(a)

(1) The board of commissioners of the district shall, at the same time that the annual benefit assessment is equalized or at any time thereafter, enter upon its records an order. This order shall have all the force of a judgment, providing that there shall be assessed upon the real property of the district, and collected annually, the annual benefit assessment set opposite each tract of land described, which annual benefit is to be paid by the owner of the real property in the district, payable as provided in the order.

(2) However, the commissioners shall, promptly after an entry of an order of levy of annual benefit assessment, publish one (1) time a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in some newspaper having general circulation in the district a notice setting forth the order of levy and warning all persons affected that the order of levy shall become final unless suit is brought to contest it within thirty (30) days of the date of first publication of the notice. No property owner shall be barred from contest of the levy within the thirty-day publication period.

(b)

(1) The uncollected annual benefit assessment as extended shall be a lien upon the real property in the district against which it is extended from the time the same is levied, shall be entitled to preference over all demands, executions, encumbrances, or liens whenever created, and shall continue until the assessment, with any penalty and costs that may accrue thereon, shall have been paid.

(2) Notice of the amount due shall be given, by mail at his last known address to each landowner who fails to pay his assessment on or before the third Monday in April.

(3) The remedy against the annual benefit assessment shall be by suit in chancery, and the suits must be brought within thirty (30) days from the time that the notice is mailed. On the appeal, the presumption shall be in favor of the legality of the annual benefit assessment.