09-LA090
2009 -- H 6325 AS AMENDED
Enacted 11/13/09
A N A C T
RELATING TO
TOWNS AND CITIES -- WEST WARWICK HOME RULE CHARTER
Introduced By: Representative Timothy A. Williamson
Date Introduced: June 25, 2009
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Article 2, Section 5 of the Special Acts of the
Town of
of Ordinances of 1986, as amended, entitled
"Special Assessments" is hereby further amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 5. Special Assessments.
The
town council of the town of
assess the cost of any project or projects for the
construction, completion, extension, enlargement
or improvement of the sewage disposal system upon the
owners of the estates in the town which
abut that portion of any street or highway in or along
which any sewer constituting any portion of
such project or projects may be located or which otherwise
specially benefit from such project or
projects. Such assessments may be made separately for each
project or for several projects taken
together. The cost to be assessed shall be that which is
determined by the town council to provide
particular rather than general benefit. Such assessments shall
be just and equitable and may be
based upon frontage or area within a specified reasonable
distance from the street or highway or
on assessed valuations or on any other factor affording
a reasonable measure of benefits or upon
any combination of the foregoing. The town council shall
not make any particular assessment in
excess of the benefit conferred and may make reasonable
adjustments of such assessments against
estates having a frontage upon more than one street or
against estates which for any reason are
unable to derive the normal benefits from the system. Such
assessments shall name the owners
assessed, describe their estates and state the amounts of the
assessments but no error [of]
omission in the name or description shall invalidate the
assessment as long as either the owner or
the estate is substantially identified. A copy of such assessments
shall be recorded with the town
clerk as a public record. From the date of delivery to the
town clerk the assessments and interest
accruing thereon shall constitute a lien upon the respective
estates on a parity with the lien for
town taxes until paid in full. The collector of taxes of
the town shall have the same rights to
enforce such liens against the estates and to collect such
assessments and interest from the owners
as he has in the case of town taxes.
Prior
to or forthwith after the delivery to the town clerk of a copy of such
assessment, the
collector of taxes shall cause notice to be sent to the owner
of each estate assessed. The notice
shall substantially identify the estate assessed, state the
amount of the assessment and refer to the
remedy available under this section. The notice shall be
mailed postpaid and directed to the last
known address of the addressee. If there are owners whose
addresses are unknown, a similar
notice covering the assessments against their estates shall
be published in a newspaper of general
circulation in the town and such published notice may be a single
collective notice for all such
owners. No irregularity in the notice required by this
section shall excuse the non-payment of the
assessment or affect its validity or any proceedings for the collection
thereof as long as there is
substantial compliance with the provisions hereof. No efficiency
in the notice to the owner of an
estate assessed shall excuse the non-payment by others of
the assessments against their estates or
affect the validity thereof or any proceedings for the
collection thereof. Any person aggrieved by
such assessment may within 90 days after the mailing or
publication of notice to him file a
petition for relief against the town as respondent in the
superior court, and the clerk shall
thereupon issue a citation to summon the town, and said
petition and citation shall be subject to
the provisions of section 44-5-29 of the general laws
[G.L. 1956, section 45-5-29]. If the court
finds such assessment invalid in whole or in part, it shall
give judgment reducing the amount
thereof or for a refund accordingly. The filing of such a
petition shall not relieve the estate
involved from the lien hereinabove provided for or prevent the
assessment becoming due as
provided in this section, but the final judgment of the court
reducing such assessment in whole or
in part shall reduce such lien and the amount due
accordingly. The remedy provided in this
paragraph shall be exclusive, and no action or proceeding
questioning the validity of such
assessment shall be begun after the expiration of said ninety
day period.
In
the event an assessment is partially or wholly invalid, the town council may
make a
corrected assessment to replace the invalid assessment or
portion. The corrected assessment shall
be made in the same manner as an original assessment.
The first installment of a corrected
assessment shall be sufficient to compensate without interest
for all installments which would
have become due then or theretofore if the corrected
assessment had been made at the time of the
original assessment. The corrected assessment shall bear
interest from the date notice of the
corrected assessment was delivered to the town clerk.
Each
assessment under this act shall be payable beginning in 2010 based on the
December 31, 2009
assessment in equal annual quarterly
installments in the months of July 2010,
October 2010, January
2011 and April 2011 and in each succeeding year thereafter over not less
than twenty nor more than thirty years, as determined by
the town council, upon a date fixed by
the town council and shall bear interest from the date
notice of the assessment was delivered to
the own clerk until paid at a rate to be fixed at or
prior to the assessment by the town council,
provided that the whole assessment against any owner or estate
may be paid without interest at
any time prior to the due date of the first installment
thereof, and provided further that the whole
unpaid balance of any such assessment together with the
interest accrued thereon to the date or
payment may be paid at any time.
Notwithstanding
the foregoing provisions, the town council may provide for increasing
the tentative amount of any assessment by a reasonable
amount in lieu of interest upon the
assumption that the assessment will be paid in annual
installments when required and make the
assessment in the aggregate amount of the tentative assessment
plus such interest charge, which
assessment shall be payable in equal annual installments upon a
date fixed by the town council
without further interest, provided that if any such
assessment is paid in full before the expiration
of the full term there shall be an equitable adjustment
of the interest charge so that interest will be
paid on the unpaid balance of the tentative assessment for
the period up to such payment in full.
In
the event of the subdivision of any estate subject to any such assessment by
the
conveyance of any part of parts thereof to a difference owner,
the town council may apportion the
assessment or the unpaid part thereof among the new estates so
created upon any basis which
might then be used under this section for a new assessment
and such basis need not be the same
as that used for the assessment being apportioned. The
apportioned assessment shall be payable at
the same times and in the same amounts pro rata as the
original assessment or unpaid part thereof.
In all other respects the
apportioned assessment shall be governed by the provisions of this
section which would then apply to a new assessment. Upon the
recording of the apportioned
assessments, the original assessment shall be discharged.
All
lands in the town of
located buildings which are used solely for the purposes of
holding religious services therein, and
all lands in said town held by cemetery corporations and
used solely for cemetery purposes, shall
be exempt from the payment of any and all assessments
for the construction of sewers made in
pursuance of the provisions
of this act, so long as such lands shall be held and uses solely for such
purposes: Provided, that all assessments made on such lands
for the construction and acquisition
of sewers, under the provisions of this act, shall be
and remain for thirty years a lien on said
lands, without interest, and the town may enforce the
collection of such assessments, whenever
such lands or any portion thereof shall be abandoned for
said purposes, in the manner as other
sewer assessments are collected or enforced.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC02890
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