An owner or reputed owner, who has his or her property included within an assessment district for the construction of a main trunkline or collector sewer lines, may request the governing board to construct all necessary plumbing to connect his or her property to the adjoining street public sewer system. The person employed by the governing board to do the work shall have a lien upon the property, for work done and materials furnished, and the work done and materials furnished shall be deemed to have been done and furnished at the request of the owner, reputed owner, or person claiming or having an interest in the property. The governing board may pay all, or any part, of the cost or price of the connection to the person or persons who furnished labor, materials, or equipment and, to the extent that the governing board pays the cost or price of the connection, it shall succeed to and have all the rights, including the lien, of the person or persons against the property and the owner or reputed owner of the property.

As an alternative power to the enforcement of the lien provided for in this section, the governing body of the public agency performing the work of connection to the public sewer may, by the power of ordinance approved by two-thirds vote of the members of the legislative body, fix the cost of improvement for connection to the sanitation or sewerage facilities, fix the times at which such costs shall become due, provide for the payment of the costs prior to the construction and connection or in installments over a period, not to exceed 30 years, provide a rate of interest, not to exceed 12 percent per annum, to be charged on the unpaid balance of the costs, and provide that the amount of the costs and the interest shall constitute a lien against the respective lots or parcels upon which the facilities are constructed.

The governing body may use the procedures specified in Section 5474 to implement the levying of the costs for the construction and connection of the premises to the public sewer.

(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 106, Sec. 1. (AB 741) Effective January 1, 2012.)