As Amended
SEC. 49-17-183. Special improvement assessments.
(1) Whenever a public agency shall enter into a contract referred to in section 49-17-181, and subject to the terms of such contract, such agency, in its sole discretion, is authorized, in connection with the acquisition, construction, improvement or extension of collection facilities, to cause the cost of such acquisition, construction, improvement or extension (hereinafter in this section referred to as "the improvement") to be made wholly or in part at the cost of the property owners benefitted thereby by levying special improvement assessments as provided in this section.
(2) Whenever the governing body of the agency shall adopt a resolution declaring the necessity of the improvement and the need for special improvement assessments therefor, which resolution shall describe the entire area to be benefitted and the nature and extent of the improvement, the public agency shall publish such resolution once each week for three (3) successive weeks in a newspaper having general circulation within the county in which the improvement is to be located, and the public agency shall fix a date on which the governing body of the agency shall meet to hear any objections to or remonstrances with respect to the improvement.
(3) At the meeting scheduled to hear objections, or at a time and place to which the same may be adjourned, any person aggrieved may appear in person, by attorney or by petition and may object to or protest against the improvement or any part thereof. The governing body of the public agency shall consider the objections and protests, if any, and may confirm, amend, modify or rescind its resolution of necessity, and shall determine whether the improvement shall be made and how the cost thereof shall be paid. The determination of the governing body of the public agency shall be final and conclusive; provided, however, that if a majority of property owners owning more than fifty percent (50%) of the front footage of the property involved, and actually residing on or occupying said property, shall file a protest with the clerk of the chancery court of the county in which the improvement is to be located not later than thirty (30) days following such meeting, then the improvement shall not be made.
(4) The resolution of the governing body of the public agency determining to proceed with the improvement may direct that the cost of the improvement, or such part as the agency shall determine, shall be a charge upon the property benefitted. Said resolution shall define the entire area to be benefitted by the improvement and shall direct that the cost to be assessed against each lot or parcel of land shall be determined by dividing the entire cost thereof by the total number of front feet fronting on all the streets embraced within the improvement area, and multiplying the quotient by the number of feet of street frontage in any particular lot or parcel of land; provided, however, that with respect to each lot or parcel of land which fronts more than one (1) street embraced within the improvement area, there shall be excluded from the total number of feet fronting on all streets, and from the number of feet of street frontage in such lot or parcel of land, that number of feet equal to the street frontage fronting streets to which such lot or parcel of land will not connect to the improvements; and, provided further, that the public agency's determination regarding such exclusion shall be conclusive. The result thereof shall be assessed by the public agency as the amount of special improvement assessment against each lot or piece of ground for the owner's part of the cost of the improvement. The cost of the improvement may include, to the extent determined by the public agency, the expenses of the agency, interest on money borrowed for financing the improvement while the improvement is under construction and for one (1) year thereafter, all costs relating to the issuance of bonds by the district to finance the improvement, actual engineering and inspection costs and all other costs directly related to the improvement.
(5) At any time, as the public agency may determine, after the agency directs that the cost of the improvement, or any part thereof, shall be a charge upon the property benefitted, the public agency shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a roll or list to be called the "assessment roll" showing the names of the property owners and opposite each name a description of each parcel of land. Such roll shall be entered in a well-bound book prepared for that purpose, which shall contain appropriate columns in which payments may be credited and which shall be known as the "assessment book." The public agency shall, upon its completion, deposit the assessment book with the clerk of the chancery court of the county in which the improvement is to be located, and such clerk shall keep the assessment book and preserve it as a public record. The entry in the assessment book of any assessment shall be and constitute notice to the public of the lien against the land so assessed and no other record or notice thereof shall be necessary to any person or corporation for that purpose. No error, omission or mistake in regard to the name of the owner shall be held to invalidate any assessment. After the assessment book has been delivered to such clerk of the chancery court, such clerk shall thereupon give a notice by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the improvement is to be located that the assessment roll has been delivered to him and is open for inspection at his office and that at a time and place therein mentioned, not less than fifteen (15) days from the date of the first publication, the governing body of the public agency will meet to hear and determine any objection or defense.
