On accepting a bid for artificial lighting and bond as provided by section 515.07 of the Revised Code, the board of township trustees shall enter into a contract with the successful bidder for the furnishing of such lights according to specifications. The contract shall not be for a longer term than ten years. The cost and expenses of furnishing and maintaining such lights, and of the proceedings in relation thereto, shall be paid from a fund raised by special assessments against the lots and lands in the district which are benefited by such lighting, provided, if the board finds that the lighting will result in general as well as special benefits there may be paid from the general fund of the township treasury such portion of the cost and expenses, except for any accrued interest on unpaid assessments, as is found to represent the value of the general benefit. Special assessments shall not be in excess of the special benefits resulting from such lighting, they shall be paid and collected in equal semiannual installments, equal in number to twice the number of years for which the contract is made, and they shall be paid and collected in the same manner and at the same times that taxes are paid and collected. Any such assessment in the amount of five dollars or less, or with an unpaid balance of five dollars or less, shall be paid in full, and not in installments, at the time the first or next installment would otherwise become due and payable. Such assessments may be made and levied by any one of the following methods:

1. (A) By a percentage of the tax value of the property assessed;
2. (B) In proportion to the benefits which may result from the lighting;
3. (C) By the foot frontage of the property bounding and abutting upon the streets, or public ways so lighted;
4. (D) In an equal amount against each benefited lot, this amount to be determined by dividing the total cost per semiannual installment by the number of benefited lots in the district. The board of township trustees, by resolution, may provide for the payment of interest on unpaid assessments, which shall be treated as part of the costs and expenses of furnishing and maintaining the lights. The resolution shall specify the rate of interest, which shall be based on the current prime rate. After the levy of such special assessment the board may, at any time during any year in which installments thereof become due, pay out of the general fund of the township the full amount of the contract price for that year, provided such amount does not exceed the aggregate amount of the installments due for that year.