reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
WV Code § 8-17-2 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-2. Definitions

For the purposes of this article:(1) "Abutter" shall include the owner or owners, as of the date of service of, or the date of the first publication of, a notice under the provisions of section eight of this article, of the property abutting on any street, alley, public way or easement, or sewer right-of-way or easement, upon or in which an improvement shall be made or proposed to be made under the provisions of this article;(2) "Engineer" shall mean the municipal engineer, or, if the municipality has no regularly employed municipal engineer, any registered professional engineer, if there be any practicing in the municipality or the county, or if no such engineer be practicing in the county, any competent civil engineer;(3) "Petitioner" shall, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, include those abutters, whether one or more, who file the petition and bond described in section four of this article;(4) "Improvement" shall include the grading, regrading, paving, repaving, surfacing, resurfacing, curbing, recurbing and repairing of streets, alleys, public ways or easements, or portions thereof, and the building, renewing and repairing of sidewalks, and the constructing, renewing and repairing of storm or sanitary or combined storm and sanitary sewer systems, or portions thereof, upon or in any streets, alleys, public ways or easements, or sewer rights-of-way or easements, or portions thereof, independently or in conjunction with other of such improvements, within the municipality; and(5) "Total cost" shall include the cost and expense of surveys, engineering and attorney fees, the printing and publishing in relation thereto, and the cost and expense of all labor, work, supervision, inspection, equipment leased and materials furnished and used in completing said improvements, excepting, however, any salaries and wages paid to municipal employees that would have been paid regardless of the work on the proposed improvement.
WV Code § 8-17-3 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-3. Municipality Empowered and Authorized to Make Improvements

IMPROVEMENTS -- PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS.§8-17-3. Municipality empowered and authorized to make improvements.Every municipality is hereby empowered and authorized, in addition to any other rights, power or authority conferred upon it, to make improvements upon the terms and conditions and in the manner hereinafter in this article set forth.
WV Code § 8-17-4 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-4. Petition and Bond; Action of Governing Body; Memorandum of Engineer

Upon the filing of a written petition for the making of an improvement, together with the bond hereinafter described, by (1) a petitioner stating in said petition the willingness of said petitioner to pay all of the total cost of said improvement, or (2) a petitioner owning the greater amount of frontage of property abutting upon any portion of a street, alley, public way or easement, or sewer right-of-way or easement, upon or in which said improvement is to be made, the governing body shall, by ordinance or resolution, order the engineer to investigate the improvement and to prepare a memorandum describing the portions of the streets, alleys, public ways or easements, or sewer rights-of-way or easements, proposed to be improved, and certifying the reasonable necessity of the improvement, the plans and specifications for the improvement and a list of all items comprising the total cost of the improvement, with an estimate of the cost of each item.There shall be stated, specified or described in the petition the name and mailing address of the petitioner, the part or parts of the therein named streets, alleys, public ways or easements, or sewer rights-of-way or easements, desired improved, the improvement desired and whether the petitioner will pay all of the total cost or whether he desires the total cost to be apportioned among all of the abutters. In any case where two or more petitioners file the petition and it is stated therein that they intend to pay all of the total cost of the improvement, it shall also be stated therein either that they desire to have such total cost apportioned among them on a pro rata basis of their abutting footages according to a list of such footages compiled by them and contained in the petition or that they desire to pay such total cost according to a list of percentage shares formulated by them and contained in the petition.Any petition filed under the provisions of this article shall be signed by the petitioner. A bond shall be given by the petitioner with good security to be approved by the governing body in the penal sum of $1,000. The bond shall bind the petitioner (jointly and severally, in the case of more than one petitioner) to pay all charges and assessments imposed upon such petitioner under the provisions of this article.
WV Code § 8-17-5 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-5. Hearing on Adverse Report in Engineer's Memorandum; Notice Thereof; Modification of Memorandum; Expenses Charged to Petitioner Upon Failure of Petition

