The assessors in each town, except as otherwise specially provided by law, shall, on or before the fifteenth day of October annually, post on the signposts therein, if any, or at some other exterior place near the office of the town clerk, or publish in a newspaper published in such town or, if no newspaper is published in such town, then in any newspaper published in the state having a general circulation in such town, a notice requiring all persons therein liable to pay taxes to bring in a declaration of the taxable personal property belonging to them on the first day of October in that year in accordance with section 12-41 and the taxable personal property for which a declaration is required in accordance with section 12-43.