in the streets and of water and gas service connections from the publicly or privately owned water and gas main located in any street, avenue, alley, highway or other public place to the property line of property abutting on such street; provided, that the cost and expense or any part thereof of said water and gas mains and water and gas service connection or connections may be assessed against the property so served or connected to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvement.

(8) In cities having a population of 60,000 or more according to the most recent federal census, the construction or reconstruction of a system or systems of drainage of swamps or inundated or overflowed land within the limits of such municipality, and the filling in, elevating or reclaiming of such lands; provided, that the cost and expense thereof or any part of such cost and expense may be assessed in fair proportion against the property drained, served or benefited or increased in value or filled in, elevated or reclaimed by such improvement, to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvement.

(9) The construction, acquirement, improvement, reimprovement or extension of seawalls, dikes, levees or embankments within the limits of such municipality for the purpose of protection against storms, rivers, waters, floods, waves, tides or seas; provided, that the cost and expense of such improvement or any part thereof may be assessed against the property within the corporate limits of such municipality protected or specially benefited by such improvement to the extent of the increased value of such property by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvement.

Upon hearing such appeal, the introduction of such transcript and papers shall be prima facie evidence of the correctness of such assessment and that said property and persons are justly indebted to the city or town for the amount of said assessment.

The civil action may be tried on the record without other pleadings, and the court shall hear all objections of the property owners to said assessment and the amount thereof and shall determine whether or not such assessment exceeds the increased value of such property by reason of the special benefits derived from the improvement, and shall enter judgment accordingly. Such civil action shall be tried by the judge without a jury, unless a jury trial is demanded at the time of filing appeal, in which event the action shall be tried by a jury as in other civil actions. In the event the court or jury shall not sustain the assessment for the full amount, the costs of the appeal and trial in the circuit court shall be adjudged against the municipality.

If, on the hearing of such appeal, it shall appear that by reason of any technical irregularity or defect in the proceedings the assessment has not been properly made against the lot or parcel of land sought to be charged, the court may, nevertheless, on motion of the city or town, upon satisfactory proof that expense has been incurred which is a proper charge against the lot or land in question, enter judgment for the amount properly chargeable against said lot or land, but in such case the court shall make such order for the payment of the costs as it may deem proper.

An appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court of Alabama by any person interested in said property from the judgment entered by the circuit court within 42 days from the date of entry of such judgment, upon giving bond for costs of appeal or, if a stay of execution of the judgment is desired, upon giving further bond in such sum as the judge of the circuit court may prescribe, payable to the city or town with sufficient sureties, to be approved by the clerk of said court, conditioned to pay such judgment or perform such judgment as the supreme court may render in the action, and all such costs and damages as the city or town may have sustained if the judgment is affirmed.

Such appeal shall be heard upon the record in accordance with the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure.

In the event a supersedeas bond has been given as provided in Section 11-48-43 and the said case is affirmed by the supreme court, it shall add to the judgment entered by the lower court interest thereon and 10 percent in damages for delay.

The city or town may also appeal from any judgment of the circuit court without giving bond, and all appeals taken pursuant to this article shall be preferred cases in the supreme court.

In the event the final judgment is entered in favor of the city or town, execution may be issued thereon against the principal and sureties on the appeal bond, unless the amount of the judgment is paid within 30 days from the date of such judgment, and the court shall, by further order, require that the property assessed be sold to satisfy such judgment.

Nothing contained in this article shall operate to release or discharge the lien on such property unless the assessment is fully paid.

Any Class 2 municipality, in ordering any local improvement the cost of which or any part thereof is to be assessed against any property in accordance with the provisions of this section, may provide that the same shall be paid in cash within 30 days after the final assessment, provided the cost of such improvement does not exceed $1,000.00, but if the total cost of said improvement is greater than such sum, any property owner may, at his election, to be expressed by notifying the municipal official charged with the duty of collecting such assessments in writing within 30 days after the assessment is made final, pay the said assessment in 36, 60 or 120 monthly installments, which shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding 12 percent per annum, as determined by the municipal governing body; provided, however, that if, on or before the date such assessment is made final, bonds shall have been issued, under the provisions of Sections 11-81-110 through 11-81-123, by the municipality for the purpose of providing funds to pay any portion of the costs of such improvement, the rate of interest on such installments may, at the option of the municipality and notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, be fixed by the municipality at a rate not exceeding the "effective net interest rate" on such bonds, as that term is herein defined; and provided, that if the assessment against any lot or parcel of land does not exceed $25.00, said assessment must be paid in cash within 30 days after assessment is made final as above provided.

