§3827. Local or special assessment

A. Upon receipt of the certified statement or report of the engineer of the political subdivision as provided for in the preceding section, the governing authority shall review said certified statement or report, including the proposed local or special assessments, and thereafter shall make a determination as to whether each lot or parcel of real estate to be assessed will be benefited to an amount not less than the proposed local or special assessment. Proposed assessments that are found by the governing authority to have been erroneously assessed or for which the governing authority does not find said benefit shall be deleted from said certified statement or report. The deletion of such proposed assessment from said certified statement or report for either of said reasons shall in no way invalidate or affect the legality of the contract awarded for the construction of said proposed improvements nor shall such deletions constitute a violation of the public contracts law of this state.

B. Following said review and finding as to benefit by said governing authority there shall be mailed to each property owner to be assessed a notice advising each property owner of his proposed assessment and the manner and time for payment thereof. Said notice shall set forth a general description of the proposed improvements, such description of the property to be assessed and the location thereof as the governing authority may deem necessary, and shall notify the property owner to advise the political subdivision in writing within fifteen days from the date of said notice if inaccuracies exist in the proposed assessment. The aforesaid notice shall be given by depositing said written notice in the United States mail, postage paid, and addressed to the property owner at his address as it appeared on the last approved tax roll on which the property was assessed for taxes by the political subdivision. The certificate of the clerk or secretary of the governing authority levying any such assessments that the aforesaid notice has been given in writing to all property owners to be assessed shall establish a conclusive legal presumption that all requirements of notice as set forth hereinabove have been legally satisfied.

C. After thirty days has elapsed from the date of the mailing of said notice of the proposed assessments, the governing authority shall adopt an ordinance establishing the rates for the sale of water in the district or the area so served or adopt an ordinance levying a local or special assessment on each lot or parcel of real estate to be improved or benefited in proportion that its front footage bears to all the abutting lots or parcels or real estate to be improved or benefited by the laying of such lines or installation of such improvements, including all the items above set forth; provided that where the construction of the improvements is financed partly under the provisions hereof, and partly by the issuance of tax-secured bonds, or by any other method, then the total of all assessments levied hereunder shall represent the total cost of the work contemplated less the amount provided by tax-secured bonds, or such other method. If a local or special assessment is levied by ordinance, it shall be due and collectible immediately on its passage, and, if not paid within thirty days from the date of the adoption of said ordinance, it will be conclusively presumed that any property owner whose property is affected thereby, exercises the right and option, which is hereby authorized, to pay the amount due in equal installments bearing interest at a rate or rates not exceeding the maximum rate provided for conventional interest by Article 2924 of the Louisiana Civil Code as the same now exists or may be hereafter amended, and extending over a period not exceeding forty years, all within the discretion of the governing authority of said political subdivision, and as provided for in the ordinance levying such local or special assessments. The first installment shall become due on December thirty-first of the then current year, or one year after the date of the assessment ordinance herein provided for, in the discretion of the governing authority of the political subdivision, and annually thereafter.

D. If a special or local assessment is levied, a certified copy of the ordinance levying said local or special assessment on the real estate as aforesaid shall be filed with the clerk of court of the parish in which the political subdivision is situated, who shall forthwith record the same in the mortgage records of the parish, and when so filed and recorded, shall operate as a lien and privilege against all real estate therein assessed, and which aforesaid lien and privilege shall prime all other claims except taxes, and prior recorded local or special assessments levied for streets, sewerage, or water improvements.

E.(1) The failure to pay any installment or the interest thereon when due, shall ipso facto cause all other installments and the interest thereon to become due and payable and the political subdivision may, after thirty days from the date of such default, proceed against the property for the collection of the total amount due thereon, including interest, plus ten percent additional on the principal and interest of the past due installment or installments or ten percent of the amount sued for, and in the event judgment is necessary to effect collection, ten percent of the amount of the judgment rendered, as attorney's fees, provided that said attorney's fees shall be payable by the property owner only if demand by the governing authority of the district through registered or certified mail has been made on the property owner and he has failed to pay the amount due within ten days after such demand.

