Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-11-28
MUST BE PAID AT ONCE.
No Five Year Option in Street Paving
Assessments-Negle of Author
tiles to Provide for Relief
of PROPERTY Owners.

of Property Owners.
Considerable dissatisfaction is being
manifested among the property owners
OF Main and West Main street affected
by the paving, owing to the fact that
at the last moment it is aScertained
| the cost of the work assessed to them
must be paid at once or be placed on
the tax rolls and collected by the city
treasurer with the other taxes. 1t
was quite generally supposed that an
opportunity would be offered to meet
the cost of paving in five yearly in
stallments, the same plan as was
adopted in the case of the sewerage
improvement, where the property
/ owners were given the option of pay
! ing the entire assessment at once or
in three yearly installments. The
common council, however, neglected
to take the necessary steps IN the
N after of the street Improvement and
| it is now too late to devise any means
for the relief of the property owners,
! quite a number of whom would no
doubt have preferred to take the five
year method of liquidating their in
debtednesS.
Some of the city officials are inclined
to place the blame upon the board Of
public works and the city attorney,
| but Mr.. Pease claims that both the
board of public works and he as city
attorney did all that was required Of
them by law in every matter pertain
ing TO the street paving and followed
strictly the provisions Of the city
charter.
Section 151 of the charter provides
that before the council ''shall order
any work to be done on any street, in
whole or in part, at the expense o: the
real estate to be benefited, it shall
order the board Of public works
to view the premises and de-
| t6rmine the entire cost of
the contemplated work or improve
ment upon the street, the benefits and
damages that will accrue to the
several parcels of real estate by such
work or Improvement and the amount
! that should be assessed under the
provisions of this chapter to each
| parcel of such real estate, as benefits
accruing thereto oy such contemplated
work or Improvement Section 152
| further says: ''Said board shall make
and file in their Office a report show
ing heir determination on the ques-
tions required to be considered by
them under the provisions of the pre-
ceding section
Along in February Or March last
| the board made a report in accord
ance with the above provisions and it
was on file the required length of time
for the inspection of the property
Owners. The board determined that
the benefits accruing to each parcel
of real estate should be the amount as
sessed against said real estate. Sub
| sequently an estimate of the cost of
the work was presented and state
ment made as to the probable amount
which the city would have to pay and
that which would fall to the property
owners. After all the preliminaries
! had been completed, the contract was
let May % and the work begun.
In the terms of the contract was in
corporated the following, which is
Section 163 of the city charter:
Nv hen contract is let for doing
any work specified herein, chargeable
to the real estate to be benefited, it
may provide that the amount so
chargeable may be paid with certifi-
Gates against the lots or in special i'm
provement bonds, or the proceeds of
the sale Of such bonds, or that pay
ment may be in part made in certif-
Gates, part in cash. and part in special
Improvement bonds or the proceeds
| thereof"
Section 164 of the charter says that
''as soon as the amount chargeable to
the real estate is finally determined
the council may cause a notice to be
published in the official paper, sub
stantially to the effect that ''it is pro-
posed to issue bonds chargeable only
to the real estate to pay the special
assessments, and such bonds will be
issued covering all of said assessments,
except in cases where the owners of
the property file with the city clerk,
within thirty days after the date here
of, written notice that they elect to
thereof, on their property, describing
the same, on presentation of the GER
tifcates."
City Attorney Pease claims that this
notice might have been ordered pub
lished by the council at any time after
the estimate of the cost of the paving
had been made. In this opinion, it is
said, some of the aldermen differ with
Mr.. Pease and think that it was nee.
essary to complete the entire work be-
fore the notice could be published. 1t
seems to US, however, that the latter
view is incorrect, for it must stand to
reason that the contractor is entitled
to his pay Immediately upon the ac
ceptance of the job, and not be made
to wait thirty days or more until the
notice shall be published and the spe-
cial assessment bonds issued.
POTATOES WANTED