Any person may pay the whole assessment against any lot or parcel of land within 30 days from the time the assessment is made and may at any installment period pay the assessment in full by paying the full amount of the installments, together with all accrued interest thereon. Should the property owner desire to pay off the deferred installments between the dates on which they are due, he shall pay interest on the same until the succeeding installment period. The first installment shall be payable within 30 days after the assessment is made final, and all assessments or installments thereof shall be payable at the office of the clerk, tax collector or treasurer of the city as may be prescribed, and all assessments or installments thereof shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding 12 percent per annum after the expiration of 30 days from the date on which the same is made final, which interest shall be due and payable at the time and place the assessment or installment is due and payable; provided, however, that if, on or before the date such assessment is made final, bonds shall have been issued, under the provisions of Division 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 81 of this title, by the municipality for the purpose of providing funds to pay any portion of the costs of such improvement, the rate of interest on such assessments or installments may, at the option of the municipality and notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, be fixed by the municipality at a rate not exceeding the "effective net interest rate" on such bonds, as that term is herein defined.

In all cases where the property owner does not elect to pay installments or, having elected to pay in installments, fails to pay the first installment in 30 days from the date of assessment, he shall be held to have waived the right to pay in installments, and the entire assessment shall at the expiration of said 30 days become due and payable.

The term "effective net interest rate" as used in this section means, with respect to any bonds issued as aforesaid for the purpose of providing funds to pay any portion of the costs of improvements, that rate computed by (1) determining, at the rate or rates of interest borne or to be borne by such bonds, the total dollar amount of the interest on such bonds from their date to their respective maturities (and deducting from such amount any premium thereon in excess of face value, or adding to such amount any discount thereon below face value, as the case may be), and (2) dividing such total dollar amount of interest by the sum of the bond year dollars of such bonds - the bond year dollars of each maturity of such bonds to be computed by multiplying the face amount of the bonds maturing in each year by the number of years the bonds of that maturity are outstanding.

The municipality, in ordering any local improvement the cost of which or any part thereof is to be assessed against any property in accordance with the provisions of this article, may provide that the same shall be paid in cash within 30 days after the final assessment, provided the cost of such improvement does not exceed $1,000.00, but if the total cost of said improvement is greater than such sum, any property owner may, at his election, to be expressed by notifying the municipal official charged with the duty of collecting such assessments in writing within 30 days after the assessment is made final, pay the said assessment in 10 equal installments, which shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding 12 percent per annum, payable annually; provided, however, that if, on or before the date such assessment is made final, bonds shall have been issued, under the provisions of Division 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 81 of this title, by the municipality for the purpose of providing funds to pay any portion of the costs of such improvement, the rate of interest on such installments may, at the option of the municipality and notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, be fixed by the municipality at a rate not exceeding the "effective net interest rate" on such bonds, as that term is herein defined; and provided, that if the assessment against any lot or parcel of land does not exceed $25.00, said assessment must be paid in cash within 30 days after assessment is made final as above provided.

Any person may pay the whole assessment against any lot or parcel of land within 30 days from the time the assessment is made and may at any installment period pay the assessment in full by paying the full amount of the installments, together with all accrued interest thereon. Should the property owner desire to pay off the deferred installments between the dates on which they are due, he shall pay interest on the same until the succeeding installment period. The first installment shall be payable within 30 days after the assessment is made final, and all assessments or installments thereof shall be payable at the office of the clerk, tax collector or treasurer of the city or town as may be prescribed, and all assessments or installments thereof shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding 12 percent per annum after the expiration of 30 days from the date on which the same is made final, which interest shall be due and payable at the time and place the assessment or installment is due and payable; provided, however, that if, on or before the date such assessment is made final, bonds shall have been issued, under the provisions of Division 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 81 of this title, by the municipality for the purpose of providing funds to pay any portion of the costs of such improvement, the rate of interest on such assessments or installments may, at the option of the municipality and notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, be fixed by the municipality at a rate not exceeding the "effective net interest rate" on such bonds, as that term is herein defined.

In all cases where the property owner does not elect to pay installments or, having elected to pay in installments, fails to pay the first installment in 30 days from the date of assessment, he shall be held to have waived the right to pay in installments, and the entire assessment shall at the expiration of said 30 days become due and payable.

