§ 26-35. Recovery of costs of abatement by town.

(a)

After causing a nuisance to be abated pursuant to this article, the town manager/clerk will determine the costs involved, including all costs described in section 26-36, and shall notify the town council. The town council shall fix a date for a public hearing at which it shall assess the costs against the property upon which the nuisance was located.

(b)

Immediately upon the determination by the town council of the date for public hearing, the town manager/clerk, or his designee, shall cause to be published, in a daily newspaper of general circulation, a notice in substantially the following form:

Notice to Taxpayers

You are hereby notified that the Town of Cinco Bayou has just abated a nuisance in the town, and has determined the amount to be assessed against each of lots, tracts or parcels of land to defray the cost thereof. A list of the nuisances and amount to be assessed against each of said properties is on file and open for inspection in town offices. You are further notified that the Town Council of the Town of Cinco Bayou will hold a public hearing on the ____________ day of ;daterule;, 19 ____________ , in the Town Hall for the purpose of hearing any complaints or protests that any affected party may wish to offer why said assessments should not be made final.

_____ Town Manager/Clerk

 

(c)

The notice shall be published one time, and the hearing provided for by the notice shall be not less than five days from the date of publication of the notice.

(d)

The town council shall meet at the time and place specified in the notice and hear any and all complaints that any person affected by the proposed assessment wishes to offer and shall correct any and all mistakes or errors in the assessment. The town council shall then approve the assessment.

(e)

When the assessment is approved by the town council, the assessment shall, from the date of the approval, be a lien against the properties until paid. The town manager/clerk shall file and record in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county notice of the lien against the property, showing thereon the amount and nature of the lien and legal description of the property.

(f)

The principal amount of the lien imposed under this section shall bear interest at the rate of ten percent per annum from a date 30 days after the date of approval of the assessment, and this interest shall also constitute a lien against the property assessed, in the amount of the assessment plus accrued interest.

(g)

At any time after the expiration of 30 days from the date of approval of the assessments, the town may proceed to foreclose the liens created thereby in the manner prescribed in F.S. ch. 173.

(Code 1990, § 14-5)