Chapter 19. Reassessments of California Streets And Highways Code >> Division 7. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 19.

If any assessment heretofore or hereafter made, issued or filed in the office of the clerk is void or unenforceable for any cause or if bonds have been or are issued to represent or be secured by any assessments and such issuance was or is not effective through the curative provisions in relation thereto, or any curative act that may be passed by the Legislature in relation thereto to make them valid and enforceable, then, in any of such events a reassessment therefor may be issued. A reassessment may be made upon the initiative of the legislative body.

The true intent and meaning of this chapter is to make the cost and expense of any work made through an attempted compliance with this division payable by the real estate benefited by such work by making a reassessment therefor. Such power of reassessing embraces both a full and partial reassessment, and is not exhausted by a single attempted exercise thereof.

A reassessment shall be ordered under any one of the following circumstances:
  (a) Whenever the owner or holder of any assessments, or bonds issued under this division to represent or be secured by assessments, or the person who would own or hold any such assessment or bonds if they were issued, requests the legislative body to order a reassessment. In such event if the legislative body is of the opinion that the assessments or bonds in question are not enforceable, it shall order the making and issuing of a reassessment covering only the assessments owned or held by the petitioner, or the assessments represented or secured by the bonds owned or held by such petitioner, or which would be owned or held by petitioner if issued.
  (b) Whenever any court of competent jurisdiction in any action to foreclose the lien of any assessment or to enforce the obligation of any bond issued to represent or be secured by any assessments issued under this division for any reason holds such lien unenforceable, then it shall in and by its decree direct the making of a reassessment to cover the assessments involved in such action.
  (c) Whenever any court of competent jurisdiction in any action to set aside the lien of any assessment or of any bond representing any assessment or in any action to quiet title against the lien of any such assessment, or bond, or in any action to enjoin the making, filing, confirmation or issuance of any assessment or bond to pay for the cost and expenses of any work done under this division, in its judgment decrees such assessments or bonds to be void or unenforceable, or enjoins the making, filing or issuance or confirmation of any such assessment or bond, then it shall in and by its decree direct the making of a reassessment to cover the assessments involved in such action.
  (d) Whenever any contractor or assignee of a contractor has done or performed any work pursuant to proceedings had and taken in attempted compliance with this division, and whenever prior to the issuance of any assessment, any court of competent jurisdiction in any action to invalidate the contract or any of such proceedings for any reason declares the contract or other proceedings to be invalid, then such court shall in and by its decree direct the making of a reassessment for the reasonable value of the work actually done and performed in good faith by the contractor, or such portion thereof as was of a kind that could lawfully have been ordered under the provisions of this division.

The superintendent of streets shall, upon the entering of a decree of court directing a reassessment or upon the making of an order by the legislative body directing a reassessment, proceed to make a reassessment in the following manner:
  (a) If the reassessment is a partial one only, then it shall not be necessary for the diagram to show any other lots than the ones covered by such partial reassessment.
  (b) If it is a full reassessment, the superintendent of streets shall prepare and file with the reassessment a diagram showing the lots or parcels of land deemed by him to have been benefited by the work. The reassessment shall assess upon and against each of the lots or parcels of land contained therein an amount arrived at as follows: The benefits derived, or to be derived, by each of the lots or parcels of land from the work estimated as of the date of the filing in the clerk's office of the original assessment shall first be listed. Then there shall be added thereto interest thereon from 30 days after the date of such filing of the original assessment at the rate of 7 percent per annum, and the total sum shall constitute and be the amount of the proposed several assessments in such reassessment. The total of such reassessment, however, exclusive of interest, shall not exceed the cost and expenses of the work. In the event such reassessment is not confirmed within seven months of the date of filing in the clerk's office of the original assessment, the legislative body shall pay from its general funds the 7 percent interest added to the cost and expenses of the work in accordance with this section, plus the incidental expenses of such reassessment in the event that a reassessment is made.

The reassessment need not be in any prescribed form, but shall refer to the original assessment filed, give the date of filing of the original assessment and state that it is made pursuant to the order of the legislative body or decree of the court, as the case may be, and shall be accompanied by a diagram showing the lots or parcels of land to be reassessed and their relation to the work.

The reassessment shall then be presented to the legislative body, which shall fix a time for hearing before it. Such time must be at least 20 days after the reassessment is so presented. The clerk shall then advertise the time of such hearing before the legislative body by publishing a notice in the newspaper in which the notice of award of contract for the work for which the assessment was made was published, unless the legislative body directs publication in some other paper.

The clerk shall give notice of the presentation of the reassessment and the hearing thereon by mail, as provided in Sections 5070 and 5364, and by posting, as provided in Section 5065.

The notice shall describe the district by:
  (a) Stating its exterior boundaries; or
  (b) Giving a description thereof by any official or recorded map; or
  (c) Referring to the reassessment diagram. Such notice shall be published pursuant to Section 6062a of the Government Code.

At the time fixed for the hearing, or at such time or times to which the hearing may be thereafter adjourned, the legislative body shall consider the objections to the reassessment and in its discretion informally direct the revision, correction or modification of such reassessment in such manner as is most equitable to apportion to each lot or parcel of land thereby benefited the amount of the actual benefits derived from the work. When the reassessment is revised, or corrected or modified so as to comply with the judgment of the legislative body, then it shall pass a resolution confirming the reassessment.

The street superintendent shall thereupon record the reassessment with a certificate at the end thereof by the clerk, that it is the reassessment approved by the legislative body. He shall also note opposite the several assessments in the original assessment that have been displaced by the reassessment the fact that the reassessment has been made, giving its date, and shall credit upon such reassessment all payments theretofore made upon the original assessment, or upon the bonds issued to represent the original assessment, together with interest on such payments at the rate of 7 per cent per year from and after the date of such payments.

The reassessment shall be collectible and payable in the same manner as an original assessment and shall be enforceable by action in the same manner provided in this division for enforcing an original assessment, and shall have the same weight in evidence. If bonds issued under or upon the security of the original assessment they shall also issue upon the reassessment for such sum as may be reassessed against the lots or parcels of land covered thereby.

When the reassessment is recorded the original assessment shall be canceled by the street superintendent so far as it affects the particular assessments involved. New bonds shall not be issued until the original bonds are delivered up to the treasurer, who shall cancel them. The lien of the reassessment shall hold its relative rank as to other special assessment liens as of the date of filing of the original assessment.

The expense of any county treasurer in issuing any new bonds and in carrying out any reassessment shall be paid by the city conducting the assessment proceedings.

If work done in attempted compliance with this division is fully completed to the satisfaction of the street superintendent or engineer, as the case may be, it shall nevertheless be the duty of the proper officer to make and file an assessment for the costs and expenses thereof, which shall form the basis of a reassessment if the assessment is unenforceable.