The term "effective net interest rate" as used in this section means, with respect to any bonds issued as aforesaid for the purpose of providing funds to pay any portion of the costs of improvements, that rate computed by (1) determining, at the rate or rates of interest borne or to be borne by such bonds, the total dollar amount of the interest on such bonds from their date to their respective maturities (and deducting from such amount any premium thereon in excess of face value, or adding to such amount any discount thereon below face value, as the case may be), and (2) dividing such total dollar amount of interest by the sum of the bond year dollars of such bonds - the bond year dollars of each maturity of such bonds to be computed by multiplying the face amount of the bonds maturing in each year by the number of years the bonds of that maturity are outstanding.

If the property owner who has not elected to pay installments fails to pay his assessments within 30 days or, having elected to pay in installments, fails to pay the first installment in 30 days from the date of the assessment or makes default in the payment of any annual installment or the interest thereon, the whole of such assessment shall immediately become due and payable, and the officer designated by the municipality to collect such assessments shall proceed to sell the property against which the assessment is made to the highest bidder for cash, but he shall first give notice by publication once a week for three consecutive weeks in some newspaper published in the city or town or of general circulation therein of the date and time of such sale and the purpose for which the same is made, together with a description of the property to be sold. If said officer shall fail to advertise and sell any property on which said payments or installments are past due, any taxpayer of the issuing municipality or any holder of bonds of the series affected by said failure, whether of bonds heretofore issued or to be hereafter issued, shall have the right to apply for a writ of mandamus requiring said official to take such action to any court of competent jurisdiction, and said court shall, on proof, issue and enforce such writ.

(a) When the council of any city or town shall determine to open, widen, extend, construct or improve any street, alley, avenue, sidewalk, highway or other public place or to make any other public improvements or undertake any work authorized by the provisions of this article, the cost of which or any part thereof it is proposed to assess against the property abutting on, served, illuminated, drained, elevated, reclaimed, protected or otherwise specially benefited or increased in value by said improvements, it shall adopt an ordinance or resolution to that effect, describing the nature and extent of the work, the general character of the materials to be used and the location and terminal point thereof and the streets, avenues, alleys or other highways or parts thereof embraced therein, and it shall direct that full details, drawings, plans, specifications and surveys of said work and estimates be prepared by the city or town engineer or such other person as may be designated in such ordinance or resolution, or the said council may adopt plans for such work already prepared.

(b) When the contemplated improvement is a sanitary sewer or sewers or a sanitary sewer system, including outlets and sewage treatment and sewage disposal plants, such ordinance or resolution shall describe the territory or area within said municipality to be drained, served or benefited by such sewer or sewers or sewer system and define the same by naming the streets, avenues, alleys or other lines by which the same is bounded or shall describe the frontage of the property abutting on and drained, served or benefited by such sewer or sewers or sewer system and define the same.

(c) When the contemplated improvement is a storm water sewer or sewers or main trunk storm water sewers or a storm water sewer system, such ordinance or resolution shall describe the territory or area to be drained, served or benefited by such storm water sewers or main trunk storm water sewers or storm water sewer systems and define the same by naming the streets, avenues, alleys or other lines by which the same is bounded; provided, that when the improvement contemplated is a storm water sewer or sewers or drains and lateral storm water sewers in connection with the improvement of streets for the purpose of properly draining, serving or benefiting said streets and the property abutting thereon, such ordinance or resolution may define the area to be drained, served or benefited by each of such sewers as the property fronting on each portion of the street or streets provided to be improved, actually drained, served or benefited by each of said storm water sewers or drains or lateral storm water sewers.

(d) When the contemplated improvement is the construction of water or gas mains or of water and gas service connections, said ordinance or resolution shall name the property abutting on the portion of the streets, avenues or alleys in which said water or gas mains or water or gas service connections are to be constructed and which is to be served or benefited by said improvement.

(e) When the contemplated improvement is the construction of a system for draining swamps or for the draining of swamps or inundated or overflowed or submerged land within the limits of any municipality in this state having a population of 60,000 inhabitants or more according to the most recent federal census, or the filling in, elevating or reclaiming of any submerged, inundated or overflowed land within the limits of such municipality, such ordinance or resolution shall describe the territory or area to be drained, served, benefited, elevated or reclaimed by such improvement.