If the engineer certifies in his memorandum that the improvement is not reasonably necessary, or that the estimated total cost is more than $1,000, or both, the governing body shall notify the petitioner of the adverse report in the engineer's memorandum, and of a date (at least ten days from the date of the mailing of the notice as provided below), time and place of a meeting of the governing body, at which the engineer shall be present and the petitioner may object to or be heard on any part of the engineer's memorandum concerned with the said adverse report. The notice shall be given by mailing a copy thereof to the petitioner at the address listed in the petition unless the petitioner shall have notified the governing body in writing of a change in his mailing address, in which case the notice shall be mailed according to such change. The governing body may modify the memorandum in accordance with the evidence introduced at said meeting; but if no evidence is introduced, the engineer's memorandum shall be accepted. In any case where the petition fails because there is no reasonable necessity for the improvement or because the estimated total cost of the improvement is more than $1,000, or because of both reasons, the petitioner shall be charged with all municipal expenses in connection therewith, except salaries and wages of regular municipal officials and employees, which charge shall be made by ordinance or resolution of the governing body; and a statement of such charge shall be mailed to the petitioner at the proper address, determined as aforesaid.For convenience of reference herein, the term "engineer's memorandum" shall mean, as the case may be, his original memorandum, or his memorandum as modified in accordance with the provisions of this section or section eight of this article.
WV Code § 8-17-6 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-6. When Petition for Improvement Is to Be Granted

A petition for improvement shall be granted when it and the accompanying bond have been found to be regular, and when the engineer's memorandum indicates that the proposed improvement is reasonably necessary and that the total cost will not exceed $1,000.
WV Code § 8-17-7 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-7. Procedure When Petitioner to Pay All of Total Cost

§8-17-7. Procedure when petitioner to pay all of total cost.If the petitioner has stated in the petition that he will pay all of the total cost, the governing body shall, as soon as the petition is granted as provided in section six of this article, order, by ordinance or resolution, the proper municipal authorities to proceed with the accomplishment of the improvement according to the plans and specifications in the engineer's memorandum.
WV Code § 8-17-9 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-9. Accomplishment of the Improvement; Use of Municipal Employees and Equipment; Contracts; Account of Costs

When the proper municipal authorities shall have been ordered by the governing body to proceed under the provisions of either section seven or section eight of this article, they shall do so without delay. The improvement shall be accomplished, as far as possible without interfering with normal municipal services, with the municipality's regular employees and equipment; but contracts may be made with reputable persons for the improvement. Said authorities shall keep an account of all items of cost connected therewith that affect the total cost of the improvement. Upon completion of the improvement, said proper municipal authorities shall deliver the account of costs to the engineer.
WV Code § 8-17-10 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-10. Apportionment Among Petitioners Only; Limit on Total Cost Chargeable to Petitioners; Notice

Where the willingness of the petitioner to pay all of the total cost is stated in the petition, the engineer shall compute the actual total cost as soon as the improvement is completed and the account called for in section nine of this article is furnished to him and, where more than one petitioner filed the petition, the engineer shall assess the amount owed by each petitioner according to the method indicated in the petition as prescribed in section four of this article: Provided, That if the actual total cost exceeds $1,000, the municipality shall be responsible for such excess over $1,000, and if the actual total cost is less than $1,000 but exceeds the estimated total cost by more than ten percent of the latter, the municipality shall be responsible for such excess over one hundred ten percent of the estimated total cost.The engineer shall certify his determination of charges to the governing body, and, after adopting the same by ordinance or resolution, the governing body shall notify the petitioner of the assessment list by mailing a written copy thereof to the petitioner at the proper address, determined as aforesaid.
WV Code § 8-17-12 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-12. Assessments Where Property Owned or Controlled by Public, Charitable, Eleemosynary, Educational or Religious Institutions; Duty of Those in Charge to Cause Assessments to Be Paid

When any of the lots or parcels of land abutting the portion of the street, alley, public way or easement, or sewer right-of-way or easement, improved consist of property owned or controlled by this state, any municipality, county, Board of Education or other public body, or consist of property owned by or used for, a church, or a religious, charitable, educational or eleemosynary institution, for purposes not subject to taxation, the owners of such property, as of the date of service of, or the date of the first publication of, a notice under the provisions of section eight of this article, shall nevertheless be assessed with their proper proportion of the total cost of said improvement, and it shall be the duty of the owners or those persons having charge of the fiscal affairs of such owners or the management of any such property or institution to make proper arrangements for the payment of such assessments and to cause the same to be paid.
WV Code § 8-17-13 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-13. Due Date of Assessments; Statement of Amount in Default to Petitioner

