Chapter 3.16
SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS FOR PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS

Sections:

3.16.010    Initiation of proceedings and report from engineer.

3.16.020    Council’s action on engineer’s report.

3.16.030    Notice of hearing and objections thereto.

3.16.040    Hearings – Assessments – Increase in proposed assessments.

3.16.050    Alternative methods of financing.

3.16.060    Appeal.

3.16.070    Notice of assessment.

3.16.080    Lien records and foreclosure proceedings.

3.16.090    Manner of doing work – Contracts – Bids – Bonds.

3.16.100    Deficit assessment.

3.16.110    Rebate.

3.16.120    Abandonment of proceedings.

3.16.130    Errors in assessment calculations.

3.16.140    Curative provisions.

3.16.150    Reassessment.

3.16.160    Bonding of street improvements and sewers.

3.16.010 Initiation of proceedings and report from engineer.

Whenever the council shall deem it expedient to construct, alter, repair, or improve any street or streets, or to construct, alter, improve or repair any sewer, sidewalk or drain for all or any part of which it is anticipated special assessments will be levied, it shall by motion declare its intention to initiate such improvement and direct the city engineer or engineer employed by the city to make a survey and plat of such project and to submit a written report. The city engineer or engineer employed by the city shall make such survey, plat and report description of such project and a description of each lot, tract or parcel of land, or portion thereof, specially benefited thereby, with the name of the record owner or owners and may contain the name or names of other persons found to have any interest in or lien upon said property, a description of the boundaries of the district benefited and to be assessed for such improvement as shown by the council’s motion, an estimate of the probable cost of such project, which estimate shall include legal, administrative and engineering costs attributable to such project and a recommendation of a fair apportionment of the whole or any portion of the cost of the project to the property specially benefited. [Ord. 178 § 1, 1975].

3.16.020 Council’s action on engineer’s report.

After the engineer’s report shall have been filed with the city recorder, the council may thereafter by motion approve the report, modify the report and approve it as modified, require the engineer to supply additional or different information for such improvement, or it may abandon the improvement. [Ord. 178 § 2, 1975].

3.16.030 Notice of hearing and objections thereto.

Upon approval of the engineer’s report by the council the same shall be filed with the recorder, and promptly thereafter the recorder shall prepare a notice stating that such report is on file in his office subject to examination, fixing the dates when the same was filed, the estimated probable cost of such proposed improvement, a brief statement of the area proposed to be assessed therefor, and notifying all persons interested to present their objections to said report, if any they have, before the common council on a date specified in such notice, not less than 10 days after the date of the first publication or posting, as hereinafter provided, of said notice. The council shall specify by motion providing for the said improvements whether the notice provided for in this section shall be published or posted as herein provided. If the council shall declare the notice to be published, the recorder shall prepare the notice of publication containing the information above set forth, together with the following additional information: the names of the record owners of the property and a description thereof, either by street number or other legal description, and cause the said notice and additional information to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, either daily or weekly, within the city. Said publication shall take place at least twice prior to the hearing provided for therein. If the council shall determine to give notice by posting, the recorder shall prepare a notice containing the same additional information as provided for published notice, one copy thereof shall be posted in the City Hall, and at least two copies thereof shall be posted within the confines of the area where the proposed improvement is to be carried out. In addition, the recorder shall cause to be mailed to the address of the record owner a copy of said notice without said additional information. Said notice shall provide for the hearing before the common council, which may not be less than 10 days from the date of the mailing or posting, whichever is later, of the said notices. [Ord. 178 § 3, 1975].

