T98                        LAWS OF MARYLAND.                  [CH. 313

age systems to be constructed, purchased or established under
this Act, the said Commission is hereby empowered and di-
rected to establish a proper a?^d reasonable charge for connec-
tion with said water supply, sewerage and drainage system so
to be constructed, purchased or established as' aforesaid, and
to fix an annual assessment on all properties, improved or
unimproved, binding upon a street, road, lane, alley or right-
of-way in which a water main, sewer or drain has been built.
The said annual assessment shall be made upon the front foot
basis, and the first payment shall when practicable be collected
during the year which the construction is completed on the
water supply, sewerage or drainage systems, or in which the
systems, are purchased or acquired. The said Commission for
the purpose of assessing benefits shall divide all properties
binding upon a street, road, lane, alley or right-of-way, in
which a water pipe or sanitary sewer is to be laid, into four
classes, namely: Agricultural, small acreage, industrial or
business, and subdivision property, and the Commission may
subdivide each of said classes in such manner as it may deem
to be in the public interests. Whenever any water supply or
sewerage project in said district or districts shall have been
completed by March 31st, in any one year, regardless of when
said construction was commenced, then the said Commission
shall fix and levy a benefit charge as of the first day of Janu-
ary in which the project was completed upon all property in
said district abutting upon said water main or sewer, in
accordance with the classification or subdivision thereof, and
shall in writing, notify all owners of said properties into
which class and subdivision their respective properties fall
and the charge determined upon, naming also in said notice
a time and place, when and at which time said owner will be
heard. Such notice may be mailed to the last known address
of the owner, or served in person upon any adult occupying
the premises, or in case of a vacant or unimproved property
posted upon the premises. The classification of and the benefit
assessed against any property as made by the Commission
shall be final, subject only to revision at said hearing. The
Commission may change the classification of property from
time to time as said properties change in the uses to which
they are put. Said benefits shall be levied for both water
supply and sewerage construction and shall be based for each
class of property upon the number of front feet abutting upon
the street, lane, road, alley or right-of-way in which the water