[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
District sewers may be established for the districts created,
to be prescribed by law or ordinance, and shall connect with the public
or other district or joint district sewers or with a natural course
of drainage, as the case may be, and may be constructed with the main
branch or discharge pipe wholly within or beyond the boundary of the
district, as the Board of Aldermen shall determine. The district may
be subdivided, enlarged or changed by law or ordinance at any time
previous to the construction of the sewer therein. More than one (1)
district sewer may be laid in a sewer district, if deemed necessary
by the Board of Aldermen for sanitary or other purposes. The Board
of Aldermen shall cause sewers to be constructed in each district
whenever a majority of the property owners shall petition therefor
or whenever the Board of Aldermen shall deem the sewers necessary
for sanitary or other purposes. The sewer shall be of such dimensions
and materials as may be prescribed by law or ordinance, may be changed,
enlarged or extended, and shall have all the necessary laterals, inlets,
catch basins, manholes and other appurtenances as may be prescribed.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
The cost of constructing all sewers, including the erection
of all necessary disposal plants, in and for any district where such
sewers are constructed by assessment against the property of the district
shall be paid for wholly in special tax bills against the lands embraced
within the district, exclusive of public highways, streets, and alleys,
in proportion to the area of each tract. The boundaries of no sewer
district that has been paid for wholly by special tax bills shall
be altered or changed after any sewer has been constructed in and
for the same. For district sewers where the construction cost is not
paid for by special tax bills against the property of the district,
the Board of Aldermen may, by ordinance, provide that payment for
construction costs will be made out of the General Revenue Funds of
the City.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
Before the Board of Aldermen shall make any contract for building
or constructing sewers, an estimate of the cost thereof and related
costs shall be made by the City Engineer or City Administrator and
submitted to the Board of Aldermen, and no contract shall be entered
into for any work or improvement for a price exceeding the estimate.
Further, the Board of Aldermen shall cause plans and specifications
for any project to build or construct sewers, together with an estimate
of the total cost for the project, including construction, construction
contingency and fees and other expenses, and an estimate of the portion
of the total cost to be assessed against each property to be benefitted
by the said project, to be prepared by the City Engineer or the City
Administrator, and filed with the City Clerk, subject to public inspection.
The Board of Aldermen further shall cause notice of said project and
the above described items to be printed in two (2) consecutive issues
of some weekly newspaper printed in Boone County, Missouri. If requested
by three (3) or more City residents, a public hearing shall be held
before the Board of Aldermen, at which time the public may express
their assent or objection to said project.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
The special tax assessments made for constructing district sewers
shall be known as "special assessments for improvements" and shall
be levied and collected as a special tax, and a special tax bill shall
be issued therefor. The said special tax bills further may include
a reasonable construction contingency and an amount not to exceed
twenty percent (20%) of the total cost of the project to be used for
payment of fees and other expenses. The total cost of constructing
district sewers wherein a special tax bill shall issue thereof, may
be paid in ten (10) annual installments. In such case, the tax bills
shall be payable in annual installments as follows: One-tenth (1/10)
in one (1) year, one-tenth (1/10) in two (2) years, one-tenth (1/10)
in three (3) years, one-tenth (1/10) in four (4) years, one-tenth
(1/10) in five (5) years, one-tenth (1/10) in six (6) years, one-tenth
(1/10) in seven (7) years, one-tenth (1/10) in eight (8) years, one-tenth
(1/10) in nine (9) years, and one-tenth (1/10) in ten (10) years after
the date of their issue. Tax bills shall bear interest not to exceed
the rate on ten (10) year United States Treasury notes as established
at the most recent auction, payable annually, from sixty (60) days
after the date of issue until paid. In addition, there shall be charged
a fee on said special tax bill which is computed as follows: The fee
equals that percentage of the special tax bill, which when added to
the rate of interest stated above will result in a figure which would
be equal to an annual interest rate at the "market rate", as that
term is defined in Section 408.030, Revised Statutes of Missouri.
If any annual installment, or the interest and fee thereon, is not
paid when due, then all remaining installments shall, at the option
of the holder of the special tax bill, become immediately due and
payable. The owner of the property charged with the payment of the
special tax bill, or the owner of any interest therein, shall have
the privilege of paying the whole of any special tax bill in full
at any time, or on any annual installment payment date of paying in
full one (1) or more of the remaining installments not of maturity
date. Every special tax bill shall be a lien against the lot or tract
or parcel of land described in said special tax bill for a period
ending one (1) year after the date of maturity of the last annual
installment, except in case where it becomes necessary to bring a
suit to enforce the lien of any special tax bill, when the lien of
which shall continue until the expiration of the litigation.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
The Board of Aldermen may, by ordinance, issue assessment notes
at the time the Board of Aldermen authorizes special tax assessments
and issues special tax bills therefor. The assessment notes shall
be issued as provided for in Section 88.815, Revised Statutes of Missouri.