(f) When the contemplated improvement is the construction, acquirement, improvement, reimprovement or extension of seawalls, dikes, levees or embankments for the purpose of protection against storms, rivers, waters, floods, waves, tides or seas, such ordinance or resolution shall define the nature and extent of the work, the general character of the materials to be used and the location of terminal points of such seawall.

(g) When the contemplated improvement is the construction of an ornamental system of lighting or white way system, said ordinance shall describe the nature and extent of the work, the general character of the materials to be used and the streets, avenues, alleys and other highways and public places to be so lighted and abutting upon the streets so to be lighted with such ornamental lighting system.

(h) Such ordinance or resolution may set out and describe certain alternative types of paving and other materials, and the council may require advertisements for proposals on the various types enumerated, and the final selection by the council of the type or types of said pavement and other materials from among the alternatives so enumerated shall, in that event, be postponed until the bids shall have been received.

Any property owner, notwithstanding his default, may pay the assessment with interest and all costs if tendered before a sale of the property.

The cost of such notice and sale shall constitute a charge against the property to be sold and shall be retained out of the proceeds of the sale.

The officer making such sale shall execute a deed to the purchaser, which shall convey all the right, title and interest which the party against whose property the assessment was made had or held in said property at the date of making such assessment or on the date of making such sale. Any surplus arising from said sale shall be paid to the city or town treasurer to be kept as a separate fund by the treasurer for the owner upon the responsibility of his official bond. The council may, by its agents, purchase real estate sold as provided under this article and, in the event of such purchase, the deed for the same shall be made to the town or city.

No mistake in the notice of sale in the description of the property or in the name of the owner shall vitiate the assessment or the lien and if, for any reason, the sale made by the city or town is ineffectual to pass title, it shall operate as an assignment of the lien, and, upon the request of the purchaser, supplementary proceedings of the same general character as required in this article may be had to correct the errors in said proceedings for his benefit or the lien so assigned to him may be enforced by civil action.

Any real property heretofore or hereafter sold for the satisfaction of a local improvement assessment lien imposed thereon by the governing body of a municipality may be redeemed by the former owner, or his assigns, or other person authorized to redeem property sold for taxes by the State of Alabama within two years from the date of such sale by paying to the purchaser at such sale or to any person deraigning title under such purchaser or to the city or town treasurer for such purchaser or person deraigning title under such purchaser the amount of the purchase price for which the property was sold at such sale plus an amount equal to interest on such purchase price from the date of such sale to the date of redemption at the rate of six percent per annum plus a fee of $2.00 to cover the expense of a conveyance. If the redemption is made from the municipality, the payment may be made upon such terms including installment payments as the governing body of the municipality may approve.

The fixed two year period of redemption allowed by Section 11-48-54 for the redemption of any property heretofore or hereafter sold for the satisfaction of any assessment lien may be extended to a date 60 days after the date of the certificate of warning to redeem provided for in Section 11-48-56, but in no event for a longer period than six years from the date of such sale.

At any time after a local improvement assessment sale deed has been recorded in the office of the probate judge of the county in which the property therein described lies and after expiration of the fixed two-year period of redemption allowed by Section 11-48-54, any person may apply to such probate judge for entry upon the margin of the record of such deed of a certificate of warning to redeem in substantially the following form: "I hereby certify that on or prior to the date of this certificate, I mailed a compared copy of the deed here recorded, together with notice that the same is here recorded, and a warning to redeem to each of the one or more persons other than the grantee in said deed, to whom the property therein described was last finally assessed for ad valorem taxation at the address of each such person as shown by said ad valorem tax assessment records. This _____ day of _____, 19__, _____, Probate Judge."

At the time of application for entry of such certificate of warning to redeem, the applicant shall deliver to the probate judge three correct copies of said deed with a notation thereon of the deed book and page where recorded and shall pay to said probate judge a fee of $1.00. Said copies of deed need not include any certificate of acknowledgment.

It shall thereupon be the duty of said probate judge to promptly compare said copies with the record of such deed and, if such copies be found to be correct copies of such record, it shall be the further duty of such probate judge to ascertain from the ad valorem tax assessment records of his county the name of the person or persons other than the grantee in said deed to whom the property described in said deed was last finally assessed for ad valorem taxation, together with the address of each such person as shown by said tax assessment records, and thereupon to promptly mail to each such person at such address one of the aforesaid compared copies of said deed, together with an attached warning to redeem in substantially the following form: "Take notice that there is recorded in my office in Deed Book _____ at page _____ a deed of which the attached is a correct copy. You are warned that unless you, or those claiming under you, take prompt steps to redeem from those claiming under said deed, all rights of redemption may be lost. This _____ day of _____, 19__, _____, Probate Judge, _____ County, Alabama."

