Missouri and Indiana both run owner-pays sidewalk systems, and both wrote the machinery into state law plainly enough that you can read exactly what is allowed to happen to you.
Missouri: the ordinance power
RSMo Sec. 88.877, verbatim: "The city council may, by ordinance, provide that the owner of any lot or tract shall build and construct, or rebuild or reconstruct or repair, a sidewalk lying along and adjacent to his said property."
Note the full spread of verbs: build, construct, rebuild, reconstruct, repair. The statute covers the whole lifecycle, and a companion section (RSMo 88.804) extends similar power to small special-charter towns. Whether your city has actually passed such an ordinance is the operative question, which is why we verify city by city: our St. Louis record shows owner-pays softened by a 50/50 program (100% city-paid when a city tree did the damage), and our Kansas City record covers who owns the sewer lateral there: the owner, all the way to the main.
Indiana: the 30-day clock
IC 36-9-36-17, verbatim: "The works board may require the owners of abutting property to construct or repair the owners' own sidewalks or curbs if the works board: (1) desires to improve or repair any sidewalks or curbs in the unit; and (2) adopts a final resolution to that effect."
Then the clock: "A property owner has thirty (30) days from the date of the notice to construct the sidewalks or curbs or make the repairs as required by the notice." Miss the window and the board contracts the work out, and under IC 36-9-36-29 the cost "shall be assessed on the abutting land or lots." Indiana's system is nearly identical to Illinois's 30-day letter, resolution, notice, 30 days, then someone else's contractor and your assessment. Our Indianapolis record covers the sewer side, where the owner holds the lateral to the main.
If you get the notice, in either state
- The 30 days (Indiana) or the ordinance deadline (Missouri) is real. Doing the work yourself inside the window with your own contractor is almost always cheaper than the assessed version.
- Ask for the resolution or ordinance number. The power exists only as exercised; make them show the paper that triggers your duty.
- Check for programs before paying full freight. St. Louis's 50/50 program is the in-state proof that the statutory ceiling and the actual bill are different numbers.
Sources: RSMo 88.877 (official revisor, quoted verbatim) and IC 36-9-36-17 with IC 36-9-36-29 (via Justia's code archive, disclosed per our methodology). City rules live in the complete city guide.