(A) Installment payments. Any assessment may be made payable in yearly installments not to exceed ten in number, as the Council may determine at the time of confirmation of the roll. In the event a division of the assessment operates to make any installment less than $10, the Assessor shall reduce the number of installments so that each installment shall be above and as near to $10 as possible.
(B) Due date. All special assessments levied hereunder shall become due upon confirmation of the special assessment roll and if in annual installments, the Council shall determine the first installment to be due upon confirmation of the roll, and deferred installments to be due annually thereafter, or in the discretion of the Council they may be spread upon and made a part of each annual city tax roll thereafter until all are paid.
(C) First installment spread. The first installment of any special assessment shall be spread upon a special city tax roll in a column headed “special assessments”, or upon the next annual city tax roll at the direction of the Council.
(D) Annual installment spread.
(1) Annual installments shall be spread thereafter either on a special assessment roll or on the annual city tax roll, as may have been directed by the Council, in the same manner and subject to the same provisions as provided for first installments.
(2) The second installment shall be collected as a part of the first city tax roll which becomes due six months or more after the due date of the initial installment.
(3) All unpaid installments from a date as the Council shall prescribe, shall bear interest not exceeding 6% per annum, which interest computed to the following September 1 shall be spread yearly upon the city tax roll together as one item with the amount of the installment then being spread. The Council may provide for advance payment of unpaid installments with interest computed to a date as the Council prescribes.
(E) Collection fees and penalties. Each special assessment, or the initial installment of the assessment when installment payments are provided for, shall be collected by the Treasurer without collection fee for a period ending on the last day of the third month following the due day thereof. On the first day of the fourth month following the due date, the Treasurer shall add to the assessment or initial installment paid thereafter a collection fee of 4% of the amount thereof, and on the first day of each succeeding month that the installment remains unpaid, he or she shall add an additional one-half of 1% collection fee. All collection fees shall belong to the city and be collectible in the same manner as collection fees on city taxes.
(F) Publication of notice to pay. The assessment roll shall be transmitted by the Clerk/Treasurer to the Treasurer for collection immediately after confirmation and in the event it is not a part of the annual tax roll, the Treasurer shall give notice by publication that the special assessment (describing it) has been filed in the Treasurer’s office and specify when and where payments may be made thereon.
(G) Notice by mail. The Treasurer may mail statements of the several assessments to the respective owners as indicated by the records of the Assessor, of the several lots or parcels of land assessed, stating the amount of the assessment and the manner in which it may be paid. Provided, however, that failure to mail any such statement shall not invalidate the assessment or entitle the owner to an extension of time within which to pay the assessment.
(H) Delinquent assessments. Special assessments or initial installments which become due other than on July 1 shall, if unpaid for 30 days or more on May 1 of any year, be certified as delinquent to the Council by the Treasurer and the Council shall place the delinquent assessments on the tax roll for that year together as one item with accrued collection fees thereon to the following September 1 and the interest and penalties as may be provided in the ordinance.
(I) Contested assessments.
(1) No suit of any kind shall be instituted or maintained for the purpose of contesting or enjoining the collection of any special assessment:
(a) Unless within 30 days after the confirmation of the special assessment roll written notice is given to the Council of intention to file the suit or action stating the grounds on which it is claimed the assessment is illegal; and
(b) Unless the suit or action shall be commenced within 60 days after confirmation of the roll.
(2) Regardless of whether or not any public improvement is completed in any special assessment district, no owner of real property located in the district shall be entitled to commence any suit or action for the purpose of contesting or enjoining the collection of any like special assessments after he or she has received the benefits from the substantial completion of that portion of the public improvement for which he or she is assessed.
(Ord. 54, passed 12-3-1953)