§3498. Financing the improvement

A. The cost of the improvement shall be paid by the owners of the real estate abutting on the street improved in the proportion that the frontage of their respective properties bears to the entire lineal frontage of the property abutting the improved street. The governing authority may, however, bear any portion of the cost of the improvement and may also, at the expense of the municipality, connect the improvement with any other similar local improvement.

B. After receipt of the bids, the governing authority shall, by ordinance, authorize the issuance of certificates in an amount sufficient to pay the costs of the improvement and shall advertise and sell the certificates by sealed proposals to the highest bidder. When the governing authority determines the total amount of the certificates it proposes to issue for the payment of the improvement, it may, at various times, offer, sell, and deliver all or part of the certificates to the highest bidder. The governing authority may reject any and all bids for the sale of the certificates. The certificates shall be engraved or printed, numbered, and entitled "Local Improvement Certificates of the City of ______." They shall show on their face the years of their issuance and maturity, and their annual rate of interest, which interest shall not exceed six per cent per annum. They shall be signed by the mayor, the commissioner of public finance, and the commissioner of public property, and shall be issued in denominations of one hundred dollars, five hundred dollars, or one thousand dollars as the purchaser elects. The certificates shall not be sold for less than ninety-five per cent of their par value, including principal and interest to date of delivery. They shall bear interest from the first day of January of the year after their issue until paid, the interest to be payable semi-annually on the first of July and the first of January of each year on detachable coupons. The certificates shall extend for a period of four years and shall mature in three equal annual installments. The first installment shall mature on the first day of January of the second year after the year of issue; annually thereafter the municipality shall redeem one third of the certificates. The municipality may, on those dates, redeem a greater amount of the certificates, provided notice of its intention to do so has been published in the official journal of the municipality for two weeks during the preceding November. The certificates shall be payable to bearer and shall be negotiable instruments. They shall be acceptable for deposit with the state treasurer in the same manner and to the same extent as are bonds of the state or of other political subdivisions. The governing authority shall appropriate the funds derived each year from the sale of the local improvement certificates for the particular local improvements for which they are authorized. Pending their disbursement the funds shall be deposited with the fiscal agent of the municipality to the credit of a special account to be known as "Local Improvement, No. ______" followed by the name of the street on which the improvement is made. Whatever interest is earned on the account shall be credited to the fund. Against the fund shall be charged the amounts due under contracts for the local improvement. The purchaser of the certificates may receive deposits of funds received from the certificates which he has purchased by furnishing the same security, paying the same rate of interest, and complying with the same conditions required of the fiscal agent of the municipality.

C. Upon completion of each local improvement and when the apportionment of the cost due by each abutting proprietor has been ascertained, the commissioner of public property shall issue a statement of assessment. The statement shall give a brief description of the properties against which the cost of the improvement is assessed, the names of the owners, as shown by the assessment rolls at the time the statement was made, the proportion of the cost of the improvement due from each owner, the name of the street on which the improvement is made, and the interest upon each assessment from date of delivery of the certificate. The issuance of this statement by the commissioner of public property shall be prima facie evidence that all local requirements have been complied with and that the local improvements have been executed in compliance with the petition and with the contract. The commissioner of public property shall, within ten days after the issuance of the statement, furnish the commissioner of public finance a copy of the statement. The commissioner of public finance shall add to the regular tax bill of each property the amount due by it, which assessment shall be collected in the manner fixed by law for the collection of the regular municipal taxes and be subject to the same penalties for delinquencies. The commissioner of public finances shall within ten days after receipt of the copy of the statement, file a copy of it in the office of the recorder of mortgages of the parish in which the municipality is situated. The recorder of mortgages shall index the statement of assessments in the current mortgage book under the heading "Local Improvement for the Year ______." The recorder of mortgages shall change the name on the statement upon written notice from the commissioner of public finance, countersigned by the commissioner of public property. Whenever the recorder of mortgages makes the change of name, he shall place his initials beside the correction. From the date the statement of assessment is filed in the mortgage office, it shall act as a privilege on each specific property assessed.

D. All assessments for local improvements made against the property from which they are due, all assessments collected from the properties, and all privileges on them shall be pledged for the payment, in principal and interest, of the local improvement certificates issued in connection with the improvements. All collections and surplus from proceeds of the sale of certificates above the amount necessary to pay for the improvements shall be dedicated to a special account to be known as "The local improvement redemption account" for the payment of principal and interest of the certificates. If at the time of maturity of the interest coupons or of the principal of any certificate there are not sufficient funds to the credit of the account, the interest or principal shall be paid out of the general fund of the municipality. The local improvement certificates shall be direct obligations of the municipality, chargeable primarily against the special assessment in respect to which they are issued, and secondarily against the general revenues of the municipality. Any funds taken from the general funds for the payment of money due for a local improvement shall be refunded to the general fund when assessments are collected to the amount contributed by the general fund.