(a) Any municipal fee, interest or penalties due and payable under this City Code shall be a debt due the City. It shall be a personal obligation of the City service customer chargeable therefor and shall be a lien upon the real and personal property of the City service customer until paid.
(b) If the Finance Director desires to file a notice of lien with the Clerk of the Berkeley County Council regarding one or more delinquencies in payment of any municipal fee, penalties or interest, the Finance Director shall give the delinquent fee payer written notice via certified U.S. Mail, return receipt requested to such fee payer's last known address, of intent to file the notice of lien setting forth the amounts due and status of delinquency. Unless the fee payer to whom the notice is given, or his duly authorized agent, shall within 30 days after service thereof, either personally or by certified mail, file with the Finance Director a petition for hearing, setting forth with particular items objected to, together with the reasons for objections, the Finance Director may at any time thereafter file the notice of lien.
(c) When a petition for hearing as prescribed in subsection (b) hereof is filed within the time prescribed, the Finance Director shall assign a time and a place for a hearing thereon and shall notify the petitioner of such hearing by written notice at least 20 days in advance thereof. Such hearing shall be held within 90 days from the date of filing the petition, unless continued by agreement of the parties or by the Finance Director for sufficient cause. The hearing shall be informal and shall be conducted in an impartial manner by the Finance Director or a hearing examiner designated by the Finance Director. The burden of proof shall be upon the petitioner to show that the notice of lien is improper, in whole or in part. After such hearing, the Finance Director or hearing examiner designated by the Finance Director shall, within a reasonable time, give notice in writing of his decision.
(d) If aggrieved by the decision of the hearing examiner or Finance Director, the fee payer may appeal the decision of the hearing examiner or Finance Director to the Circuit Court of Berkeley County within 30 days after service of the hearing examiner's or Finance Director's decision.
(1) The appeal shall be taken by the filing of a petition and notice, which petition and notice shall be served upon or accepted by the Finance Director as an original notice. When the petition and notice is so served it shall, with the return or acceptance thereon, be filed in the Office of the Clerk of the Berkeley County Circuit Court and docketed as other cases, with the fee payer as plaintiff and the Finance Director as defendant.
(2) The filing of the appeal shall not stay the collection of the fee unless the fee payer shall file with such Clerk a bond for the use of the defendant, with sureties approved by the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Berkeley County, the penalty of the bond to be not less than the total amount of the fee, and accumulated penalties and interest to the date of the appeal, and conditioned that the plaintiff shall perform the orders of the Berkeley County Circuit Court; provided, that the judge of the Berkeley County Circuit Court may stay the collection of the fee, and accumulated penalties without the requirement of a bond, upon a proper showing by the plaintiff that the properties of the plaintiff are sufficient to secure performance of the Berkeley County Circuit Court's orders or that the ends of justice will be served thereby.
(3) The Berkeley County Circuit Court shall hear the appeal and determine anew all questions submitted to it on appeal from the decision of the Finance Director.
(e) The administrative remedies set forth in this section are exclusive. Failure to timely file a petition in accordance with this section shall preclude any challenge to the filing of the notice of lien. If no appeal is taken pursuant to this section within 30 days after service of the Finance Director's decision, said decision shall become final and conclusive and not subject to administrative or judicial review.
(f) The lien created by this section shall continue until the fee delinquency is satisfied or becomes unenforceable by reason of lapse of time. The Finance Director shall issue a certificate of release of any lien imposed pursuant to this section upon finding that the delinquency has been satisfied or the lien has become legally unenforceable. The lien created by this section shall be entitled to all of the rights of and subject to the restrictions and conditions which apply to municipal tax liens under W. Va. Code Chapter 38, Article 10c.
(Ord. 2014-22. Passed 12-18-14.)
(Ord. 2014-22. Passed 12-18-14.)