(2) In any such suit to collect any delinquent assessments, a certified copy of the assessment ordinance, and any affidavits and exhibits annexed thereto which establish the correctness of the delinquent assessment shall be admissible, self-authenticating, and sufficient to establish prima facie proof of such demand.

F. The Jefferson Parish governing authority may, at its option, enact ordinances to add such delinquent assessment charges to the annual ad valorem tax bill of the property involved. In the event such ordinances are enacted, the sheriff effecting collection shall be reimbursed by the governing authority for an amount equal to fifteen percent of the amount of such charges actually collected from the property owner. This collection charge shall be in addition to such delinquent assessment charges and shall also be added to the ad valorem tax bill of the property involved.

G. Any errors in descriptions or amounts in any assessment ordinance adopted pursuant to this Section may be corrected by the adoption of an amendatory ordinance which need set forth only the corrected descriptions or amounts and which amendatory ordinance shall be recorded in the same manner as the original ordinance levying the assessments. The adoption of any such corrective ordinance shall serve only to postpone the thirty days' period for cash payments in full of the assessments actually affected and corrected by such amendatory ordinance, and the due dates of the installments of such assessments so corrected as are not paid in full in cash within thirty days from the date of adoption of the amendatory ordinance, shall be the same as the due dates of the installments of the assessments levied in the original ordinance and not affected or corrected by any such amendatory ordinance or ordinances.

H. Except for the collection costs provided for herein, the payments made in cash shall be expended for no other purpose than for the payment of the cost of said improvements.

I.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the governing authority of the city of Lake Charles may assess costs to establish, acquire, construct, improve, extend, and maintain within the city a waterworks system or systems, including such treatment facilities as may be required with all necessary equipment in installations in connection therewith, including extensions as may be proper to connect such system or systems with the main waterworks system of the city or any other available system or facilities whether within or without the city in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 33:3827 and this Subsection and any other applicable statutory provisions.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, in the city of Lake Charles, if a local or special assessment is levied by ordinance pursuant to R.S. 33:3827(C) or this Subsection, it shall be placed upon the tax rolls and divided into equal installments. The number of required installments shall be determined by the governing authority of the city. The first installment shall be due and payable at the same time as the taxes of the year in which the work is completed and the remaining installments will be due and collectable during the period that the regular taxes are collectable by the city of Lake Charles. The day of delinquency of these installments shall be the thirty-first day of December of the year in which each installment falls due in principal or in interest. Each installment shall carry the same rate of interest as does the certificate issued by the governing authority of the city of Lake Charles, and the interest shall be paid annually on the unpaid installments.

(3) The owner of the property assessed under the provisions of R.S. 33:3827(C) or this Subsection may pay in cash within ten days after the adoption of the ordinance levying such assessment and shall receive on account of the cash payment a discount equal to five percent per annum on the amount due and paid by him, which discount shall likewise be allowed by the contractor to the governing authority of the city of Lake Charles.

(4) In the event any owner of property subject to the lien and privileges authorized pursuant to R.S. 33:3827(D) or this Subsection fails to pay the amount apportioned against his property at its maturity, the governing authority of the city of Lake Charles may file a rule against the owner to show cause why the property should not be sold for the purpose of enforcing payment on the installments due, which rule shall be made returnable after five days of service in the manner required for ordinary citations, and shall be tried by preference. Judgment against the property holder shall be executed in the same manner as ordinary judgments.

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the governing authority of the city of Lake Charles may provide that the provisions of this Subsection shall apply to assessments levied pursuant to R.S. 33:3829.

Acts 1962, No. 313, §6. Amended by Acts 1966, No. 18, §1, June 2, 1966, at 2:32 P.M; Acts 1970, No. 553, §1; Acts 1987, No. 650, §1, eff. July 9, 1987; Acts 2003, No. 970, §1.