3.16.040 Hearings – Assessments – Increase in proposed assessments.

If the council, after hearing the objections, if any there be, find such report to be reasonable and just, it may adopt the same or amend, and, as amended, adopt the same by ordinance, embodying such report. It may require a supplementary or further report from the city engineer or engineer employed by the city. When the council, after such hearing, shall have ascertained what it deems to be a fair, just and proper assessment of benefits to the property it determines to be specially benefited, it may pass an ordinance specifying in detail such assessment, which ordinance may be passed at any time after the hearing hereinbefore specified. In order to avoid deficit assessments or rebates, or for any other reason deemed sufficient by the council, such ordinance specifying and levying assessments need not be passed until the work is completed and total costs determined. If the council deems it just and proper to increase the amount of any proposed assessment against any parcel of land embraced in said engineer’s report, it shall fix a time for a further hearing with respect to such increase, cause the recorder to send a notice by mail to each person who is the record owner of, and known by the recorder to be interested in, the property thus affected, stating what is proposed with respect to such property, and giving a date not less than 10 days thereafter for the future hearing. After such hearing, the council may pass an ordinance assessing such increase. [Ord. 178 § 4, 1975].

3.16.050 Alternative methods of financing.

When, in the opinion of the council, on account of topographical or physical layout, unusual or excessive public travel, or other character of work is involved, or when the council otherwise believes the situation warrants it, it may pay what it deems a fair proportion of the cost of such improvement in relation to the benefits derived by the property directly benefited from general funds of the city, and the amount to be assessed to the property benefited shall be proportionately reduced. Nothing herein contained shall preclude the council from using other available means of financing improvements, including federal or state grant-in-aid, sewer service or other types of service charges, revenue bonds, general obligation bonds, or other legal means of finances. In the event any of such other means of finance are used, the council may, in its discretion, levy special assessments hereunder to cover any part of the costs of the improvement not covered by such means. [Ord. 178 § 5, 1975].

3.16.060 Appeal.

Any person feeling aggrieved by assessments made as herein provided may, within 20 days from the passage of the ordinance levying the assessment by the council, appeal therefrom to the circuit court of the state of Oregon for Yamhill County. Such appeal and the requirements and formalities thereof shall be heard, governed and determined and the judgment thereon rendered and enforced so far as practicable in the manner provided for appeals from reassessments contained in ORS Chapter 223, as now or hereafter amended. The result of such appeal shall be a final and conclusive determination of the matter of such assessment, except with respect to the city’s right of reassessment as provided herein. [Ord. 178 § 6, 1975].

3.16.070 Notice of assessment.

Within 10 days after the ordinance levying assessments has been passed, the city recorder shall send by registered or certified mail, to his last known address, a notice of assessment to the record owner of each lot, tract, or parcel of land assessed. This notice shall state the date of the assessment ordinance and shall state that such assessments must be paid or bonded within 30 days from the date of the assessment ordinance, and that assessments which are not paid or bonded within said time shall bear interest at six percent per annum thereafter and that the property so assessed is thereafter subject to foreclosure if such assessments are not paid or bonded within said time. [Ord. 178 § 7, 1975].

3.16.080 Lien records and foreclosure proceedings.

After passage of the assessment ordinance by the council, the recorder shall enter in the docket of city liens a statement of the amounts assessed upon each particular lot, parcel of land or portion thereof, together with a description of the improvement, the name of the owners and the date of the assessment ordinance. Upon such entry in the lien docket, the amount so entered shall become a lien and charge upon the respective lots, parcels of land or portions thereof, which have been assessed for such improvement. All assessment liens of the city of Dundee shall be superior and prior to all other liens or encumbrances on property insofar as the laws of the state of Oregon permit. Interest shall be charged at the rate of six percent per annum until paid on all amounts not paid within 30 days from the date of the assessment ordinance; and after expiration of 30 days from the date of such assessment ordinance the city may proceed to foreclose or enforce collection of the assessment liens in the manner provided by the general law of the state of Oregon; provided, however, that the city may, at its option, enter a bid for the property being offered at a foreclosure sale, which bid shall be prior to all bids except those made by persons who would be entitled under the laws of the state of Oregon to redeem such property. [Ord. 178 § 8, 1975].

