The city council of any city in the state having a population of less than thirty thousand inhabitants and being operated under a special charter, shall have power within the city, by ordinance, to cause the streets and public places in the city, or any part thereof, to be sprinkled or oiled, and the cost thereof to be provided for and defrayed by a special tax to be assessed in favor of the city on the adjoining property fronting or bordering on the streets or public places where such sprinkling or oiling is proposed to be done, on the proportion that the linear feet of each lot fronting or bordering on the street or public place so to be sprinkled or oiled bears to the total number of all property chargeable with the special tax aforesaid in the territory embraced by the contract under which said sprinkling is to be done. The above work shall be contracted for annually by the commissioner of streets and public improvements at such time and under such terms as shall be provided by ordinance, and the city shall be divided into convenient sprinkling or oiling districts for the above purpose, and each district shall be let separately. The special tax bills spoken of shall be and become a lien on the property charged therewith from the first Monday in April each year and shall be prima facie evidence of the liability of the property charged therewith to the extent and amount therein specified, and may be collected of and from the owner of the land in the name of and by the city as any other claim in any court of competent jurisdiction, with interest at the rate of eight percent per annum from the first day of May in each year, and they shall be issued and collected in the manner hereafter provided by ordinance.