Section 165. Procedure on review

No  action  or  proceeding  shall  be
  maintained to set  aside,  vacate,  cancel,  annul,  review,  reduce  or
  otherwise  question,  test  or  affect  the  legality or validity of any
  assessment or tax for a local improvement, except in the form and manner
  and by the proceedings herein provided.  If, in the proceedings relative
  to an assessment or tax, entire absence of jurisdiction on the  part  of
  the officers, board or body authorized by law to levy or assess the same
  or  to order the improvement on account of which the assessment was made
  or tax imposed, is alleged to have existed  or  in  case  any  fraud  or
  substantial  error, other than the errors or irregularities specified in
  the preceding section, by reason of which substantial damages have  been
  sustained,  are  alleged  to have existed or to have been committed, any
  party aggrieved thereby, who shall have filed objections thereto  within
  the  time  and in the manner specified by law therefor, may apply to the
  supreme court at any special term  thereof,  held  within  the  judicial
  district  in  which  the  city  is  situated,  for  an order vacating or
  modifying such assessment as to the lands in which he has  an  interest,
  upon  the  grounds  in said objections specified, and no other, and upon
  due notice of such application to the  corporation  counsel.  Each  such
  application  shall  be made within twenty days after the confirmation of
  the assessment.  Thereupon such court may proceed to hear the proofs and
  allegations of the parties and determine the  same,  or  may  appoint  a
  referee  to  take  the  proof  and  report  thereon, or to hear, try and
  determine the same.  If it shall be determined in such  proceeding  that
  the  officers,  board  or  body  had no jurisdiction to make the levy or
  assessment complained of or to order  the  improvement,  the  court  may
  order  such assessment or tax vacated. If it shall be determined therein
  that any such fraud or substantial error has been committed and that the
  party applying for such relief,  has  suffered  substantial  damages  by
  reason  thereof,  the  court  may  order  that  the assessment or tax be
  modified as to such party and as so modified that it be  confirmed.    A
  like  application  may  be made to secure a modification or reduction of
  any such assessment or tax on account of fraud or such substantial error
  occurring in the performance of the work of the improvement  on  account
  of  which  such  assessment  or  tax  is made or levied, and it shall be
  determined in like manner. If, in  any  such  proceeding,  it  shall  be
  determined  that  such fraud or substantial error has been committed, by
  reason of which any such assessment or tax upon the lands  of  any  such
  aggrieved  party has been unlawfully increased, the court may order that
  such assessment or tax be modified by deducting therefrom such amount as
  is in the same proportion to such assessment or tax as the whole  amount
  of  such  unlawful  increase is to the whole amount of the assessment or
  tax for the improvement. An order so made in any such  proceeding  shall
  be  entered  in  the  clerk's  office of the county in which the city is
  situated, and shall have the same force and effect as  a  judgment.  The
  court  may,  during  the  pendency  of  any  such  proceeding,  stay the
  collection of any assessment or tax  involved  therein  as  against  the
  parties  thereto.  Costs and disbursements of any such proceeding may be
  allowed in the discretion of the court. No appeal shall  be  allowed  or
  taken  from the order made in any such proceeding, but the determination
  so made therein shall be final and conclusive upon all parties  thereto.
  No  assessment  or  tax shall be modified otherwise that to reduce it to
  the extent that the same may be shown by the parties complaining thereof
  to have been in fact increased in dollars and cents by  reason  of  such
  fraud  or  substantial  error.  In no event shall that proportion of any
  such assessment which is the equivalent of the fair value or  fair  cost
  of  the improvement be disturbed for any cause. No money paid on account
  of any assessment or tax shall be recovered for any  cause,  except  the

  amount  of  the excess of such assessment or tax over and above the fair
  value and cost of the  improvement.  In  case  of  the  failure  of  any
  assessment or tax for any cause, the comptroller shall certify such fact
  to  the  common  council and it shall be its duty to forthwith cause the
  same to be relevied and reassessed in a proper manner.