§ 2-105. Levying special assessment.

(a)

Upon completion of the preliminary assessment roll, the city shall by resolution or motion fix a time and place at which the owners of property to be assessed, or any other persons interested therein, may appear before the city and be heard with respect to the propriety and advisability of providing the service or project and funding them with special assessments, the cost of the service or project, and the amount to be assessed against each property so improved or serviced. The city clerk shall provide written notice of such hearing to each of the property owners whose property is subject to being assessed. Such notice shall be provided by first class U.S. mail, postage prepaid, or through the annual TRIM Notices forwarded by the Broward County Property Appraiser, not less than twenty (20) days in advance of the hearing. The notice by mail shall include the following information: the purpose of the assessment; the total amount to be levied against each parcel; the unit of measurement to be applied against each parcel to determine the assessment; the number of such units contained within each parcel; the total revenue the local government will collect by the assessment; a statement that failure to pay the assessment will cause a tax certificate to be issued against the property which may result in a loss of title; a statement that all affected property owners have a right to appear at the hearing and to file written objections with the city within twenty (20) days of the notice; and the date, time, and place of the hearing. In addition, notice of the time and place of such hearing shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city not less than twenty (20) days in advance of the hearing; provided however, that any mistake in such advertised notice or in any mailed notice shall not void any assessment levied in accordance with the provisions of this article. The published notice shall contain at least the following information: the name of the city; a geographic depiction of the property subject to the assessment; the proposed schedule of the assessment; the fact that the assessment will be collected by the tax collector; and a statement that all affected property owners have the right to appear at the public hearing and the right to file written objections within twenty (20) days of the publication of the notice. The resolution or motion shall contain the date, time, and place of the hearing, describe the assessable area, and advise persons interested that the description of the properties located within the assessable area and the amount of the assessment can be ascertained at the office of the city clerk.

(b)

At such public hearing, the city commission shall consider all objections relating to the assessments and shall make a final decision on whether to levy the special assessments. Thereafter, if the decision is to levy the special assessments, the city commission shall equalize or adjust such assessments where justice and right so dictate, and shall approve and confirm the assessment roll by resolution (the "assessment resolution"). When so equalized and approved, a final assessment roll shall be filed in the office of the city clerk of the city and such assessments shall stand confirmed and remain legal, valid, and binding first liens upon the property against which such assessments are made until paid. The annual assessment amount for a service shall be determined by city in accordance with section 2-104(c) shall be filed in the office of the city clerk of the city, and such assessments shall stand confirmed and remain legal, valid and binding first liens upon the property against which such assessments are made until paid.

(c)

A statement of the confirmed assessment shall be provided to each property owner listed on the roll. The property owner shall have such time as may be provided in the assessment within which to pay the total or annual assessment.

(d)

The city shall determine in the assessment resolution when the payment of any special assessment levied pursuant to this article shall commence, and the frequency and amount of any scheduled collections of such assessments upon determination of the confirmed assessment roll.

(e)

Upon completion of a project or termination of a service, any excess in the special assessment as originally made, approved and confirmed over the actual cost of the improvement to be paid by such special assessment, shall be credited proportionately against each special assessment against each parcel in the manner set forth in the assessment resolution, or used for any lawful purpose.

(f)

The city commission shall be authorized to revise and correct errors and omissions in the assessment roll if:

(1)

Any assessment made under this article is annulled, vacated, or set aside, in whole or in part, by the judgment of any court. In such a case, the city commission may revise the assessment to comport with the guidelines of any such judgment until such time as a valid assessment is imposed.

(2)

The city commission is satisfied that any assessment is so defective that it can not be enforced or collected.

(3)

The city commission has omitted any property from the assessment roll which should have been assessed for the service or project funded by the assessment.

(g)

Prior to the delivery of the assessment roll to the tax collector, the mayor, or his or her designee, shall be authorized to reclassify any property subject to the assessment based upon competent substantial evidence, or to correct any error in applying the assessment upon any particular parcel, either on his or her own initiative or upon receipt of a timely filed written petition by a property owner.

(h)

No error or omission by the city commission, mayor or any of his or her designees, city administrator, property appraiser, tax collector, or their deputies or employees, shall operate to release or discharge any obligation for payment of an assessment imposed by the city commission under the provisions of this article.

(Ord. No. 96-102, § 3, 2-20-96; Ord. No. 96-127, § 2, 6-4-96; Ord. No. 99-110, § 6, 5-4-99; Ord. No. 2001-101, § 3, 1-16-01)