The authority for this Article
X is 30-A M.R.S.A. § 3441, which authorizes the Bar Harbor Town Council to accept the applicability of 30-A M.R.S.A. §§ 3441 to 3445, regarding assessments and fees for new sewer construction, to the Town.
Any person who is dissatisfied with the amount assessed under §
165-53 may, within 10 days after hearing under §
165-53D, make a written request to the Town Clerk to have the assessment upon the lot or parcel of land determined by arbitration.
A. Arbitrators selected. The Town Council shall nominate
six persons who are registered voters of the Town of Bar Harbor. The
applicant shall select two of those nominated, and these two persons
shall select a third person who is a registered voter of the Town
of Bar Harbor and who is not one of the six persons nominated by the
Town Council.
B. Arbitration procedure. The three persons selected under Subsection
A shall fix the amount to be paid by the applicant. Within 30 days from the hearing before the Town Council under §
165-53, the arbitrators shall report their findings to the Town Clerk, who shall record them. The arbitrators’ report is final and binding on all parties.
All assessments and charges made under this Article
X shall be certified by the Town Council and filed with the Tax Collector for collection. A facsimile of the signatures of the Town Council imprinted at its direction upon any certification of an assessment or charge under this chapter has the same validity as their signatures.
A. Installment payments. The Town Council may adopt an
order generally authorizing the Assessor and the Tax Collector to
assess and collect those assessments and charges over a period of
time not exceeding 10 years.
(1) The Assessor and Collector may exercise this authority
only when the person assessed has agreed to installment payments in
writing and notice of that fact has been recorded by the Town Clerk
in the appropriate Registry of Deeds.
(2) The Town Council shall annually file with the Tax
Collector a list of installment payments due the Town, which must
be collected with interest at a rate determined by the Town Council.
If, within 30 days after written notice of the total amount of the
assessments and charges, or annual installment payment and interest,
the person assessed fails, neglects or refuses to pay the Town the
expense incurred, the Assessor may assess a special tax, equal to
the amount of the total unpaid assessment and charges, upon each lot
or parcel of land so assessed and buildings upon the lot or parcel
of land. This assessment must be included in the next annual warrant
to the Tax Collector for collection and must be collected in the same
manner as county and municipal taxes are collected.
(a)
Interest at the same rate used for delinquent
property taxes as established by 36 M.R.S.A. §505, Subdivision
4, on the unpaid portion of assessments and charges due the Town of
Bar Harbor accrues from the 30th day after written notice to the person
assessed and must be added to and becomes part of the special tax
when committed to the Tax Collector.
B. Action to recover unpaid assessments. If assessments
under this section are not paid and the Town does not proceed to collect
the assessments by a sale of the lots or parcels of land upon which
the assessments are made or does not collect or is in any manner delayed
or defeated in collecting the assessments by a sale of the real estate
so assessed, then the Town may maintain a civil action in its name
against the party so assessed for the amount of the assessment in
any court competent to try the action. In this action, the Town may
recover the amount of the assessment with 12% interest on the assessment
from the date of the assessment and costs.
When any assessment made under §
165-53 is paid by any person against whom the assessment has been made, who is not the owner of the lot or parcel of land, then the person paying the assessment has a lien upon the lot or parcel of land with the buildings on the land for the amount of the assessment paid by that person, and incidental charges. The lien may be enforced in a civil action and by attachment in the way and manner provided for the enforcement of liens upon buildings and lots under Title 10 of the Maine Revised Statutes Annotated. The lien shall continue one year after the assessment is paid.