1416                             Laws of Maryland                        [Ch. 807

That new Section 45D be and it is hereby added to Article 7 of the
Code of Public Local Laws of Maryland (1930 Edition), title "Car-
roll County," sub-title "County Commissioners", to follow imme-
diately after Section 45C thereof, as added by Chapters 494 and 737
of the Acts of 1959, and to read as follows:

45D. The board of county commissioners shall have power, when-
ever the owner or person in charge of any unimproved lot or vacant
premises shall fail, after written notice, to remove any menace to
the public health or safety arising from the growth of weeds, the ac-
cumulation of refuse, the presence of stagnant water or of com-
bustible material, to enter upon the premises by its officers and
agents and cause such menace to be abated. Notice of the reason-
able costs incurred in abating such menace shall be delivered or
mailed to the person in charge of the property and to the person in
whose name the property is assessed for taxation. If the cost shall
not be paid within sixty days from the giving of such notice the
county commissioners may recover the costs by civil action, or may
fix a date for a hearing to determine whether the costs should be
assessed against the property as a special tax. Notice of such hear-
ing shall be posted on the property and sent by registered mail to
the last-known address of the person in whose name the property is
assessed for taxation.

If the name of the owner of the property be unknown, or the
owner be a nonresident of the county, notice of the proposed assess-
ment and of the date and place of the hearing shall be published once
a week for three consecutive weeks in some newspaper having gen-
eral circulation in the county. At the hearing, unless good cause to
the contrary be shown, the county commissioners shall have au-
thority to levy the reasonable costs incurred by the town, together
with the expense of advertising, as a special tax against the property.
The assessment shall be certified by the clerk for the county commis-
sioners to the county treasurer, to be added to the annual tax bill
against the property to be collected in the same manner as ordinary
taxes are collected and subject to the same interest and penalty for
nonpayment as provided by law for the nonpayment of county taxes.
Such special tax shall constitute a lien against the property from
the date of the assessment until paid.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
June 1, 1961.

Approved May 3, 1961.

CHAPTER 807
(House Bill 964)
AN ACT to add new Section 154 (e) to Article 66C of the Annotated

Explanation: Italics indicate new matter added to existing law.

[Brackets] indicate matter stricken from existing law.
CAPITALS indicate amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken out of bill.