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Special assessments upon the property deemed benefited by a public improvement shall be by any one of the following methods:
(a) By a percentage of the tax value of the property assessed.
(b) In proportion to the benefit which may result from the improvement.
(c) By the foot frontage of the property bounding or abutting upon the improvement.
When it is deemed necessary to make a public improvement to be paid for in whole or in part by special assessment, the Council shall declare the necessity therefor by resolution, and such resolution shall state the method of assessment, the mode of payment, and the number of annual installments, whether the assessments shall be by district or upon abutting, adjacent and contiguous or other special benefited property; and such resolution shall be concurred in by three-fourths of the members of the Council. Such resolution shall be certified to the Director of Finance who shall thereupon proceed to make an assessment report, in accordance with the method of assessment provided for in the resolution, which report shall be filed with the Council, and shall show the lots and lands assessed, the amount of the assessment as to each, and the number of installments not exceeding ten in which such assessment shall be paid.
At the time of the passage of the resolution provided for in the section preceding, there shall be on file in the office of the Director of Public Service, plans, specifications, estimates and profiles of the proposed improvements, giving all necessary information; and such plans, specifications, estimates and profiles shall be open to the inspection of all interested persons.
Upon the filing of his or her assessment report, the Director of Finance shall cause written notice to be served upon the owner of each lot or parcel of land to be assessed, or otherwise affected, or upon the persons in whose names the same may be assessed for taxation upon the tax duplicate. Said notice shall be served in the manner provided for service of summons in civil action; and as to all non-residents and persons who cannot be found, publication of such notice shall be made at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the City. The notice shall contain a statement of the character of the proposed improvement, the fact that the assessment report has been filed with the Council, the rate of such assessment, the number of installments, and shall state a time and place when complaints and claims will be heard before the Board of Revision of Assessments.
(Amended by electors 11-7-00)
Whenever the Board of Revision of Assessments shall have made its final report to the Council as to any improvement, the Council, if it determine that the improvement shall proceed, shall pass an ordinance levying the assessment as reported by the Board of Revision of Assessments, and directing that the improvement proceed. In the ordinance it shall be sufficient to describe the lots and lands abutting upon the improvement and to be assessed therefor, as all the lots and lands bounding and abutting upon such improvement, between and including the termini of the improvement; and in describing lands which do not abut, it shall be sufficient to describe the lots by their appropriate lot numbers, and the lands by metes and bounds; and this rule of description shall apply in all proceedings in which lots and lands are to be charged with special assessments.
Special assessments shall be payable by the owners of the property assessed at the time stipulated in the ordinance, and shall be a lien from the date of assessment upon the respective lots and parcels of land assessed, enforceable in the manner provided by statute.
The Board of Revision of Assessments shall consist of the following officers of the City or their designated representatives: the Director of Finance, the Director of Public Service, and the Director of Law. The Director of Law shall be chairperson of the Board, and the Director of Finance shall be the secretary thereof. It shall meet as necessary at a time and place provided by its rules, and shall hear all claims and objections as to the character of all improvements to be paid for in part or in whole by special assessments, the necessity therefor, and the equity of the assessment as provided in the assessment report. A majority of those constituting the Board of Revision of Assessments shall have the power to determine all complaints and objections submitted. As to each improvement, the Board, shall, after such hearing, amend, equalize, and adjust the assessment report, and shall report to the Council its findings as to the necessity for the improvements, and any amendment it directs in the assessments.
(Amended by electors 11-7-00)
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