The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 24 App. V.S.A. ch. 261, § 20)
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§ 20. Power of trustees in laying sewers; proceedings by persons dissatisfied
Whenever the public health or convenience shall require the construction of a common
sewer or main drain in the Village of Orleans, the trustees of said Village, upon
application in writing of five or more freeholders and legal voters of said Village,
are hereby authorized and empowered to lay, make, and maintain such common sewer or
main drain and relay and repair the same from time to time when necessary, and for
such purposes may take the land of individuals and corporations on making compensation
for the land so taken; and the trustees shall proceed in the same manner as is by
law prescribed for the selectboard in taking land for public highways and in awarding
damages therefor; and the said trustees shall make a return of their doings to the
office of the Clerk of said Village, who shall record the same in the records of the
Village. Every person whose particular drain shall enter into any such sewer or main
drain or who in the opinion of such trustees shall receive benefit thereby for draining
his or her premises shall be liable to contribute his or her just share towards the
expense of laying and constructing such sewer or drain, and shall be assessed therefor
by said trustees such share; and notice of the time and place of such assessment for
said contribution shall be given to such person, his or her agent, tenant, or lessee,
and a certificate of such assessment shall be left with the Clerk of said Village
and recorded by said Clerk, and when so recorded the amount so assessed shall be and
remain a lien in the nature of a tax upon the land or premises so assessed or benefited
until the same shall be paid; and if the owners of such lands shall neglect for the
space of more than 60 days after the final decision of said trustees, or in case of
an appeal to the County Court for more than 60 days from the final decision of said
court, to pay to the Village Treasurer the amount of said assessment, the trustees
shall issue their warrant for the collection of the same directed to the Village collector
of taxes who shall have power and authority to sell at public auction so much of said
land or personal effects or other property not exempt by law from attachment, levy
of execution, or distraint for taxes, of such delinquent, as will satisfy such assessment
and all legal costs and fees, and who shall proceed in the same manner as Collectors
of Taxes are required by law to proceed in selling real estate or personal effects
or property of delinquent taxpayers at auction for collection of town taxes. When
any person shall be dissatisfied with the decision of said trustees in the award of
damages for land taken for a sewer or drain or in any assessment for contribution
for the same, such person may petition the County Court for Orleans County for a reassessment
of such damages or contribution, and any number of persons aggrieved may join in the
petition, but such petition shall not delay the laying or repairing such sewer or
drain; such petition shall be served on the Clerk of such Village within 60 days next
after the award of damages or said assessment for contribution shall be filed in said
Clerk’s office. Such proceedings shall be had in said County Court on said petition
as are provided by law for the reassessment of damages for land taken for highways
by the laws of the State except as herein provided, and the commissioners appointed
by said County Court to reexamine any assessment or contribution shall notify the
Clerk of said corporation of the time and place when they shall hear said matter. (Added 1892, No. 114, § 20; amended 1908, No. 256, § 1.)