CHAPTER 108 AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE TOWN OF GRAHAM TO ISSUE BONDS FOR PAVING STREETS AND SIDEWALKS. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 17. That the board of town commissioners of the town of. Graham shall tax one-third of the cost of paving and curbing all  such streets as shall be paved and curbed, making a finished street from curb to curb, against the property-owners on both sides of such streets, that is to say, the town paying two-thirds and the property-owners owning lots on each side of such street one-sixth of the entire cost of any given street that is curbed and paved from curb to curb: Provided, that the cost of paving the tracks between the rails and to a width of one foot on each side thereof. of any street car or railway company laid in any of said streets shall be paid by such company, and shall be excluded in making said estimates, and the paving and curbing of such streets shall be considered as finished for the purpose of this assessment, without the completion of such work as the street car company or railway company is bound and obligated to do; and the said board of town commissioners shall tax one-fourth of the entire cost of building such streets or roadways of any approved material as shall be built within said town which is not curbed and paved from curb to curb against the property-owners on both sides of such streets or roadways, that is to say, the said town shall pay threefourths of such cost and the property-owners owning lots or land on each side of such streets or roadways one-eighth of the entire cost of any given street or roadway that is built and not curbed and paved from curb to curb. The said taxes or assessments on abutting property as above provided for to be based on the frontage of such property upon the street improved in any given case, and to be a direct charge in favor of the town against such lots or tracts of land, and the owners of such lots or tracts of land shall pay to said town the said tax or assessment in ten annual installments, one installment thereof each year, the amount of money so advanced by the town of Graham, said annual installment to be placed upon the tax books as taxes upon said property and to be collected as other taxes are under the law. Upon the collection by the tax collector of said installments, he shall pay the same to the town treasurer, who shall keep a separate account of the said fund: Provided, that the board of commissioners of the town of Graham may use the said installment fund for the purpose of paving or otherwise permanently improving the streets and sidewalks of the said town, assessing and collecting from abutting property-owners their pro rata share of the cost of such work as provided for in the streets and sidewalks built by the street commission. The said taxes and assessments against abutting property shall be levied by the board of commissioners of the town of Graham at the first regular meeting of said board for levying municipal taxes for general purposes after the said street work shall have been completed, and the entire cost of any given street whereon assessments are made and prorated against abutting property shall be reckoned from the report of the street commission on the cost of said street. The said board of town commissioners shall cause to be made and filed upon its records a complete statement for each street that shall have been paved, showing the frontage of each lot in feet, the owners thereof, and the amount assessed thereon. The said taxes or assessments prorated against the abutting property on streets improved is hereby declared a benefit to the property affected thereby, and is assessed against the same as such benefit, and upon the amount to be assessed against the property affected being determined by the board of Commissioners, Such assessment for benefits shall be in effect a judgment against the property so assessed: Provided, however, that upon the payment during any tax year of one-tenth of the amount of such assessment the person whose property is so assessed shall have until the next tax year within which to pay another one-tenth, and so on until the assessment is paid, the time not to exceed ten years from the expiration of the current tax year after the assessment is made; but if one-tenth of the assessment shall not be paid during any year, then the tax collector of the town of Graham shall advertise the property assessed on which said assessment has not been paid as above provided, for sale at the time of making his sale for taxes, and shall sell the same, and shall make title as provided by law for tax sales: Provided further, that property-owners affected thereby shall have the right to appeal, after the notice of the assessment, directly to the next civil term of the Superior Court of Alamance County, from the amount assessed against any property, for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the property affected by said assessment has been assessed for more than its pro rata share of the actual cost of such paving: Provided, that all nontaxable abutting property upon streets and sidewalks that are improved shall be exempt from this assessment.