Promptly upon or after mailing such notice or notices and compared copy or copies of deed, it shall be the duty of said probate judge to enter upon the margin of the record of such deed a certificate of warning substantially as prescribed by Section 11-48-56 and to sign such certificate and to date the same with the date of entry. At the expiration of 60 days after the date of such certificate all rights to redeem from the sale shown by such deed shall cease and desist.

Redemption may be effected after expiration of the fixed two-year period of redemption allowed or provided by Section 11-48-54 and before the extended period of redemption has expired in the same manner and at the same redemption price as is provided in Section 11-48-54; provided, that if the probate judge has made the certificate of warning to redeem as provided in Section 11-48-57, said redemption price shall be increased by $1.00; provided further, that if the grantee in the aforesaid public improvement assessment sale deed or any person deraigning any title or right under him shall have placed any improvements upon said property after expiration of the fixed two-year period of redemption allowed or provided by Section 11-48-54, then redemption must be effected by a civil action, and the redemption price shall be increased by the value of such improvements, to be ascertained in such civil action by the court.

The duties imposed upon the probate judge in Sections 11-48-54 through 11-48-58 may be performed in his name and stead by any person or persons thereunto authorized by him. The faithful performance of such duties may be compelled by mandamus, but the probate judge shall not be liable in damages for any error or mistake in the performance of such duties committed in good faith.

Such details, drawings, plans, specifications, surveys and estimates shall, when completed, be placed on file not later than two weeks prior to the date of the meeting provided for in this section and Section 11-48-8 in the office of the city or town engineer or other officer designated in such ordinance or resolution, where property owners who may be affected by such improvement may see and examine the same, and the said ordinance or resolution shall appoint a time when the council will meet, which shall be not less than two weeks after the date of the first publication of said ordinance or resolution, to hear any objections or remonstrances that may be made to said improvement, the manner of making the same or the character of the material or materials to be used.

Sections 11-48-54 through 11-48-58 shall not apply to unimproved real estate that has been heretofore purchased by any municipality at a municipal assessment sale and by said municipality sold to a third party prior to March 16, 1939.

(a) For the purpose of providing funds to pay the cost of any improvement made under the provisions of this article, the governing body of any municipality may:

(1) Borrow money temporarily on the faith and credit of the municipality, executing its negotiable note therefor, which negotiable note may not run longer than a period of one year; or

(2) Issue bonds within the limitations prescribed by the Constitution.

(b) Such temporary loan or issue of bonds may be made before the contract is let for the improvements or during the progress of the work, in installments as the work progresses, and the making of one loan or the issue of one series of bonds shall not exhaust the power of the municipality to provide sufficient funds for the completion of the improvement. The municipality may pledge as security for such loan, whether evidenced by negotiable notes or bonds, the proceeds of the assessments made or to be made against the property benefited by the improvements and may transfer and assign for the benefit of said negotiable note or bond holder the lien of the municipality thereon, with power to enforce the same by civil action, but if negotiable notes or bonds shall be issued before the completion of the work, they shall not be issued in excess of the cost of the improvements as estimated at the time of the issue of the negotiable notes or bonds. If money is borrowed and negotiable notes or bonds issued after the work is completed, such negotiable notes or bonds shall not exceed in the aggregate the total cost of the improvements.

(c) No irregularity or technical defect in the proceedings relating to the making of the improvement shall in any way affect the power of the municipality to borrow money, either by the issue of negotiable notes or bonds, for the completion of the improvement.

If bonds have not been issued during the progress of the work as authorized by Section 11-48-61, the municipality may, after completion of the work, sell and issue bonds not exceeding an amount sufficient to pay the then outstanding principal of and interest on any temporary loans made pursuant to the provisions of said Section 11-48-61 to finance all or part of the improvement, plus such portion of the cost of the improvement, computed in accordance with Section 11-48-9, as has not been financed by any such temporary loan then outstanding and unpaid.

