After the hearing, the Council shall forthwith proceed to make such modifications or changes as to it may seem equitable or just, or shall confirm the first proposed assessment, and upon reaching a final decision shall, by ordinance, fix the portions of the cost to be assessed against the benefited properties and against the owners thereof respectively, which ordinance shall incorporate by reference the assessment roll as approved by the Council. After the final enactment of such ordinance the amounts of the several assessments so listed, advertised and incorporated and not previously objected to shall be conclusively presumed to be just and equitable and not in excess of the special benefits accruing or to accrue by reason of the improvement to the specific property assessed.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
The Director of Finance shall notify the several owners and lessees, on record in the books and records of the Real Property Tax Division of the Department of Finance by either certified or registered mail addressed to their addresses on record at such department, with a request for a return receipt, of the several amounts assessed on the respective properties and of the date when such assessments are payable; provided, however, that failure of any owner or lessee to receive any such notice shall not invalidate the assessment or entitle the owner or lessee to an extension of time within which to pay the assessment. The Director of Finance shall also collect such assessment and set aside all monies so collected in an appropriate fund or funds.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1982; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
All assessments so made shall be due and payable within thirty (30) days after the date of the last publication of the ordinance; provided that any assessment may, at the election of the owner of the land assessed, be paid in installments with interest, as hereinafter provided. Failure to pay the whole of any assessment within the period of thirty (30) days shall be conclusively considered and held an election on the part of all persons interested in such assessments, whether under disability or otherwise, to pay in installments. All persons so electing to pay in installments shall be conclusively considered and held to have consented to the improvement and such election shall be conclusively held and considered as a waiver of any and all right to question all power or jurisdiction of the County to make the improvement, the regularity or the sufficiency of the proceedings or the validity or correctness of the assessment; provided, however, that such waiver shall not apply to any person who has properly filed an action in court, challenging the power or jurisdiction of the County to make the improvement, within thirty (30) days after the passage of the ordinance fixing the assessments.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
(a) 
All assessments made pursuant to this Chapter shall be a lien until paid against each lot or parcel of land assessed from the date of the first publication of the ordinance declaring the assessment and shall have priority over all other liens except the lien of real property taxes.
(b) 
In the event that a lot previously assessed is subsequently subdivided or subsequently consolidated with any other lot, whether or not the latter is within the improvement district, the Council, upon petition by the owners of such lots as may be subdivided or consolidated, or upon petition by the lessees of such lots as may be subdivided or consolidated who by the express terms of their leases are obligated to pay the kind of assessments covered by this Chapter, may prorate the original assessment among the lots resultant from the subdivision, or consolidate the assessments upon the component lots and assess the consolidated lot therefor, by an appropriate amendment to the assessment ordinance; provided that prior to the introduction of the amendment to the assessment ordinance, the subdivider or consolidators shall deposit with the County legal tender or a certified check in a sufficient amount to be used to cover the cost of making such allocation and to cover the assessment allocable to areas used or to be used for purposes that are public in nature, such as, but not limited to, roadways, parks, school sites, sewage treatment plant sites and reservoir sites, developed in connection with the subdivision or consolidation. The cost of making the reallocation of assessments, when determined by the County Engineer and approved by the Council shall be paid into the general fund of the County. The amount of assessment, allocable to areas used or to be used for purposes that are public in nature and developed in connection with the subdivision or consolidation, as recommended by the County Engineer and approved by the Council, shall be credited to the appropriate fund. The amended assessments shall be a lien upon the subdivided or consolidated lots as of the effective date of the amended ordinance. Such assessment shall be paid in installments equal in number to that remaining under the original assessment and at the same rates of assessments and interest.
(c) 
No delay, mistake, error, defect or irregularity in any act or proceeding authorized by this Chapter shall prejudice or invalidate any assessment; but the same may be remedied by subsequent or amended acts or proceedings and, when so remedied, the same shall take effect as of the date of the original act or proceeding. If in any court of competent jurisdiction any assessment made under this Chapter is set aside for irregularity in the proceedings, the Council may, upon notice as required in making an original assessment, make a new assessment in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.
