1712                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                        [CH. 811

the full length of any boundary, [n] No land so classed as agricul-
tural by this Commission, when in actual use for farming or trucking
purposes, shall be assessed a front foot benefit when such agricultural
land has constructed through it or in front of it a sewer or water
main, until such time as a water or sewer connection is made, and
when so made and for every connection such land shall become liable
to a front foot assessment for such reasonable frontage, not ex-
ceeding three hundred foot front, as may be determined by said Com-
mission, and shall be immediately assessed at the rate of assessment
determined upon by said Commission for agricultural land. '[; pro-
vided, further, that] State, county and municipal buildings or prop-
erty or public parks or playgrounds owned by a municipality, and any
building owned by a regularly organized volunteer fire department
while so used, shall be exempt from said front foot benefit charge [,
and from the service and water consumption charge for water used
exclusively for public or fire department purposes]. The Commission
may further provide for a hiatus in the imposition and collection of a
front foot benefit assessment for any property otherwise assessable
which cannot in the judgment of the Commission obtain service from
the sewer pipe upon which the benefit would be based, but the suspen-
sion of the benefit charge shall terminate at any time a connection
with the sewer pipe is made by the owner of the property, whereupon
the property shall be classified and the benefit charge shall com-
mence and run for the total number of years, at the rate for such
class, which it would have run had it been established at the time of
the original construction.

(e)   Future front foot benefit charges for water supply and sewer
construction shall be uniform for each class of property throughout
the Sanitary District for any one year, unless otherwise provided by
law. [except, however, Gaithersburg and Washington Grove, against
which a benefit charge approximately the cost of the systems therein
shall be levied; provided, however, that w] Whenever the Commission
acquires an existing system, other than a municipal system, the con-
struction cost of which has been added in whole or in part to the
purchase of land or lots abutting upon said system and which con-
tribution the Commission has determined to be a factor in the cost
to the Commission of such system, the Commission may, in its discre-
tion, levy a front foot assessment less than the uniform front foot
assessment levied in the remainder of said Sanitary District. The
amount of the charge per front foot for each class of property for
both water main and sewer shall be determined from time to time
by the Commission as costs and conditions require, but no benefit
charge for any class for any given year once levied by said Commis-
sion shall be increased.

(f)   Said benefit charge shall be paid annually, beginning from the
time of the levy thereof, 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. Sub-
ject to the provisions of this subsection, [S] said benefit charge may
be extinguished or redeemed, at any time, upon the payment to the
said Commission of a sum equal to the amount of said annual benefit
charge, calculated for this purpose at the base rate applicable to the
class in which the property may then be by reason of its use and
disregarding any allowance for excess, but in no event less than the
base rate applicable to subdivision residential property, multiplied by