Arizona republican., 1914-10-23

in the limits of the district to be assessed for the work. If a proper protest is presented all further steps | for this improvement cease They may, however, be initiated again at the will of the commission or coun- cil. In the absence of any such suf- 1 ficient protest the council or com ! mission has acquired jurisdiction in the premises and has now the privi- l lege of acting as the agent of the property owners, for the reason that the property owners, by the absence of sufficient protest, have signified their willingness that the work should be done. The next step after the expiration of the fifteen day pc riOd above referred to, is for the council or commission to pass a res olution ordering the work and calling for bids. These bids may be received in not less than ten days from the date of the passage of the resolution ordering the work Upon the re- ceipt of the bids it becomes the duty of the council or commission to award the contract to the lowest re- sponsible bidder. They may, how eveI, if they elect to do so, reject any or all bids. If the contract is to be awarded on the work, resO- lution of the council is necessary, making the award. This, too, is pub lished twice, and then there follows 6 period of fifteen days during which the property owners, if they wish, may protest against the price at which the work is to be done They have lost their opportunity to pro- test against the doing of the work itself If such a protest is received it becomes the duty of the commits sion to again advertise for bids. In. the absence of such protest the next step is the signing of the contract by the superintendent of streets; then work may commence. Upon the completion of the work an official acceptance, known as a warrant, is issued to the contractor by the city. This includes map of the improved district, and a list of assessments showing the amount assessed against each individual lot. Within thirty
 
 the contractor is required to make a demand upon each piece of property within the limits of the assessed district. This demand must be made 1 between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon, and the contractor. or his agent must recite, in clear and audible voice, substantially as follows:
 | I hereby demand. in favor of - ! company, of lot -, block -, the amount of dollars, said being for the improvement of street, under resolution of intention No. of the city of
 ] Where there is a house or building of any kind upon the property the contractor, or his agent, is compell- ed to make this demand against whenever may answer in reply to his knock. Many amusing scenes frequently result, as the people fail to realize that the agent of the con- tractor is simply carrying out the Getail of the law. At the expiration of the thirty days referred to, if the work is done under the cash plan, and an additional five day period, or thirty-five days in all. the con- tractor has a cash lien against every piece of property in the district, the assessment against which has not been paid. The contractor has the option at any time within two years, of suing to collect this account In case of suit the method is the same as that of any other foreclosure pro- ceeding. He may elect if he wishes, to allow the account to run almost the full two years If he fails, how ever to sue within the two year limit, he has lost his lien. While this account is running it carries eight per cent interest In Califor- nia, under this plan, the interest is ten per cent All the work in Ari- Zona has been done under the bond plan, in which, after the thirty day period above referred to, the city treasurer issues a bond against each lot or parcel of lot, having an as- sessment of twenty-five dollars or more, in the name of the contractor This bond is a first lien against the
 
 except taxes or a previous lien by process of the same law. These bonds carry six per cent interest. in California seven per cent. The inter- est is payable semi annually the sec end of July and the second of Janu- lary. One-tenth of the principal is due each second of January succeed ing the completion of the improve ment until the whole account is paid.
 In the original act submitted by Judge Kibbey and his associates, tc the state legislature, the interest Jr
 the bonds was placed at eight pc!
 cent, for the reason that eight per cent. is the current bank interest in most of Arizona, except in places
 where it is higher. The interest or
 the cash plan was placed at ten per
 cent, the same as in California. The Legislature, however, in its wisdom
 saw fit to change the interest tc eight per cent on the cash plan and
 six per cent on the bonds. In con- , sequence, the contractor finds him , self in the unfortunate predicament , of trying to sell street improvement , bonds which carry one per cent less
 interest than those of our neighbor- ing state, California, and of being il the position Of receiving six Del