[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Council
of the Village of New Haven 5-14-1974 by Ord. No. 147. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
When referring to the cost of any local public improvement,
shall include the cost of services, plans, condemnation, spreading
of rolls, notices, advertising, financing, construction, legal fees,
interest on special assessment bonds for not to exceed one year and
all other costs incident to the making of such improvement, the special
assessments therefor and the financing thereof.
Any public improvement which is of such a nature as to benefit
especially any real property or properties within a district in the
vicinity of such improvement.
The whole cost or any part thereof of any local
public improvement may be defrayed by special assessment upon the
lands specially benefited by the improvement in the manner hereinafter
provided.
Proceedings for the making of local public improvements
within the Village, the tentative necessity thereof, and the determination
that the whole or any part of the expense thereof shall be defrayed
by special assessment upon the property especially benefited, provided
that all special assessments levied shall be in proportion to the
benefits derived from the improvements, may be commenced by resolution
of the Council, with or without a petition.
Local public improvements may be initiated by
petition signed by property owners whose aggregate property in the
proposed district was assessed for not less than 51% of the total
assessed value of the privately owned real property located therein,
all shown by the last preceding general tax records of the Village.
Such petition shall contain a brief description of the property owned
by the respective signatories thereof; and if it shall appear that
the petition is signed by at least 51% as aforesaid, the Clerk shall
certify same to the Council. The petition shall be addressed to the
Council and filed with the Clerk and shall in no event be considered
directory but is advisory only.
Before the Council shall consider the making
of any local improvement, the Council shall cause to be prepared a
report which shall include necessary plans, profiles, specifications
and detailed estimates of cost, an estimate of the life of the improvement,
a description of the assessment district or districts, and such other
pertinent information as will permit the Council to decide the cost,
extent and necessity of the improvement proposed and what part or
proportion thereof should be paid by special assessments upon the
property especially benefited and what part, if any, should be paid
by the Village at large. The Council shall not finally determine to
proceed with the making of any local public improvement until such
report has been filed, nor until after a public hearing has been held
by the Council for the purpose of hearing objections to the making
of such improvement.
After receiving the report required in § 7-5 for making any local public improvement as requested in the resolution of the Council, and after the Council has reviewed said report, a resolution may be passed tentatively determining the necessity of the improvement, setting forth the nature thereof; prescribing what part or proportion of the cost of such improvement shall be paid by special assessment upon the property especially benefited; determining benefits received by affected properties, and what part, if any, shall be paid by the Village at large; designating the limits of the special assessment district to be affected; designating whether assessment will be according to frontage or other benefits; placing the complete information on file in the office of the Village Clerk, where the same may be found for examination; and directing the Village Clerk to give notice of public hearing on the proposed improvement, at which time and place opportunity will be given interested persons to be heard. Such notice shall be given by one publication in a newspaper published or circulated within the Village and by first class mail addressed to each owner of or person in interest in property to be assessed as shown by the last general tax assessment roll of the Village. The publication of notice shall be made at least seven full days prior to the hearing, and the mailing of notice shall be made at least 10 full days prior to the date of the hearing. The hearing required by this section may be held at any regular, adjourned, or special meeting of the Council.
At the public hearing on the proposed improvement, all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard, after which the Council may modify the scope of the local public improvement in such a manner as it shall deem to be in the best interest of the Village as a whole; provided that if the amount of work is increased or additions are made to the district, then another hearing shall be held pursuant to notice prescribed in § 7-6. If the determination of the Council shall be to proceed with the improvement, a resolution shall be passed approving the necessary profiles, plans, specifications, assessment district and detailed estimates of cost, and directing the Assessor to prepare a special assessment roll in accordance with the Council's determination and report the same to the Council for confirmation.
No deviation from original plans or specifications
as adopted shall be permitted by any officer or employee of the Village
without authority of the Council by resolution. A copy of the resolution
authorizing such changes or deviation shall be certified by the Village
Clerk and attached to the original plans and specifications on file
in her office.
