928 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 479

the real property located in said Will's Creek Flood District,
or said designated part thereof, as said assessments appear on
the tax assessment rolls of Allegany County, and said one-half
of the total cost of said improvement to be so assessed shall
be divided among all the properties located in said District or
said designated part thereof, in such proportion as the as-
sessed value of each of said properties bears to the total assess-
ment of all real property in said District, or said designated
part thereof, and having determined the amount of said assess-
ment as aforesaid, said Mayor and City Council shall provide
by ordinance for the giving of notice by publication or by
service of written notice personally upon the parties to be
affected by said proposed liens, and allowing them to be heard
before any such liens are filed, and thereafter said Mayor
and City Council shall file said liens as hereinafter specified
against said properties, and said liens shall be preferred liens
the same as City taxes now are; provided, said Mayor and
City Council shall, within four months after the time fixed
for hearing by said notice, file with the Clerk of the Circuit
Court for Allegany County a statement showing the whole
amount expended in carrying into effect and completing said
Partial Flood Prevention Plan, and the names of the owners
and other parties among whom the said sum has been appor-
tioned, and the amount apportioned to each, and a general
description of the property owned by each of said owners upon
which said sums are intended to operate as a lien, or a, refer-
ence to the deed or other instrument under which said prop-
erty is held, and said statement shall constitute a lien on said
property, and shall bear interest at the rate of six per cent
per annum from the date on which it is filed, for the space
of five years, and no longer, unless the same shall be revived or
enforced by scire facias to be issued and enforced in the same
manner as is now provided by the Charter of the City of Cum-
berland for paving liens, and any owner or other interested
party may test the validity of such lien in the same way and
by the same method as is now provided for testing the validity
of paving liens by section 79 of Chapter 96 of the Acts of
1922 of the General Assembly of Maryland, said Chapter 96
being known as the Charter of the City of Cumberland.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That said Mayor and
City Council of Cumberland for the purpose of carrying out
the provisions of this Act may acquire land or rights in land