§3969. Special assessments and charges against property; ordinance; time and method of payment; recordation of ordinance as lien and privilege; penalties for delinquency

Within five days of the receipt of the certified statement or report of the engineer of the sewerage district or sub-district as provided in R.S. 33:3968, the governing authority thereof shall adopt an ordinance levying a local or special assessment on each lot or parcel of real estate included in said sewerage district or sub-district in the proportion that its area bears to the total area within the district or sub-district and the total of all such local or special assessments shall represent the total cost of said improvements, including all of the items above set forth, that the special assessment is to bear and shall fix the monthly sewerage charges against each user of said sewerage based on water outlets in the amount necessary to pay the proportionate part of the cost to be borne by the monthly sewerage charge as previously fixed in the resolution of said governing authority, giving notice of its intention to purchase, construct or maintain such sewerage system, which such charges and/or square-foot assessment shall be sufficient to take care of the cost of said improvements. The amounts assessed in the said ordinances according to area of lots or parcels shall be due and collectible immediately upon its passage. The amounts assessed in the ordinance as monthly sewerage charges shall be due on the tenth day of the month following the passage of said ordinance and the municipality in which the said sewerage district or sub-district is located is hereby authorized and directed to bill said monthly charges to the users of said sewerage system the same as water bills, provided, however, that the respective property owners may at their option, within ten days of the passage of the ordinance levying the area assessment, pay their pro-rata assessments on area basis by the issuance of negotiable note or notes for the amount of their respective assessments, payable in equal annual installments over a period of ten years and bearing interest at a rate not greater than six per cent, principal and interest, payable annually, and stipulating an attorney's fee of ten per cent on the unpaid amount of principal and interest in the event that the same is placed in the hands of an attorney for collection. The said notes are to be executed on forms adopted and provided by the sewerage district or sub-district and shall be delivered to the sewerage district or sub-district within ten days after the passage of the ordinance levying the area assessment by said sewerage district or sub-district for the public improvement; said notes to be payable to the property owner's own order and by him endorsed in blank, which said notes shall, by reason of the recordation in the mortgage records of the contract and the ordinance levying the area assessment, as above set forth, operate as a lien and mortgage on the property of the makers included in said sewerage district or sub-district. Failure to issue and deliver said notes within the delay period hereinafter provided for shall, at the option of the governing authority of the said district or sub-district, deprive the property owner of the right to defer payments and shall immediately mature the entire square-foot area indebtedness for such work as due and payable. Failure to pay any installment or note or interest thereon on the date when due shall, upon election by the sewerage district or sub-district, or the pledgee or owner of the indebtedness, cause all other installments with interest thereon to become due and payable and the sewerage district or sub-district or pledgee or holder of any note or notes may within thirty days from the date of such default proceed against the property and the owner thereof for the collection of the total amount due thereon, including interest and ten per cent additional on the principal and interest unpaid as attorney's fees. A certified copy of said ordinance levying the local or special assessment on the real estate aforesaid shall be filed in the office of the clerk of court in the parish of which the sewerage district or sub-district 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 the real estate therein assessed and the aforesaid lien and privilege shall prime all other liens and claims except taxes. Failure to pay any monthly sewerage charge within ten days from its due date shall authorize the district or sub-district, pledgee or owner of the indebtedness to cause the municipality to cut off the water to the property of said delinquent debtor and to file suit therefor. Said delinquent charge or charges shall bear six per cent per annum interest and ten per cent upon said amount of principal and interest as attorney's fees. In no event shall the attorney's fees be less than five dollars. The payments made hereunder shall be expended for no other purpose than for the payment of the cost of said improvement.

Acts 1950, Ex.Sess., No. 6, §9.