(6) The owner of any property assessed for the improvement, or any party having an interest therein, may appear at the time and place fixed for the hearing and determining of any objection or defense, and object to the proposed assessment or the amount thereof. The public agency shall hear and determine all objections and protests to the proposed assessment, as a result of which the agency may alter, change or correct any assessment; provided, however, that no assessment shall be increased without notice to the owner of the property. The public agency shall, by resolution, approve and confirm all assessments as finally fixed and adjusted at said hearing, which assessments shall, from the date of such confirmation, constitute a lien upon the respective property upon which they are levied, superior to all other liens except those for state and county taxes. All persons who fail to object to the proposed assessment at said hearing shall be deemed to have consented to and approved the same. Any property owner aggrieved by the decision of the public agency may appeal to the chancery court for the county wherein his property is situated.
(7) All assessments levied under the provisions of this section shall become due and shall be paid to the tax collector of the county in which the improvement is to be located in full within ninety (90) days from the date of confirmation thereof. However, the governing body of the public agency may by resolution confer upon the property owners who admit the legality of the assessment the privilege of paying the assessment in not exceeding ten (10) equal installments with interest from the date of the confirmation at the same rate as that fixed in the bonds issued to finance the cost of the improvement. Any property owner who shall not have taken an appeal from the assessment, shall, upon failure to pay said assessment in full within ninety (90) days from the date of confirmation, be deemed to have elected to pay said assessment in installments as herein provided. Any property owner who has elected to pay his assessment in installments shall have the right at any time to pay the balance of the assessment against his property in full, but in so doing he shall be required to pay all interest which would have accrued thereon had same not been paid until its maturity.
(8) The public agency shall annually certify to the tax collector of the county in which the improvement is to be located, the annual installment of assessment due from each tract of land against which an assessment has been levied, together with the amount of the interest upon all unpaid installments at the same rate as that fixed in the bonds issued to finance the cost of the improvement. The collector shall thereupon enter upon the annual tax roll of the county, in a separate column, the amount of the installment and interest to be collected from each tract of land so assessed, and said collector shall collect said installment, together with the interest upon all unpaid installments, together with, and at the same time he collects, the annual county tax. Upon collection, said tax collector shall deposit such special improvement assessment with such depository as the public agency shall determine, and shall certify to the clerk of the chancery court in which the improvement is or is to be located the amount of such assessment paid by each property owner.
Upon collection, said tax collector shall deposit such special improvement assessment into a separate account with such depository as the public agency shall determine, and shall certify to the clerk of the chancery court in which the improvement is or is to be located the amount of such assessment paid by each property owner. The clerk of the chancery court shall then note such payments on the "assessment book." When an assessment is paid in full, or upon the payment of the last installment thereof, the clerk shall note on said "assessment book" opposite the assessment, "paid in full." Upon the payment of each installment an appropriate note thereof shall be made opposite such assessment on said book, so that the amount of the assessment against any property assessed under the provisions of this section which remains a lien upon said property may be determined by reference to the "assessment book."
(9) All assessments levied under the provisions of this section shall be enforced in the same manner in which the payment of other taxes in said county is enforced, and all statutes regulating the collection of other taxes in said county shall apply to the enforcement and collection of the assessments levied pursuant to this section.
(10) If the assessment first levied shall prove insufficient to complete the improvement, the governing body of the public agency shall thereupon by resolution duly adopted make another levy on the property previously assessed for a sum sufficient to complete the improvement, which shall be collected in the same manner as the first levy. Any property owner aggrieved by the decision of the public agency may appeal solely as to the amount of such assessment to the chancery court for the county wherein his property is situated. When any work has been begun under the provisions of sections 49-17-161 through 49-17-209, which shall not be completed and paid for out of the first or other levy, it shall be the duty of the governing body of the public agency to make such levy for its completion, and from year to year until it is completed, provided that the total levy shall in no case exceed the value of the benefits assessed on said property. The performance of such duty may be enforced by mandamus at the instance of any person or board interested.
SOURCES: Laws, 1980, ch. 519, Sec. 12, eff from and after passage (approved May 20, 1980).