In determining the amount of bonds so to be issued, the council shall take into consideration to the extent practicable the amount which at the time of the authorization of the sale of the bonds has been paid by the property owners toward the cost of the improvement.

Bonds issued under the provisions of this article shall be subject to the provisions of existing law relating to the issuance of municipal bonds.

Whenever in the judgment of the municipality it may be necessary or expedient for the carrying out and full exercise of the powers granted by this article, such municipality may acquire by purchase or condemnation the necessary lands or rights or easements or interests therein, thereunder and thereover, and may proceed to condemn the same in the manner provided in this article or by the general laws of this state governing the taking of lands or the acquiring of an interest therein for the uses for which private property may be taken; in which case such proceedings shall be governed in every respect by the general laws of the state pertaining thereto.

Nothing in this article shall be so construed as to take from any city or town or in any manner affect the power and authority to compel the property owners, by penal ordinance or otherwise, to repair the sidewalks in front of their property in such manner and with such material as may be directed under the supervision of the engineer or other officer or agent of the city or town or to cause such repairs to be made at the expense of the property owner, such expense to be collected as in the case of taxes.

Said ordinance or resolution must be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in some newspaper published in said city or town, and, if no newspaper is published therein, it may be published either in a newspaper of general circulation in said municipality or by posting for two weeks in three public places in such city or town.

A copy of said ordinance or resolution shall also be sent, by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, to the persons last assessed for city or town taxation, the property of whom may be assessed for said improvements at their last known addresses, said notices to be so mailed not less than 10 days before the meeting of the city council provided for in Section 11-48-8. The failure of any official charged with the duty of sending such notice to send the same or the failure of any owner of property to receive such notice, if sent by registered or certified mail as provided in this section, shall not invalidate or in anywise affect any assessment made under the provisions of this article.

(a) At the meeting, to be held as provided for as specified in Section 11-48-6, or at a place and time to which the same may be adjourned, all persons whose property may be affected by the proposed improvement may appear in person or by attorney or by petition and object or protest against said improvement, the material to be used or the alternative types of material or any of them from which selection is later to be made, if any, and the manner of making the same, and said council shall consider such objection and protest and may confirm, amend, modify or rescind the original ordinance or resolution.

But if objection to the proposed improvement is made by a majority in frontage of the property owners to be affected thereby when the proposed improvement is to be assessed against the property fronting or abutting any street, avenue or alley or by a majority in area of the property owners when the proposed improvement is to be assessed against the property comprising a sewerage, drainage or other improvement district, the improvement shall not take place unless ordered by a two-thirds vote of those elected to the council.

(b) In all cases where any city or town has undertaken a program of public improvements, the cost of which was or is to be assessed in whole or in part against the property drained, served or benefited by such improvements, the action of such city or town in receiving construction bids, awarding and executing a construction contract or contracts pursuant to such bids, and commencing performance thereunder prior to the adoption of the improvement ordinance or resolution and prior to the holding of the protest meeting required by subsection (a) is hereby ratified and confirmed, and the actions of such cities or towns in proceeding with the program of public improvements and assessing the cost thereof or any part of such cost against the property drained, served or benefited by the improvements, which costs are determined in part by reference to the amounts paid under any such contract or contracts, are hereby ratified and confirmed; provided that, before any such assessments are or were made final the appropriate improvement ordinance or resolution was adopted and the required protest meeting or hearing was convened, held and conducted in the manner required by law.

This subsection shall not apply to any such contract, the validity of which has been, prior to the adoption hereof, successfully challenged in a court of competent jurisdiction by judgment entered prior to July 30, 1979, or to any contract when litigation relating to any such contract is pending on July 30, 1979.

When used in this article, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings, respectively, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) STREET IMPROVEMENTS. Filling, grading, leveling, graveling, slagging, cherting, macadamizing, paving, draining or otherwise improving any street, avenue, alley, highway or other public place, including the construction of sidewalks, curbs and gutters.

(2) SEWER IMPROVEMENTS. Storm water sewers and storm water sewer systems and sanitary sewers, sanitary sewer systems, sewage treatment plants and sewage disposal plants and all appurtenances to any such sewers or plants.

(3) PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. Street improvements and sewer improvements or either of them.

(4) POLICE JURISDICTION. The territory lying outside the corporate limits of a city but within its police jurisdiction.

