256 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 122

fit charges for water supply and sewerage construction, shall be
uniform for each class of property throughout the Sanitary
District, and no benefit charge, once levied, shall be increased.
The amount of the charge per front foot for each class of
property for both water mains and sewers shall be determined
from time to time by the Commission as costs and conditions-
require. Said benefit charges shall be paid annually, begin-
ning in the year such construction is begun, by all properties
located as above specified, for a period of years co-extensive
with the period of maturity of the bonds out of the proceeds
of which such construction was done; provided, however, that
any property owner may, at his option, extinguish said benefit
charge by payment, in cash, of an amount which if put at in-
terest at 3 1/2 per cent., compounded annually, would yield an
annuity equal to the annual assessment for the period for
which said assessment is levied. The Commission shall at any
time permit a connection with a water main or sewer by a
property owner whose property does not abut on said water
main or sewer, and who has not previously thereto paid a
benefit for the construction of said water main or sewer, pro-
vided said Commission shall first determine the classification
of said property and a front-foot charge to be paid by said
property owner as though his property abutted on said water
main or sewer; and in the event of such connection being made-
said property owner and said property, as to all charges, rates
and benefits, shall in every respect stand in the same position
as if the said property abutted upon a water main or sewer.
The annual benefit charges as above specified shall be a first
lien upon the property against which they are assessed, subject
only to prior State, County and municipal charges, and shall
be enforced by a judgment upon complaint of the Commission
before any justice of the peace or the Circuit Court for the
County in which said land is situated, and usual execution
thereon. No such annual benefit charge shall continue as a
lien for a period longer than two years from the date upon
which the same became in default, unless it is reduced to a
judgment and duly recorded among the records of the clerk's
office in the County in which said land is situated. Said
benefit charge shall be payable at the office of the Commission
immediately upon being levied and shall be in default after
sixty days from that date; and said levy, and any judgment
obtained as a result of the default of payment thereof, shall
bear interest at the rate of 1 per cent, a month from and after
the time said levy is in default.