§8-17-13. Due date of assessments; statement of amount in default to petitioner.Assessments made under the provisions of section eleven of this article shall be due the municipality within sixty days after the adoption by the governing body of the ordinance or resolution laying the assessment; and upon payment of an assessment by an abutter, he shall be given a receipt therefor, a copy of which shall be retained by the municipality; and, upon payment in due course of all such assessments pertaining to an improvement, the petitioner shall be automatically discharged on his bond. If any such assessment, in whole or in part, be not paid within said sixty days, the governing body shall determine the total amount in default and shall charge said amount to the petitioner by ordinance or resolution; and a statement of the charge shall be mailed to the petitioner at the proper address, determined as aforesaid.
WV Code § 8-17-14 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-14. Due Date of Charges Against Petitioner; Collection on Bond; Petitioner's Right of Action

Charges made against any petitioner under the provisions of sections five, eight, ten and thirteen of this article shall be due the municipality within thirty days from the date that a statement was mailed to him at the proper address, determined as aforesaid. If any such charges against any petitioner be not paid within such thirty days, the governing body shall by ordinance or resolution authorize the proper municipal authorities to proceed to collect on the petitioner's bond.Any petitioner who is forced to pay, either by collection on the bond or by voluntary payment to avoid collection on the bond, any sum which should have been paid by another petitioner or any other abutter shall have a right of action against any such defaulter for the amount that the defaulter should have paid, with interest at six percent from the date that the defaulter was in default; and where a petitioner makes a voluntary payment for any such defaulter to avoid collection on the bond, a receipt shall be given to him, and a copy retained by the municipality, showing the petitioner who made such payment, the defaulter for whom the payment was made and the charge or assessment for which the defaulter was in default, which receipt shall be prima facie evidence of the petitioner's right to collect from the defaulter named in said receipt the amount specified therein, with interest as above stated.
WV Code § 8-17-15 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 17. Low Cost Improvements|§8-17-15. Cumulative Authority

§8-17-15. Cumulative authority.The power and authority herein granted shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any power and authority vested in any municipality under any Constitutional, statutory or charter provisions which may now or hereafter be in effect.
WV Code § 8-18-1 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 18. Assessments to Improve Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers; Sewer Connections and Board of Health; Enforcement of Duty to Pay for Service|§8-18-1. Power and Authority of Municipalities Relating to Street, Sidewalk, Sewer and Other Permanent Improvements

§8-18-1. Power and authority of municipalities relating to street, sidewalk, sewer and other permanent improvements.Every municipality is hereby empowered and authorized, in addition to any other rights, power and authority conferred upon it, upon the terms, conditions and in the manner hereinafter set forth, to grade or regrade, pave or repave, surface or resurface, curb or recurb, streets (which term is used in this article to include avenues and roads), alleys, public ways or easements, or portions thereof, and to build or renew sidewalks, and to construct, provide or renew any of such improvements or other permanent public improvements in any streets, alleys, public ways or easements, or portions thereof, in such municipality, and, if deemed advisable, to construct storm and sanitary sewers, or all or a part of a storm or sanitary or combined storm and sanitary sewer system in any streets, alleys, public ways or easements, or sewer right-of-ways or easements, or portions thereof, independently or in conjunction with other of such improvements, and to assess the costs of any or all of such improvements on abutting property.
WV Code § 8-18-2 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 18. Assessments to Improve Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers; Sewer Connections and Board of Health; Enforcement of Duty to Pay for Service|§8-18-2. Petition of Abutting Property Owners for Improvement; Improvements Without Petition

