Any municipality may prescribe by general ordinance in what case curbs and sidewalks shall be constructed, repaired, altered, relaid or maintained at the expense of the abutting landowners; wherever in any municipality it shall hereafter become the duty of any owner of abutting lands under said ordinance or ordinances of the municipality to construct, repair, alter or relay any curb or sidewalk, or section thereof, the authorities of such municipality having charge of street affairs may, by resolution, cause a notice in writing to be served upon the owners or occupant of said lands, requiring the necessary specified work to said curb or sidewalk to be done by the said owner or occupant within a period of not less than 30 days from the date of service of such notice; whenever any lands are unoccupied and the owner cannot be found within the municipality, the same may be mailed, postage prepaid, to his or her post-office address, if the same can be ascertained; in case such owner is a nonresident of the municipality or his or her post-office address cannot be ascertained, then the notice may be inserted for 4 weeks, once a week in some newspaper of such municipality or if none be published therein, then in some newspaper published in the State and circulating in said municipality; in case the owner or occupant of such lands shall not comply with the requirements of such notice, it shall be lawful for the street department of the municipality, upon filing due proof of the service or publication of the aforesaid notice in the appropriate department of the municipality, to cause the required work to be done, and paid for out of the municipal funds available for that purpose; the cost of such work shall be certified by the department or person having charge thereof to the department or person having charge of the collection of assessments in such municipality; upon filing the said certificate, the amount of the cost of such work shall be and become a lien upon the said abutting lands in front of which such work was done to the same extent that assessments for local improvements are liens in such municipality under its charter or the general law, and shall be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of such other assessments, and shall bear interest at the same rate; in addition thereto the municipality may have an action to recover the said amount against the owner of said lands, in any court having competent jurisdiction thereof; a certified copy of the aforesaid certificate shall in such action be prima facie evidence of the existence of a debt due from the said owner to the municipality.

L.1970, c. 297, s. 1, eff. Dec. 14, 1970.