Harp v. Mayor of Forsyth
Harp v. Mayor of Forsyth
Opinion of the Court
(After stating the foregoing facts.) Section 66 of the City Code of Forsyth, authorizing the paving of streets, referred to in the statement of facts, is a codification of section 3 of the act (Ga. L. 1920, p. 990), being an amendment to the city charter. Section 4 of the above act,.after providing for the ■ collection of any assessment, declares: “The owner of said real estate shall have the right to file his affidavit denying the whole or any part of the amount for which the execution was issued and stating the amount that he admits due, which amount admitted to be due, together with all costs, shall be paid before the affidavit is received.”
Where an act of the legislature authorizes the paving of streets in a city and the collection of a special assessment against abutting land by execution, .and provides that the owners of such land may file an affidavit of illegality and may contest the whole or any part of the amount so claimed, the levy of the assessment is not void on the ground that the owner is not afforded due process of law. Sanders v. City of Gainesville, 141 Ga. 441 (2) (81 S. E. 215); Horkan v. City of Moultrie, 154 Ga. 444 (2) (114 S. E. 888); Faver v. City of Washington, 159 Ga. 568 (2) (126 S. E. 464); City of Waycross v. Cowart, 164 Ga. 721 (1) (139 S. E. 521). Applying the foregoing principle, the act of 1920 and the ordinance passed in pursuance thereof, were not unconstitutional as violative of the due-process clauses of the State and United States Constitutions.
Nor is the act complained of illegal and unjust, as contended, in that the municipal authorities are attempting to make the owners of the abutting property liable for two-thirds of the total cost of the improvement without requiring the city and the general public to pay for such improvement in proportion to the, benefit derived therefrom. Walthour v. City of Atlanta, 157 Ga. 24 (1c) (120 S. E. 613). A different ruling is not required by Mayor &c. of Savannah v. Knight, 172 Ga. 371 (157 S. E. 309), which involved the repaving of a street that was sufficient for ordinary traffic.
Finally, it was alleged in an amendment that just recently the defendants have done some paving on Chambers Street, but that this is rough and the paving is too thin to be serviceable. Properly construed, this is not an averment that the paving had been completed. There was no allegation that the cost of the improvement was excessive.
Accordingly, the allegations of the petition as amended failed to set forth a cause of action for any of the relief sought, and the trial court did not err in sustaining a general demurrer thereto.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HARP v. MAYOR &c. OF FORSYTH
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- Published