The Council shall specify the provisions and
procedures for financing a local public improvement. No contract or
expenditure, except for the cost of preparing necessary profiles,
plans, specifications and estimates of cost, shall be made for the
improvement, nor shall any improvement be commenced, until the special
assessment roll to defray the costs of the same shall have been made
and confirmed.
The Assessor shall make a special assessment
roll of all lots and parcels of land within the designated district
benefited by the proposed improvement and assess to each lot or parcel
of land the proportionate amount benefited thereby. The amount spread
in each case shall be based upon the detailed estimate of cost as
approved by the Council.
When the Assessor shall have completed such
assessment roll, he shall file the same with the Village Clerk for
presentation to the Council for review and certification by it.
Upon receipt of the special assessment roll,
the Council, by resolution, shall accept the assessment roll and order
it to be filed in the office of the Village Clerk for public examination,
shall fix the time and place the Council will meet to review such
special assessment roll and direct the Village Clerk to give notice
of a public hearing for the purpose of affording an opportunity for
interested persons to be heard. The notice shall be given by publication
once, at least seven full days prior to the date of the hearing, in
a newspaper published or circulated within the Village and by first
class mail addressed to each owner of or person in interest in property
to be assessed as shown by the last general tax assessment roll of
the Village, mailed at least 10 days prior to the date of the hearing.
The hearing required by this section may be held at any regular, adjourned
or special meeting of the Council. At this meeting, all interested
persons or parties shall present in writing their objections, if any,
to the assessments against them. The Assessor shall be present at
every meeting of the Council at which a special assessment is to be
reviewed.
The Council shall meet at the time and place designated for the review of such special assessment roll, and at such meeting, or a proper adjournment thereof, shall consider all objections thereto submitted in writing. The Council may correct the roll as to any special assessment or description of any lot or parcel of land or other errors appearing therein; or it may, by resolution, annul the assessment roll and direct that new proceedings be instituted. The same proceedings shall be followed in making a new roll as in the making of the original roll. If, after hearing all objections and making a record of such changes as the Council deems justified, the Council determines that it is satisfied with the special assessment roll and that assessments are in proportion to benefits received, it shall thereupon pass a resolution reciting such determinations, confirming such roll, placing it on file in the office of the Village Clerk and directing the Village Clerk to attach his warrant to a certified copy thereof within 10 days, therein commanding the Assessor to spread and the Treasurer to collect the various sums and amounts appearing thereon as directed by the Council. The roll shall have the date of confirmation endorsed thereon and shall from that date be final and conclusive for the purpose of the improvement to which it applies unless contested in the manner provided in MCLA § 68.34, as amended, and subject to adjustment to conform to the actual cost of the improvement, as provided in § 7-19 of this chapter.
If at, or prior to, the final confirmation of
any special assessments, the owners of privately owned real property
to be assessed for more than 50% of the cost of an improvement, or
in the case of paving or similar improvements the owners of more than
50% of the frontage to be assessed for any such improvement, shall
object in writing to the proposed improvement, the improvement shall
not be made by proceedings delineated by this chapter without a 5/7
vote of the members elect of the Council, provided that this section
shall not apply to sidewalk construction.
All special assessments, except such installments
thereof as the Council shall make payable at a future time as provided
in this chapter, shall be due and payable upon confirmation of the
special assessment roll.
The Council may provide for the payment of special
assessments in annual installments. Such annual installments shall
not exceed 30 in number, the first installment being due upon confirmation
of the roll or on such date as the Council may determine and deferred
installments being due annually thereafter, or in the discretion of
the Council, may be spread upon and made a part of each annual City
tax roll thereafter until all are paid. Interest shall be charged
on all deferred installments at a rate not to exceed 7% per annum,
commencing on the due date of the first installment, or 60 days after
the date of confirmation if the first installment is not due upon
confirmation, and payable on the due date of each subsequent installment.
