Every city of the second class, in its corporate capacity, is authorized to cause to be paved or macadamized any public street, lane, or alley, or part thereof, which is now or may hereafter be laid out and opened in any of said cities, and have the same set with curb-stones; and to provide for the payment of the costs and expenses thereof, in whole or in part, by the city, or by the owners of real estate bounding and abutting thereon; which costs and expenses upon the abutting real estate shall be assessed according to the foot front rule, or according to benefits, as council shall by ordinance determine.
53 P.S. § 24393