[Adopted 12-19-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-02]
For special purposes for which the Board of Supervisors (the
"Board of Supervisors") of the Township of Washington, Berks County,
Pennsylvania (the "Township"), is authorized by law to levy and collect
assessments, an annual public fire hydrant assessment (the "fire hydrant
assessment") is hereby levied for calendar year 2014 and each subsequent
year thereafter for fire hydrant services in each fire hydrant district
("fire hydrant district") within the Township of Washington, Berks
County, Pennsylvania (the "Township"), as established from time to
time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors of the Township (the
"Board of Supervisors"), upon each property benefited within a designated
fire hydrant district. For purposes of this article, each lot within
a fire hydrant district shall be deemed to be benefited by the public
fire hydrant services, whether or not there is a building located
on such lot.
The Board of Supervisors hereby creates a fire hydrant district
for all lots Phases A, G, H and L1 of the West Tract Subdivision,
as more fully set forth on a plan entitled "West Tract Phases A, G,
H and L1 fire hydrant district" on file in the office of the Township.
The Board of Supervisors may also establish, from time to time, additional
fire hydrant districts by resolution of the Board of Supervisors.
The rate of the fire hydrant assessment levied hereby shall
be an equal assessment upon all property, whether nor not exempt from
taxation by existing law, within each fire hydrant district, based
upon the assessment of each property for county tax purposes, established
by resolution of the Board of Supervisors. The rate of the fire hydrant
assessment may be changed from time to time by resolution of the Board
of Supervisors.
All annual fire hydrant assessments for public fire hydrant
services in the fire hydrant districts shall be filed with the Township
Tax Collector for collection in the same manner as other taxes and
assessments imposed by the Township. The fire hydrant assessment shall
be billed on the annual real estate tax bill for general Township
purposes.
If any taxpayer shall fail to pay the fire hydrant assessment
authorized by this article, and the fire hydrant assessment remains
uncollected, the fire hydrant assessment, together with interest thereon
at the fixed rate of 18% per annum, compounded monthly, from the due
date thereof, and all costs of collection incurred by the Township
therefor, including but not limited to attorneys' fees and court
costs, shall become a municipal lien on the affected property and
shall be collectible by the Township in the same manner as other municipal
lien claims or as otherwise permitted by law.
The Township Tax Collector shall be entitled to the same percentage
commission for the fire hydrant assessment as he or she is entitled
to for the collection of other Township taxes and assessments.
All fire hydrant assessments, when collected, shall be paid
over to the Treasurer of the Township, who shall receive and keep
them in a separate account, to be paid out only for the expenses and
administrative costs incurred by the Township in providing such service.
The Township Tax Collector and the Township Treasurer shall make a
written report to the Township Board of Auditors annually.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances conflicting with the provisions
of this article are hereby repealed insofar as they are inconsistent
with this article.
If any sentence, clause, section or part of this article is
for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such
unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect or
impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections
or parts of this article. It is hereby declared as the intent of the
Board of Supervisors of the Township that this article would have
been adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid sentence,
clause, section or part thereof not been included herein.
