[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of
Whitemarsh 1-3-1983 by Ord. No. 453. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
The moneys necessary for placing, replacing, operating, maintaining
and repairing fire hydrants, or for contract obligations to water companies
or municipal authorities with respect to fire hydrants, or for providing for
or acquiring any such water system may be obtained by proceeding in accordance
with the following:
A.
If any such fire protection service is or was instituted by the Township Supervisors without the petition of the surface property owners of a majority of the linear-foot frontage along any highways, streets, roads and alleys, or portions thereof, within the Township, such moneys may be obtained by any one of the means set forth in Subsection B(1) or (2) below.
B.
If any such fire protection service is or was instituted upon the petition of the surface property owners of a majority of the linear-foot frontage along any highways, streets, roads or alleys, or portions thereof, within the Township, such moneys may be obtained by any one of the means set forth in Subsection B(1) or (2) below:
(1)
The Township Supervisors shall annually assess, or cause
to be assessed, the cost and expense of such fire protection service by an
equal assessment upon all property, whether or not exempt from taxation by
existing law, abutting upon such highways, streets, roads and alleyways or
portions thereof; no assessment shall be levied against any farmland or land
used as an aviation field or against other property in the district not benefited
thereby. Such assessment shall be collected in the same manner as taxes. The
Township Finance Director shall receive all such assessments collected for
fire protection.
(2)
The Township's Supervisors shall annually assess,
or cause to be assessed, the cost and expense of such fire-protection service
by an equal assessment on all property, whether or not exempt from taxation
under existing law, abutting upon said highways, streets, roads and alleyways
or portions thereof, within 780 feet of any fire hydrant and the district
benefited thereby, in proportion to the number of feet said property fronts
on any highway, street, road or alleyway upon which a water main is laid or
within 780 feet of any fire hydrant on such highway, street, road or alleyway.
The Township Supervisors may provide for an equitable reduction from the frontage
of lots at intersections or where, from the peculiar or pointed shape of lots,
an assessment of the full frontage would be inequitable. No such assessment
shall be made against any farmland, but vacant lots between built-up sections,
either tilled or untilled, shall not be deemed to be farmlands. All such assessments
for fire protection shall be filed with the Township Finance Director, who
shall give two months' written or printed notice that the assessments
are due and payable, stating the due date to each party assessed, either by
service on the owner of the property or by mailing such notice to the owner
at his last known post office address. If the whole amount of the assessment
is paid within two months after the date of the assessment notice, there shall
be a 2% discount on the amount of the assessment due. A 10% per annum penalty,
which shall become part of the tax due and included in the base on which all
other delinquent interest and penalties are calculated, shall be added to
the amount of the assessment not paid within four months after the date of
the notice of the assessment. If the assessments or any of them remain unpaid
at the expiration of four months from the date of the notice of the assessment,
then they shall be placed in the hands of the Township Solicitor for collection.
The Township Solicitor shall collect the same, together with reasonable attorney's
fees, from the date such assessments were due, by a municipal claim filed
against the property of the delinquent owner in like manner as municipal claims
are by law filed and collected. Where an owner has two or more lots against
which there is an assessment for the same year, all such lots may be embraced
in one claim. All assessments, when collected, shall be paid over to the Township
Finance Director.
[Amended 2-15-1985 by Ord. No. 509; 3-19-1987
by Ord. No. 545]
