Before an assessment is made, affected owners and others must get a reasonable chance to be heard, and notice must be published; railway or street railway owners also need written notice.
Sec. 314.042. NOTICE TO OWNER OF ASSESSMENT. (a) An assessment may not be made against the property benefited or the owners of the property until after the owners, lienholders, and other interested parties are given a reasonable opportunity to be heard before the governing body or before the commission as provided by Section 314.047. (b) The governing body or commission shall publish three times before the hearing reasonable notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality beginning not later than the 10th day before the date of the hearing. (c) If an owner is a railway or street railway, the governing body or commission shall also give, not later than the 10th day before the date of the hearing, written notice: (1) in person to the owner's local agent; or (2) by mailing the notice through the post office in the municipality to the address of the office of the railway or street railway as it appears on the most recent tax roll of the municipality. (d) The name of an owner, lienholder, or other interested party need not be specifically set out in the notice required by Subsection (b) or (c), but the real property proposed to be assessed shall be briefly described in the notice by: (1) lot and block; (2) number; (3) front feet; (4) reference to a plat, report, or record filed in connection with the proceedings; or (5) any other description reasonably identifying the property. (e) The governing body or commission may give notice in addition to the notice required by Subsections (b) and (c), but the notice required by those subsections is sufficient. Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.