§ 19-126. Assessment and lien.

(a)

Upon receiving the report from the finance department regarding any payments received from lot owners for the project, and after the awarding of a public works contract for the project, the parish council shall adopt any ordinance levying an assessment on each lot abutting the project road and owned by those persons who have not paid the pro rata share of the project cost as set forth above. The assessment on each lot or parcel to be improved shall be in proportion that each lot's frontage bears to all the abutting lots to be improved in accordance with the public works contract awarded for the project.

(b)

The amounts set forth in the assessment ordinance shall be due and collectible immediately upon its passage and, if not paid in full within thirty (30) days from the date of the adoption of the ordinance, a conclusive presumption shall exist that any property owner whose property is affected hereby exercises the right and option to pay the amount due in equal annual installments, bearing annual interest at a rate not to exceed the legal rate authorized by Civil Code art. 2924, as amended, and amortized over a period not to exceed twenty (20) years, all as more fully set forth in such ordinance. The first installment shall become due on December 31 of the then current year and annually on December 31 thereafter.

(c)

The amortized assessment, on a pro rata basis per lot, shall be provided to the parish assessor for inclusion on the lot assessment made annually by him in his tax rolls. Thereafter, the assessment shall be collected by the parish ex officio tax collector as part of the collection process for parish ad valorem taxes and shall be remitted by him directly to the parish finance department immediately after receipt without additional charge therefor. The parish finance department shall deposit any such funds received into the capital construction account set up for the project.

(d)

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 parish president, or his designated representatives, within thirty (30) days from date of such default, shall proceed against the property for the collection of the total amount due thereon, including interest, plus an additional ten (10) percent on the principal and interest of the past due installment or installments as a delinquent charge and, in the event judgment is necessary to effect collection, ten (10) percent of the amount of the judgment rendered, as attorney fees; provided, however, that such attorney fees shall be payable by the property owner only if demand by the parish through registered or certified mail has been made on the property owner and he has failed to pay the amount due within ten (10) days after such demand.

(e)

The council secretary shall file a certified copy of the assessment ordinance with the clerk of court for the parish for recordation in the mortgage records of the parish. The assessment ordinance, upon filing and recordation, shall operate as a lien against all movable property identified and assessed therein and which shall prime all other claims except taxes.

(f)

Completion and acceptance of the project shall be as provided in R.S. 33:3689 et seq. and 38:2211 et seq. as amended.

(Ord. No. 96-95, § 1, 6-13-96)