NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1963 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1228

HOUSE BILL 1047

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLE 2 OF CHAPTER 139 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES RELATING TO FISCAL POWERS AND PROCEDURES OF WATERSHED IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  Subsection (a) of G.S. 139-26, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is amended by rewriting the same to read as follows:

"(a)       The trustees shall estimate: The total or amortized portion of capital costs, including incidental expenses and debt service charges, of the contemplated works of improvement to be completed, for which the district shall be obligated during the assessment period; and the amount of all other expenses of the district, including the expenses of administering the district and maintaining the works of improvement. Initially such estimate will include all such costs and expenses which have accrued or will accrue prior to the beginning of the first fiscal year of the district in which assessments are turned over to the county authorities for collection, and that will accrue during the first and the two . succeeding fiscal years. (The fiscal year of the district shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30.) The trustees shall thereupon make an assessment of the sum of the estimate calculated pursuant to the above. For that purpose the trustees shall make out an assessment roll in which shall be entered the names of the landowners assessed so far as the same can be ascertained and the amounts assessed against them respectively, with a brief description of the parcels or tracts of land assessed. The assessment roll shall indicate the amount of assessment installments which shall be paid by landowners electing to pay the assessment in installments."

Sec. 2.  Subsection (e) of G.S. 139-26, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is amended by adding a new sentence immediately after the second sentence thereof to read as follows: "The trustees' power of correction, cancellation, remission or adjustment of any particular benefit assessment or of the interest or penalty thereon, or of setting aside a general assessment, shall not limit or abridge the duty and responsibility hereby imposed upon the trustees to preserve the fiscal integrity of the district, and to provide by reassessment or otherwise, for the repayment of all principal, interest and other debt service charges on assessment bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness issued by the district to pay for works of improvement or any other expenses of the district."

Sec. 3.  G.S. 139-26, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is further amended by adding a new subsection (i) to read as follows:

"(i)        The assessment rate on any assessment roll shall not exceed a maximum annual rate of seven dollars ($7.00) per acre."

Sec. 4.  G.S. 139-26, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is further amended by rewriting the first paragraph of subsection (h) to read as follows:

"(h)       Subsequent to the initial assessment the trustees may annually, biennially, or triennially, at their discretion, levy additional assessments to meet: The total, or amortized portion, of capital costs, including debt service charges consisting of principal, interest, and other charges on borrowed funds to be paid during the assessment period, and further including costs and expenses incidental to the construction of contemplated additional works of improvement to be completed during the assessment period; and all other expenses of the district, including the expenses of administering the district, maintaining all works of improvement, and interest on borrowed funds, that will accrue during the ensuing fiscal year, biennium or triennium, as the case may be."

Sec. 5.  Subsection (a) of G.S. 139-27, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is rewritten to read as follows:

"(a)(1)  The landowner against whom an assessment is made shall have the option of paying the entire assessment, if he so elects and gives written notice accordingly to the Secretary-Treasurer of the district within fifteen (15) days after the confirmation of the assessment roll and upon his failure to so notify the district, he shall be deemed to have elected to pay the assessment in annual installments. Any assessment shall be due on the first Monday of August next following after the receipts for the first annual installment are mailed pursuant to subsection (c) of this Section but may be paid in multiple annual installments, in amounts and spread over periods determined by the assessment roll, with interest as herein provided. Any annual installment of any assessment, plus accrued interest on the entire assessment, shall be due and payable on the first Monday of August. Any assessment shall bear interest from due date until paid, at the rate of one-third of one per cent (1/3 of 1%) per month, or fraction thereof, as calculated and illustrated in the table in subsection (i) of this Section. Failure or neglect of the property owner to pay any annual installment with accrued interest when the same becomes due and payable shall be just and sufficient cause for enforcing the immediate payment of all remaining unpaid installments and accrued interest on the entire assessment. The entire assessment may be paid at any time by payment of the principal and all interest accrued to that date.

(2)        It is the intent and purpose of this subsection that any assessment (initial, subsequent or annual) may as determined by the assessment roll be paid and collected in multiple annual installments in such installment amounts and spread over such installment periods as the assessment roll may fix. As to any assessment roll which shall fix and determine multiple annual installment payments spread over periods in excess of three (3) years, the following modifications of designated subsections of this Section shall apply:

a.         In subsection (b) 'three' shall read 'multiple';

b.         In subsection (c) 'second and third' shall read 'subsequent';

c.         In subsection (d): 'second and third' shall read 'subsequent';

'one and two years, respectively' shall read 'in subsequent years'; and the form of the order of the board of commissioners to the county tax collector shall be suitably modified;

d.         In subsection (h) the form of assessment receipt shall be suitably modified for fourth and subsequent annual installments;

e.         In subsection (i) the illustrative table shall be used as a guide in calculating the amounts of interest payable by a landowner electing to pay in installments, suitably modified and extended to cover the fourth and subsequent installments of any assessment."

Sec. 6.  Article 2 of Chapter 139 of the General Statutes, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is further amended by adding a new Section immediately after G.S. 139-27, designated as "G.S. 139-27.1", appropriately captioned, to read as follows:

"G.S. 139-27.1.  The other provisions of this Article generally, and particularly the provisions of G.S. 139-26 and G.S. 139-27, pertaining to initial and subsequent annual, biennial or triennial assessments or reassessments, shall not be construed to limit the authority of the district, and a watershed improvement district shall be authorized to issue notes, bonds, and other evidences of indebtedness, to be repaid over a period greater than three (3) years and shall have the power, duty and responsibility to provide through benefit assessments all sums which may be necessary to pay in full the principal, interest and other debt service charges of all bonds or other obligations of the district."

Sec. 7.  G.S. 139-28, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is amended by rewriting the same to read as follows:

"G.S. 139-28.  The trustees of a watershed district shall have power, with or without a referendum, to incur indebtedness on behalf of the district to defray any part of the expenses and costs of the district, and may pledge to the repayment thereof funds to be derived from benefit assessments, grants, gifts, or other sources of revenue.

"The indebtedness of the district may be evidenced by bonds, bond anticipation notes, benefit assessment anticipation notes or revenue anticipation notes. No debt shall be contracted for a term of more than twenty (20) years.

"The trustees, if they so elect, may request the board or boards of election of each county wherein any part of the district lies to call a referendum on the question of whether the district shall incur debt or issue bonds for one or more of the purposes for which it was created."

Sec. 8.  G.S. 139-30, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is rewritten to read as follows:

"G.S. 139-30.  If such referendum is held and a majority of the votes cast are in favor of incurring the indebtedness or issuing the bonds, the trustees of the district shall enter on the records of the district a resolution authorizing the district to incur the indebtedness or issue the bonds for one or more of the purposes for which the district was created."

Sec. 9.  G.S. 139-31, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is repealed.

Sec. 10.  G.S. 139-32, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement, is amended by rewriting the same to read as follows:

"G.S. 139-32.  The trustees of the watershed improvement district shall, if necessary for the payment of the principal, interest and other debt service charges on such indebtedness or bonds, and to amortize the repayment of such indebtedness or bonds, levy annual assessments on all the real estate in the watershed improvement district, which may be subject to assessment under the provisions of this Article, to pay such principal, interest and other debt service charges, and to amortize such indebtedness or bonds. Such additional assessments shall constitute a lien, be apportioned, levied, assessed and collected in the manner provided for assessments generally in G.S. 139-25, 139-26, and 139-27."

Sec. 11.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 12.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 26th day of June, 1963.