The full amount of all or any deferred installments, with interest
accrued thereon to the date of payment, may be paid in advance of
the due dates thereof. If the full assessment or the first installment
thereof shall be due upon confirmation, each property owner shall
have 60 days from the date of confirmation to pay the full amount
of said assessment, or the full amount of any installments thereof,
without interest or penalty. Following said sixty-day period, the
assessment or first installment thereof shall, if unpaid, be considered
as delinquent and the same penalties shall be collected on such unpaid
assessments or first installments thereof as are provided by law to
be collected on delinquent general Village taxes. Deferred installments
shall be collected without penalty until 60 days after the due date
thereof, after which time such installments shall be considered as
delinquent and such penalties on said installments shall be collected
as are provided by law to be collected on delinquent general Village
taxes. After the Council has confirmed the roll, the Village Treasurer
shall notify by mail each property owner on said roll that said roll
has been filed, stating the amount assessed and the terms of payment.
Failure on the part of the Village Treasurer to give said notice or
of such owner to receive said notice shall not invalidate any special
assessment roll of the Village or any assessment thereon, nor excuse
the payment of interest or penalties.
Any assessment, or part thereof, remaining unpaid
on the first Monday of March following the date when the same became
delinquent shall be reported as unpaid by the Treasurer to the Council.
Any such delinquent assessment, together with all accrued interest,
shall be transferred and reassessed on the next annual Village tax
roll in a column headed "Special Assessments" with a penalty of 4%
upon such total amount added thereto, and when so transferred and
reassessed upon said tax roll shall be collected in all respects as
provided for the collection of Village taxes.
Special assessments and all interest, penalties
and charges thereon from the date of confirmation of the roll shall
become a debt to the Village from the persons to whom they are assessed,
and, until paid, shall be and remain a lien upon the property assessed,
of the same character and effect as the lien created by general law
for state, county and Village taxes, and the lands upon which the
same are a lien shall be subject to sale therefor the same as are
lands upon which delinquent Village taxes constitute a lien.
A.
The Village Clerk shall, within 60 days after the
completion of each local or special public improvement, compile the
actual cost thereof and certify the same to the Assessor, who shall
adjust the special assessment roll to correspond therewith. Should
the assessment prove larger than necessary by less than 5%, the same
shall be reported to the Council, which may place the excess in the
Village treasury or make a refund thereof pro rata according to the
assessment. If the assessment exceeds the amount necessary by 5% or
more, the entire excess shall be credited to owners of property as
shown by the Village assessment roll upon which such assessment has
been levied, pro rata according to the assessment. No refunds of special
assessments may be made which impair or contravene the provision of
any outstanding obligation or bond secured in whole or part by such
special assessments. In the case of assessments due in installments,
the Council may order the refund given by credit against the installments
last coming due.
B.
When any special assessment roll shall prove insufficient
to meet the cost of the improvement for which it was made, the Council
may make an additional pro-rata assessment, but the total amount assessed
against any one parcel of land shall not exceed the benefits received
by said lot or parcel of land.
In any case where the provisions of this chapter
may prove to be insufficient to carry out fully the making of any
special assessment, the Council shall provide by ordinance any additional
steps or procedures required.
In the event bonds are issued in anticipation
of the collection of special assessments as hereinbefore provided,
all collections on each special assessment roll or combination of
rolls shall be set in a separate fund for the payment of the principal
and interest on the bonds so issued in anticipation of the payment
of such special assessments, and shall be used for no other purpose.
Moneys raised by special assessment to pay the
cost of any local improvements shall be held in a special fund to
pay such cost or to repay any money borrowed therefor. Each special
assessment account must be used only for the improvement project for
which the assessment was levied, expenses incidental thereto, including
the repayment of the principal and interest on money borrowed therefor,
and to refund excessive assessments, if refunds are authorized.
An action may not be instituted for the purpose
of contesting or enjoining the collection of a special assessment
unless:
A.
