Marvin Mandel, Governor                        1069

shall have been completed, the [said commission] Department shall
fix and levy benefit assessments upon all properties in said sanitary
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 or 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 occupy-
ing the premises or in case of a vacant or unimproved property
posted upon the premises.

(c)  The classification of and the benefit assessed against any
property as made by the [commission] Department shall be final,
subject only to revision at said hearing. The [commission] Depart-
ment 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 con-
struction 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 pipe or sewer is placed; provided,
however, that in the case of any irregular shaped lot abutting upon
a road, street, lane, alley or right-of-way in which there is or is
being constructed a water main or sewer at any point, said lot shall
be assessed for such frontage as the [commission] Department may
determine to be reasonable and fair; and provided further that no
lot in a subdivision property shall be assessed on more than one side,
unless said lot abuts upon two parallel streets, or unless said lot is
a corner lot, in which event said lot may be averaged and assessed
upon such frontage as the [commission] Department may deem rea-
sonable and fair, and that all lots in this class shall be assessed even
though a water main or sewer may not extend along the full length
of any boundary; and provided further, that no land so classified as
agricultural by the [commission] Department shall be assessed a
front foot benefit when said agricultural land has constructed
through it or in front of it a sewer or water main, until such time
as the 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 exceeding three hun-
dred (300) feet, or may be determined by [said commission] the
Department, and shall be immediately assessed at the rate of assess-
ment determined by [said commission] the Department for agri-
cultural land.

(d)   Front foot benefit charges for water supply and sewerage
construction shall be as nearly uniform as is reasonably practical
for each class or sub-class of property throughout each district for
any one year and no benefit charge, once levied, shall be increased ;
provided, however, that whenever the [commission] Department
acquires an existing system other than a municipal system, the con-
struction of which has been added in whole or in part to the pur-
chase price of land or lots abutting upon said system and which
contribution the [commission] Department has determined to be a
factor in the cost to the [commission] Department of such system,
the [commission] Department may, in its discretion, levy a front
foot assessment less than the uniform front foot assessment levied
in the remainder of the sanitary district in which said system is
located...; AND FURTHER, PROVIDED, HOWEVER THAT