504 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 21G

thereon. The Mayor and Council, however, in estimating said
cost for the purpose of extinguishment may add thereto a
reasonable margin to protect itself against possible changes in
the cost of construction and loss of interest. All sums received
under such plan of extinguishment shall be preserved intact by
said Mayor and Council, less the payment of the proportion of
interest and a sinking fund properly chargeable to the amount
so received, and used for future construction; and provided
further, that any property owner, whose property is classified
under business or industrial, or sub-division, may, at his option,
at any time during the life of said assessment extinguish the
same by payment in cash of an amount, which, if put at inter-
est at 3 1/2 per cent, compound annually, would yield an annuity
equal to the annual assessment for the period for which said
assessment has yet to run. The Mayor and Council 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 an
assessment for the construction of said water main or sewer,
provided the said Mayor and Council 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 connec-
tion being made, said property owner and said property, as to
all charges, rates and assessments, shall in every respect stand
in the same position as if the said property abutted upon a
water main or sewer. The annual assessments as above speci-
fied 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 authorities of Gaithersburg before any justice of the
peace or the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, and usual
execution thereon. No such annual assessment shall continue
as a lien for a period longer than two years from the date from
which the same became in default, unless it is reduced to a
judgment and duly recorded among the records at the office of
the clerk of Montgomery County. Said assessments shall be
payable at the office of the Mayor and Council immediately
upon being levied, and shall be in default after 60 days from
that date; and said levy, and any judgment obtained as a result
of the default of the payment thereof, shall bear interest at the
rate of 1 per cent. a month from and after the time said levy is
in default