Upon the petition in writing of persons owning the greater amount of frontage of property abutting upon any portion of a street, alley, public way or easement, or sewer right-of-way or easement, for any permanent improvement (which term is used in this section and the succeeding sections of this article to include any reimprovement) authorized in section one of this article, the governing body of any municipality may, after giving notice to abutting property owners as hereinafter in this article provided, by ordinance or resolution declare the necessity or convenience of such improvement and order and cause such portions of such streets, alleys, public ways or easements, or sewer right-of-ways or easements, to be graded, regraded, paved, repaved, surfaced, resurfaced, curbed, recurbed, sewered, resewered, permanently improved (which term is used in this section and the succeeding sections of this article to also mean reimproved) with sidewalks or otherwise permanently improved with suitable material, or any one or more of such improvements without the others, as may be determined by the governing body, to be made or constructed within such municipality or within such part or parts thereof as the governing body may determine, and such governing body may specially assess the entire cost of such improvements, or any part thereof, upon the property abutting on both sides of the portions of the streets, alleys, public ways or easements, or sewer right-of-ways or easements, improved.The governing body of any municipality may also adopt such ordinance or resolution of necessity or convenience and provide for such improvements and the assessing of the cost thereof upon abutting property without such a petition of property owners having first been received, when the ordinance or resolution providing for such improvements is adopted by the affirmative vote of at least three fourths of the members of such governing body by recorded vote, after having given notice to abutting property owners as hereinafter in this article provided.
WV Code § 8-18-5 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 18. Assessments to Improve Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers; Sewer Connections and Board of Health; Enforcement of Duty to Pay for Service|§8-18-5. Report on Completion; Notice to Abutting Owners of Assessments; Hearings; Correcting and Laying Assessments

When the improvement of such street, alley, public way or easement, or sewer right-of-way or easement, has been completed, the governing body shall cause the engineer, or other person charged by the governing body with the supervision of the work of improvement, to make a report showing the several frontages abutting thereon, the total cost, the respective amounts chargeable upon each lot or parcel of land assessed abutting thereon and the proper amounts to be assessed against the respective abutting lots or parcels of land as provided herein, with a description of the abutting lots and parcels of land as to ownership, frontage and location. The governing body shall thereupon give notice to the owners of the property to be assessed that on or after a date named in said notice an assessment may be laid against the property so improved as embodied in said report. Said notice shall state that the owner or owners whose property is to be assessed, or other interested party, may on said date appear before the governing body to move the revision or correction of such proposed assessment. Such notice shall be published as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the municipality. Said notice shall show the total cost of the improvement, the several frontages abutting thereon and the respective amounts to be assessed against the abutting property, with a description of the respective abutting lots and parcels of land as to ownership, frontage and location. On or after the date so advertised, the governing body may revise, amend, correct and verify the report and proceed by ordinance or resolution to lay the assessments as corrected and verified.
WV Code § 8-18-7 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 18. Assessments to Improve Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers; Sewer Connections and Board of Health; Enforcement of Duty to Pay for Service|§8-18-7. What Total Cost to Include

In ascertaining the total cost of the improvements in any project undertaken pursuant to the provisions of this article, there shall be included the cost and expense of surveys, engineering and attorneys' fees, the printing and publishing in relation thereto, and the cost and expense of all labor, work, supervision, inspection, equipment leased, and materials furnished and used in completing said improvements.
WV Code § 8-18-9 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 18. Assessments to Improve Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers; Sewer Connections and Board of Health; Enforcement of Duty to Pay for Service|§8-18-9. Assessment Against Property of Public, Charitable, Eleemosynary, Educational or Religious Institutions; Duty of Those in Charge to Cause Assessments to Be Paid

When any of the lots or parcels of land abutting the portion of the street, alley, public way or easement, or sewer right-of-way or easement, improved consist of property owned or controlled by this state, any municipality, county, Board of Education or other public body, or consist of property owned by, or used for, a church, or a religious, charitable, educational or eleemosynary institution, for purposes not subject to taxation, such property shall nevertheless be assessed with its proper proportion of the cost of said improvement, and it shall be the duty of those persons having charge of the fiscal affairs of such owner or the management of any such property or institution to make proper arrangements for the payment of, and cause to be paid, such assessments as and when due and payable.
WV Code § 8-18-11 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations|Article 18. Assessments to Improve Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers; Sewer Connections and Board of Health; Enforcement of Duty to Pay for Service|§8-18-11. How Assessments May Be Evidenced

The governing body shall also determine and provide in the ordinance or resolution laying the assessments, adopted in accordance with the provisions of section five of this article, if such provision was not made in the ordinance or resolution adopted in accordance with the provisions of section four of this article, the method of paying for the work, for the cost of which assessments are levied as in this article provided, whether by an appropriation from funds in the treasury of the municipality unappropriated to be repaid from the collection of the assessments, or by the issuance of certificates as hereinafter provided, or from the proceeds of bonds issued in anticipation of the collection of special assessments to be made against the abutting property owners as provided for in section fourteen of this article.