The assessments provided for and levied under the provisions of this Act (subchapter)
shall be payable by the persons owning the said lots or tracts of land as the several
installments become due, together with the interest thereon, to the treasurer of the
City of Savannah, who shall give proper receipts for such payments. It shall be the
duty of the treasurer to keep an accurate account of all such collections made by
him, and such collections shall be kept in a special fund to be used and applied for
the payment of such bonds, and the interest thereon and for no other purpose. It shall
be the duty of the said treasurer, not less than thirty (30) days and not more than
fifty (50) days before the maturity of any installment of such assessments, to publish
in two (2) successive issues of a daily newspaper published in the City of Savannah
and having general circulation in said City, a notice advising the owner of the property
affected by such assessment of the date when such installment and interest will be
due and designating the street or streets or public places for the improvement of
which such assessments have been levied, and that unless the same shall be promptly
paid proceedings will be taken to collect said installment and interest. And it shall
be the duty of said treasurer, promptly after the date of the maturity of any such
installment or assessment and interest and on or before the fifteenth day of September
of each year in case of a default in payment of such installment or assessment, with
interest, to issue an execution against the lot or tract of land assessed for such
improvement or against the party or person owning the same for the amount of such
assessment, with interest, and shall turn over the same to the Marshal of the City
of Savannah or his deputy who shall levy the same upon the real estate liable for
such assessment and previously assessed for such improvements, and after advertisement
and other proceedings as in the case of sales for City taxes, the same shall be sold
at public outcry to the highest bidder, and such sales shall vest an absolute title
in the purchaser subject to the lien of the remaining unpaid installments with interest;
provided, that the defendant shall have the right to file an affidavit denying that
the whole or any part of the amount for which said execution issued is due, and stating
what amount he admits to be due, which amount so admitted to be due shall be paid
or collected before the affidavit is received for the balance. All affidavits (and
the foregoing and the following provisions shall apply to the [street and steam railroads]
against whom execution shall be issued for the cost and expense of paving) shall set
out in detail the reasons why the affidavit [affiant] claims the amount is not due,
and when received by the City Marshal, shall be returned to the Municipal Court of
Savannah if the amount of the execution is one hundred dollars ($100.00) or under,
and to the Superior Court of Chatham County, Georgia, if the amount contested is over
one hundred dollars ($100.00), and there tried and the issue determined as in case
of illegality, subject to all the pains and penalties provided for in cases of illegality
for delay under the Code of Georgia. The failure of said treasurer to publish said
notice of the maturity of any installment of said assessment and interest shall in
no wise affect the validity of the assessment and interest and the execution issued
therefor. No affidavit of illegality shall in any case be based upon any ground or
cause which would have been pleaded in the proceedings provided for in section 6-224 of this Act (subchapter). And any affidavit of illegality provided for under the
terms of said Act shall be triable at the same term of the court at which it may be
filed. And if on the trial of the issue the court or jury who tries the same shall
believe such affidavit was filed for delay only, or that said affidavit is without
any excuse to sustain it, they shall so state in their judgment or verdict, and if
they so find, the person who files said affidavit shall pay twenty-five per cent additional.
And, in any event, if said party who filed said affidavit of illegality fails to prevail
in the same he shall, in addition to the foregoing, pay double interest at the rate
provided for in the said Act on the amount involved in said illegality. The foregoing
provision shall apply to any illegality hereafter filed, whether the assessments were
made prior to or since the passage of this Act. In case of the sale of any real property
liable for such assessments the owner of said property shall have the right to redeem
the same in the manner and during the time now provided by existing laws for
the redemption of property sold under execution for City taxes.
