(a) Any municipal fee, tax, 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 person or entity chargeable therefor and shall be a lien upon the real and personal property of such person or entity until paid. This lien shall have priority over all other liens except those due to banking institutions or the state and the United States of America as further described herein.
(b) Before the City files a notice of lien with the Clerk of the County Commission regarding one or more delinquencies in payment of any municipal fee, tax, penalties or interest, the City shall give the person or entity written notice via certified U.S. Mail return receipt requested to such person's or entity's last known address, of intent to file the notice of lien setting forth the amounts due and status of delinquency. Unless the person or entity to whom the notice is given, or his duly authorized agent, shall within thirty (30) days after service thereof, either personally or by certified mail, file with the City a petition for hearing, setting forth in particular, items objected to, together with the reasons for objections, the City may at any time thereafter file the notice of the lien.
(c) When a petition for hearing as prescribed in this section is filed within the time prescribed, the City shall assign a time and a place for a hearing thereon before the Judge of the Municipal Court of the City of Moundsville, and shall notify the petitioner of such hearing by written notice at least ten (10) days in advance thereof. Such hearing shall be held within ninety (90) days from the date of filing the petition, unless continued by agreement of the parties or by the judge for sufficient cause. The hearing shall be informal and shall be conducted in an impartial manner by the judge. 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 judge shall, within a reasonable time, give notice in writing of the court's decision.
(d) If aggrieved by the decision the petitioner may appeal the decision to the Circuit Court of Marshall County within thirty (30) days after service of the 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 City 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 Marshall County Circuit Court and docketed as other cases, with the appellant (fee payer or taxpayer) as plaintiff and the City of Moundsville as defendant.
(2) The filing of the appeal shall not stay the collection of the fee or tax unless the plaintiff shall file with such Clerk a bond for the use of the defendant, with sureties approved by the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Marshall County, the penalty of the bond to be not less than the total amount of the fee or tax, and accumulated penalties and interest to the date of the appeal, and conditioned that the plaintiff shall perform the orders of the Marshall County Circuit Court; provided, that the Judge of the Marshall 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 Marshall County Circuit Court's orders or that the ends of justice will be served thereby.
(3) The Marshall County Circuit Court shall hear the appeal and determine anew all questions submitted to it on appeal from the decision of the municipal judge.
(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 thirty (30) days after service of the municipal judge'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 or tax delinquency is satisfied or becomes unenforceable. The City Manager shall issue a certificate of release of any lien imposed pursuant to this section upon finding that the delinquency has been satisfied. The lien created by this section shall be subject to the restrictions and conditions which apply to municipal tax liens under West Virginia Code Chapter 38, Article 10C.
(Passed 6-21-16.)