(a) Each city in this state having a population of 6,000 or more inhabitants, according to the most recent federal census or any official census taken pursuant to Sections 11-47-90 through 11-47-95 shall have the same powers with respect to the construction of public improvements in the police jurisdiction of such city that it may have under any law now existing or hereafter enacted with respect to the construction of public improvements within the corporate limits of such city.

Each such city shall have the same powers with respect to the assessment of the cost of public improvements, whether constructed in the city or in such police jurisdiction, against the property specially benefited by such improvements, whether such property is located in such city or in such police jurisdiction, that such city may have under any law now existing or hereafter enacted with respect to assessment of the cost of public improvements constructed within the city against property specially benefited by such improvements and located within the corporate limits of the city.

All such laws relating to the making of public improvements within the corporate limits of such city and to the making of public improvement assessments against property located within such corporate limits and the creation and enforcement of liens securing such assessments shall apply to any public improvements constructed within the police jurisdiction of such city, to any public improvement assessments made pursuant to the provisions of this article and to the liens securing such assessments.

(b) No public improvement shall be made under the authority of this article unless with the written consent of the owner or owners of not less than 60 percent of the frontage of the property to be affected; provided, that in the case of street improvements outside the corporate limits but inside the police jurisdiction of a municipality, consent of the governing body of the county in which said improvements are to be constructed must first be obtained and evidenced by resolution duly entered on the minutes of such county governing body.

Each such city shall have the same power to issue its general obligation bonds and other general obligation securities to pay the cost of public improvements constructed in the police jurisdiction of such city that it may have under any law now existing or hereafter enacted to issue general obligation bonds or other general obligation securities for payment of the cost of public improvements within the city.

All such laws relating to the issuance by any such city of general obligation bonds or other general obligation securities to pay the cost of public improvements, where all or any part of such cost is assessed or to be assessed against property located within the corporate limits of the city, shall apply to and govern the issuance and sale of general obligation bonds and other general obligation securities and the making of any pledges for payment thereof to obtain money to pay the cost of construction of any public improvements constructed in the police jurisdiction of such city where such cost is assessed or to be assessed as provided in this article.

Each such city shall also have the power to finance the construction of public improvements in the police jurisdiction of such city by the issuance of its bonds payable solely out of the proceeds from assessments then made or to be thereafter made against the properties specially benefited by such improvements. Any such bonds shall not be general obligations of such city, and such city shall not be in any way liable to the holders of such bonds in the event of the failure to collect any of the assessments out of the proceeds from which such securities may be payable.

Any such bonds shall pledge, convey and transfer to the holders thereof all of the issuing city's right, title and interest in and to such assessments and the city's liens securing such assessments, together with the right to enforce the collection of such assessments by foreclosure of such liens in any court of competent jurisdiction. If the holder of any bond issued pursuant to the provisions of this section shall institute a foreclosure action in any court against any property subject to a lien securing any such assessment, such holder shall be entitled to have the proceeds of said action applied pro rata to the payment of the bond or bonds of such holder and all other bonds issued under this section and payable from the proceeds of the same assessments to the end that not more than one foreclosure action shall be brought against any one lot or parcel of land. The costs of any such foreclosure action including a reasonable attorney's fee in any case where the bondholder bringing such action is represented therein by an attorney shall be ascertained by the court and deducted from the proceeds derived from said action before such proceeds are prorated as provided for in this section.

Any bonds issued under the provisions of this section shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 11-81-110 through 11-81-123, and to all other provisions of law now existing or hereafter enacted with respect to the sale and issuance by such cities of general obligation bonds for the purpose of financing public improvements within the city, the cost of which is to be assessed wholly or in part against the properties specially benefited thereby; provided, that any bonds issued under the provisions of this section shall not constitute general obligations of the issuing city but shall be payable solely from the proceeds of assessments as provided in this section.

The council may pay out of the general funds of the city or town or any special fund that may be provided for the purpose such portion of the cost of the proposed improvement as it may deem proper.

The cost of any improvement contemplated by this article shall include the expense of the preliminary and other surveys, the inspection and superintendence of the work, the preparation, publication and mailing of the notices, resolutions, and ordinances required by this article, the cost of construction, the printing of bonds, the interest on money borrowed during construction or on bonds when bonds have been issued in anticipation of the collection of assessments, the preparation of proceedings authorizing the issuance of notes or bonds under the provisions of this article and the rendition of the approving opinions with respect thereto and any other expenses necessary for the completion of such improvement.