(d) 
Upon completion of the improvement or improvements and the payment of the cost thereof, the County Engineer shall certify to the Council the actual cost of such improvement or improvements together with the amount of the assessments therefor. If the aggregate of the assessments for an improvement or improvements made pursuant to either Section 24-3.2 or Section 24-3.3 exceeds the actual cost of the improvement or improvements by more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), the Council by amendment of the assessment ordinance may direct the Director of Finance to ratably refund or credit the amount in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), provided that no refund or credit shall be made if the cost of effecting such refund or credit exceeds the amount of refund or credit available. If the assessment has been paid in full, then the refund of such excess shall be made to the owners of the property at the time of the refund. If the assessment is still outstanding, then the refund shall be applied to reduce the unpaid principal of the assessment outstanding. If any amount of such excess cannot be applied as refund, then such excess shall be credited to the improvement district revolving fund of the County. In any case, any amount of excess up to five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) or less shall be retained by the Director of Finance to defray the cost of effecting any refund or credit and all other costs of administering the improvement district from which such amount is generated; provided, that any amount in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) shall be ratably distributed subject, however, to the limitation relative to the cost of distribution as stated hereinbefore.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
(a) 
In case of an election to pay any assessment in installments, the assessment shall be payable in not less than five (5) nor more than twenty (20) annual installments; provided that in an improvement or improvements made pursuant to Section 24-3.1, with respect to which the required amount for the contract price and other costs involved is obtained through the sale of general obligation bonds or from the special assessment revolving fund or both pursuant to Section 24-5.1(b), the assessments may be made payable in not more than two hundred forty (240) monthly installments. Interest shall be paid on the unpaid principal at a rate not exceeding fifteen percent (15%) per annum. The number of such installments and period of payment and the rate of interest shall be as determined by the Council.
(b) 
The owner of any land assessed may at any time after the expiration of the first thirty (30) day period pay the entire unpaid principal of assessment, or any portion of the unpaid principal, together with interest on the amount so paid to the date for the payment of the next subsequent installment, and such owner shall no longer be liable for the interest which would otherwise have accrued after such date on the amount of principal so prepaid. Any prepayment of the unpaid principal of an assessment shall be applied to reduce the unpaid principal of the assessment outstanding; shall be credited against the outstanding principal installments in inverse chronological order; and shall not relieve the owner of the land assessed from the payment of the amount of the installment of principal and interest next due.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
The Director of Finance may accept in lieu of cash in payment of any assessment, installment thereof, interest, penalty, cost, expense or any portion thereof, bonds of the improvement district in which the land is situated, such bonds to be valued to an amount equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the principal amount of such bonds, plus accrued interest on such bonds to the date of acceptance of such bonds by the Director of Finance. Upon the receipt of such bonds, the Director of Finance shall forward the same to the registrar for such bonds for cancellation.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
Failure to pay any installment or any part of an installment, whether of principal or interest or both, when due, shall cause the whole of the unpaid principal to become due and payable immediately, and the delinquent installment or installments or any delinquent part or parts thereof, whether of principal or interest or both, shall thereafter bear penalty at the rate of two percent (2%) per month or fraction of a month from the date of delinquency until the date of sale as hereinafter provided; but at any time prior to the date of sale the owner may pay the entire amount of the delinquent installment or installments or delinquent part or parts, whether of principal or interest or both, with penalty, and all costs and expenses accrued, and shall thereupon be restored to the right thereafter to pay in installments in the same manner as if default had not been made.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
The owner of any undivided interest in any land may pay the whole assessment and may have a joint or several right of action against the other owners of any interest in such land for their proportionate share of the assessment.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
In case of default in the payment when due of the principal of and interest on any installment of any assessment, the Director of Finance shall advertise and sell the property concerning which default is made for the whole of the unpaid principal amount of the assessment thereon, interest and costs. Such sale and advertisement shall be made by the Director of Finance in the same manner, under the same conditions and penalties and with the same effect as provided by general law for sales of real property for default in payment of property taxes.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
At any sale for default in payment of any assessment as aforesaid, the Director of Finance may accept, in lieu of cash, in payment for the land so sold, bonds of such improvement district, such bonds to be valued at an amount equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the principal amount of such bonds, plus accrued interest on such bonds to date of sale. Upon the receipt of such bonds the Director of Finance shall forward the same to the registrar for such bonds for cancellation and credit the improvement district with the amount allowed on the bonds.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
The Director of Finance shall on request give a certificate in writing to any person making request for same, showing in the certificate the balance due on any individual assessment for improvements for principal, with the date of next installment payment, the number of the installment payment and the amount to be due for the installment payment and particulars of interest and penalty on the next installment date to be due and owing.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)
Whenever any land has been bid in by the Director of Finance at any sale for default of the owner thereof, the Director of Finance in making such sale thereof as may by law be authorized, may sell the same upon the following terms and conditions:
(a) 
A down payment at the sale of twenty percent (20%) of the sale price;
(b) 
The balance payable in monthly installments of not less than one and one-third percent (1-1/3%) of the total sale price, plus interest at the prevailing rate established by the Council for payment of the unpaid balance of the property owner's share of the cost of assessments within an improvement created and established under Section 24-3.1;
(c) 
Failure for thirty (30) days to pay any installment due shall effect an entire forfeiture of the purchaser's right, title and interest in such land and in any payments previously made by him or her on account thereof;
(d) 
Such building restrictions as the Director of Finance may prescribe; and
(e) 
Such land when sold shall be subject to real property taxes.
(Ord. No. 156, January 24, 1972; Ord. No. 550, February 10, 1989)