3.16.090 Manner of doing work – Contracts – Bids – Bonds.

The council shall provide by motion the time and manner of doing the work of such project, and may provide for the city to do the work itself, or may award the work on contract. In the event that the work is done under contract, bids shall be received, after advertisement for such time and in such manner as the council may determine, on all such work the estimated cost of which is more than $500.00. The contract shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder; provided, that the council shall have the right to reject all bids when they are deemed unreasonable or unsatisfactory. The council shall provide for taking security by bond for the faithful performance of any contract let under its authority, and the provisions thereof, in case of default, shall be enforced by action in the name of the city of Dundee. [Ord. 178 § 9, 1975].

3.16.100 Deficit assessment.

If the assessment is made before the total costs are known, and it be found that the amount assessed is insufficient to defray the expenses of the project, the council may by notice declare such deficit and prepare a proposed deficit assessment. The recorder shall give notice thereof and of the hearing of objections thereto as above described with reference to the original report, and the council upon such hearing shall make a just and equitable deficit assessment. Such deficit assessment shall be consolidated with the assessment in the lien docket. [Ord. 178 § 10, 1975].

3.16.110 Rebate.

If, upon the completion of the project, it is found that any sum theretofore assessed therefor upon any property is more than sufficient to pay the cost thereof, the council must ascertain and declare the same, and when so declared it must be entered in the docket of city liens as a credit upon the appropriate assessment. If any such assessment has been paid, the person who paid the same, or his legal representative, shall be entitled to the payment of any portion of the rebated credit which exceeds the assessment by a warrant on the city treasurer. [Ord. 178 § 11, 1975].

3.16.120 Abandonment of proceedings.

The council shall have full power and authority to abandon and rescind proceedings for projects hereunder at any time prior to the final consummation of such proceedings, and if liens have been assessed upon any property under this procedure, they shall be canceled, and any payments made thereon shall be refunded to the payer, his assigns or legal representatives. [Ord. 178 § 12, 1975].

3.16.130 Errors in assessment calculations.

Claimed errors in the calculations of assessments shall be called to the attention of the recorder, who shall determine whether there has been an error in fact. If the recorder shall find that there has been an error in fact, he shall recommend to the council an amendment to the assessment ordinance to correct such error, and upon enactment of such amendment, the recorder shall make the necessary correction in the docket of city liens and send a correct notice of assessment by registered or certified mail. [Ord. 178 § 13, 1975].

3.16.140 Curative provisions.

No such assessment shall be invalid by reason of a failure to give, in any report, in the proposed assessment, in the ordinance making the assessment, in the lien docket or elsewhere in the proceedings, the name of the owner of any lot, tract or parcel of land or the name of any person having a lien upon or interest therein, or by a mistake in the name of any such person or the entry of a name other than the name of such owner or other person having a lien upon or interest in such property, or by reason of any error, mistake, delay, omission, irregularity, or other act, jurisdictional or otherwise, in any of the proceedings or steps hereinbefore specified, unless it appears that reasonable notice has not been given of the hearing upon the proposed assessment or that the assessment as made, insofar as it affects the person complaining, is unfair and unjust, and the council shall have power and authority to remedy and correct all such matters by suitable action and proceedings. [Ord. 178 § 14, 1975].

3.16.150 Reassessment.

Whenever any assessment, deficit or reassessment for any improvement which has been made by the city has been, or shall be, set aside, annulled, declared or rendered void, or its enforcement restrained by any court of this state, or any federal court having jurisdiction thereof, or when the council shall be in doubt as to the validity of such assessment, deficit assessment, or reassessment, or any part thereof, then the council may make a reassessment in the manner provided by the laws of the state of Oregon. [Ord. 178 § 15, 1975].

3.16.160 Bonding of street improvements and sewers.

The provisions of ORS 223.205 through 223.300, commonly known as the Bancroft Bonding Act, together with amendments or future amendments thereof, are hereby adopted and made a part hereof by reference. [Ord. 178 § 16, 1975].