Within 45 days after the confirmation of the special
assessment roll, written notice is given to the Council indicating
an intention to file such an action and stating the grounds on which
it is claimed that the assessment is illegal; and
B.
The action is commenced within 90 days after the
confirmation of the roll.
Whenever the Council shall deem any special
assessment invalid or defective for any reason whatever, or if any
court of competent jurisdiction shall have adjudged such assessment
to be illegal for any reason whatever, in whole or in part, the Council
shall have power to cause a new assessment to be made for the same
purpose for which the former assessment was made, whether the improvement
or any part thereof has been completed and whether any part of the
assessment has been collected or not. All proceedings on such reassessment
and for the collection thereof shall be made in the manner as provided
for the original assessment. If any portion of the original assessment
shall have been collected and not refunded, it shall be applied upon
the reassessment and the reassessment shall to that extent be deemed
satisfied. If more than the amount reassessed shall have been collected,
the balance shall be refunded to the person making such payment.
The Council may combine several districts into
one project for the purpose of effecting a saving in the costs. There
shall be established for each district separate funds and accounts
to cover the cost of the same.
Should any lots or lands be divided after a
special assessment thereon has been confirmed and divided into installments,
the Assessor shall apportion the uncollected amounts upon the several
lots and lands so divided, and shall enter the several amounts as
amendments upon the special assessment roll. The Village Treasurer
shall, within 10 days after such apportionment, send notice of such
action to the persons concerned at their last known address by first
class mail. Said apportionment shall be final and conclusive on all
parties unless protest in writing is received by the Village Treasurer
within 20 days of the mailing of the aforesaid notice.
The Council may provide for the deferred payment
of special assessments from persons who, in the opinion of the Council
and Assessor, by reason of poverty are unable to contribute toward
the cost thereof. In all such cases, as a condition to the granting
of such deferred payments, the Village shall require mortgage security
on the real property of the beneficiary payable on or before his death,
or, in any event, on the sale or transfer of the property.
In the event that the Council shall fail to make any public improvement petitioned for under the provisions of § 7-4 hereof during the calendar year during which any petition is filed, such petition shall be reconsidered by the Council prior to the first day of March of the succeeding calendar year for the purpose of determining whether such improvement should be made during such calendar year.
When any lot, building, or structure within
the Village, because of the accumulation of refuse or debris, the
uncontrolled growing of weeds, or age or dilapidation, or because
of any other condition or happening, becomes, in the opinion of the
Council, a public hazard or nuisance which is dangerous to the health
or safety of the inhabitants of the Village or those of them residing
or habitually going near such lot, building, or structure, the Council
may, after investigation, give notice to the owner of the land upon
which such hazard or nuisance exists, or the owner of the building
or structure itself, specifying the nature of the hazard or nuisance,
and requiring such owner to alter, repair, tear down, or remove same
promptly and within a time to be specified by the Council, which shall
be commensurate with the nature of the hazard or nuisance. If, at
the expiration of the time limit in said notice, said owner has not
complied with the requirements thereof, or in any case where the owner
of the land or of the building or structure itself is not known, the
Council may order such a hazard or nuisance abated by the proper department
or agency of the Village which is qualified to do the work required,
and order the costs of such abatement assessed against the lot, premises
or description of real property upon which said hazard or nuisance
was located.
All special assessment proceedings commenced
prior to the effective date of this chapter and conducted in conformity
with the provisions of Act No. 3, Public Acts of Michigan, 1895, as
in effect prior to the effective date of Act No. 4, Public Acts of
Michigan of 1974, are hereby validated ratified and confirmed.[1] Any special assessment roll confirmed after the effective date of Act No. 4, Public Acts of Michigan of 1974, but prior to the effective date hereof, shall be conclusive, except that period for contesting such assessment roll provided in § 7-23 hereof shall commence upon the effective date of this chapter. All incomplete special assessment proceedings shall be continued under the applicable provisions hereof.
[1]
Editor's Note: See now MCLA §§ 68.31
through 68.36.