No assessment notes issued shall constitute an indebtedness of the
City of Centralia within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory
limitation or provision.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987; Ord. No. 1625 § 2, 6-17-1991]
After the City has entered into a contract for construction
of the district sewer improvements, the City Engineer or the City
Administrator shall compute the whole cost thereof and shall apportion
the same against the lots or tracts of ground in the district, exclusive
of the public highways, and the City Engineer or the City Administrator
shall report same to the Board of Aldermen by bill or otherwise. The
Board of Aldermen shall therefor levy and assess a special tax by
ordinance against each such lot or piece of ground within the district,
whereupon the City Clerk shall make out a certified tax bill under
the Seal of the City for the assessment against each lot or piece
of ground within the district in the name of the owner thereof. Such
certified tax bills shall be signed by the Mayor and attested and
recorded by the City Clerk and shall be delivered to the contractor
in payment for the work upon completion of the project, or deposited
into a special fund as authorized by Section 88.815 of the Revised
Statutes of Missouri, as appropriate. See Section 88.842, Revised
Statutes of Missouri, for assessment of land owned by the City.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
Any error made in issuing any tax bill may be corrected by the City Clerk, either by interlineations in it or by issuing a new tax bill in lieu of the erroneous one; but when a tax bill is corrected by interlineations, the date of making same shall be certified to by the City Clerk on the margin or back of the bill. In any action brought on any special tax bill, the Court may correct any error in the amount of the tax bill, and in any case where it is shown that the work done was not as good as required by the contract, the Court may give judgement for the reasonable value of the work chargeable against the land described in the tax bill. In all actions to enforce any special tax bill, the Court shall fix and allow a reasonable attorney fee to the plaintiff's attorney for his services in the prosecution of such action and tax the same as costs in the proceeding. In all cases where work is done or improvements made and the cost thereof is assessed as a special tax, any owner of property upon which such tax is levied may request, and the Board of Aldermen shall grant, a public hearing to determine whether such assessment is excessive or is levied at a greater sum than was stated in the notices required by Section
26-95. The Board of Aldermen is hereby empowered to adjust or reduce such assessment which is determined to be excessive or levied at a greater sum than was stated in the notices. If such adjustments or reductions result in the collection of special taxes insufficient to pay the costs of work done or improvements made, the City may pay the difference between costs accrued and special taxes collected out of General Revenue.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
Whenever the City advertises for bids for the construction of
a new district sewer, as provided by this Article, and receives no
bids therefor, the City may proceed to construct the sewer at its
own expense and shall keep an accurate account of the amount expended
for labor and materials used. As soon as the district sewer has been
completed, the City Engineer or the City Administrator shall compute
the whole cost thereof and apportion the same against the lots, tracts
or parcels of ground in proportion to the area of the whole district,
exclusive of public highways, and the City Engineer or the City Administrator
shall report the same to the Board of Aldermen, by bill or otherwise.
The City Clerk shall issue tax bills, payable to the City, against
each lot, tract or parcel of ground for the amount for which it is
liable. When the tax bill made payable to the City is assigned, the
City shall not be liable thereon in any Court action, as provided
in Section 88.826 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
The City Clerk and the City Collector shall follow the procedure
outlined in Section 88.818, Revised Statutes of Missouri, regarding
special tax bills issued as provided above. The special tax bills
shall be assigned, collected, enforced and foreclosed upon in accordance
with the provisions of Section 88.846, Section 88.854, Section 88.856,
Section 88.858 and Section 88.861, Revised Statutes of Missouri.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987]
Whenever the City may deem it necessary that a sewer should be constructed or reconstructed in any part of the City containing two (2) or more sewer districts, it may, by ordinance, unite such sewer districts into a joint sewer district and cause a sewer to be constructed therein in like manner in all respects as is provided in this Division in the case of district sewers. Should the Board of Aldermen, by ordinance, unite two (2) or more sewer districts into a joint sewer district for the purpose of constructing a joint district sewer therein, the action of the Board of Aldermen shall be conclusive for all purposes. No special tax bill shall be held invalid or be affected on account of the included drainage area thereof, or the size, character or purpose of such sewer; provided, that no sewer district shall be included in such joint district which is not contained in the natural drainage are of the valley or watercourse in which such joint district sewer is proposed to be constructed. Except as authorized in Section
26-94, the cost of the joint sewer district, including construction costs, if any, shall be assessed and paid in special tax bills against the property included in the joint sewer district, the same as is provided in the case of district sewers.