Any water service standby or immediate availability charge which remains unpaid for a period of 60 or more days after the date upon which they were billed may be collected thereafter by the county as provided herein.

(a) Once a year the board shall cause to be prepared a report of delinquent fees. The board shall fix a time, date and place for hearing the report and any objections or protests thereto.

(b) The board shall cause notice of the hearing to be mailed to the landowners listed on the report not less than 10 days prior to the date of the hearing.

(c) At the hearing the board shall hear any objections or protests of landowners liable to be assessed for delinquent fees. The board may make such revisions or corrections to the report as it deems just, after which, by resolution, the report shall be confirmed.

(d) The delinquent fees set forth in the report as confirmed shall constitute special assessments against the respective parcels of land and are a lien on the property for the amount of such delinquent fees. A certified copy of the confirmed report shall be filed with the county auditor for the amounts of the respective assessments against the respective parcels of land as they appear on the current assessment roll. The lien created attaches upon recordation, in the office of the county recorder of the county in which the property is situated, of a certified copy of the resolution of confirmation. The assessment may be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary county ad valorem property taxes are collected and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for such taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of county ad valorem property taxes shall be applicable to such assessment, except that if any real property to which such lien would attach has been transferred or conveyed to a bona fide purchaser for value, or if a lien of a bona fide encumbrancer for value has been created attaches thereon, prior to the date on which the first installment of such taxes would become delinquent, then the lien which would otherwise be imposed by this section shall not attach to such real property and the delinquency fees, as confirmed, relating to such property shall be transferred to the unsecured roll for collection.

This remedy is in addition to all other means available for collection.

If the district is governed by a board of directors, this section shall only apply to such district if the board of supervisors consents to collect the delinquent fees in the manner prescribed herein.

(Added by Stats. 1973, Ch. 874, Sec. 3.)