Chapter 20. Reassessments To Relieve Owners of California Streets And Highways Code >> Division 7. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 20.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, the legislative body shall have power at any time before the assessments levied under this division are fully paid and discharged to order a reassessment under the terms and conditions set forth in this chapter.

Whenever the legislative body determines that the work for which an assessment was previously made was for the construction, alteration, repair, improvement or betterment of any major traffic artery or sanitary sewer designed for or generally used by the people of the city as a whole, the legislative body may, in its discretion, determine to aid the same by appropriating any funds available for such purpose. It shall not be necessary to set forth or give notice of such contribution in the resolution of intention or other proceedings hereunder.

Whenever the legislative body determines that the work for which an assessment was previously made was for the construction, acquisition, alteration, repair, improvement or betterment of any lands or improvements which have been sold as surplus property, the legislative body may, in its discretion, determine to aid the project by appropriating the proceeds of the sale and contributing the same for such purpose. It shall not be necessary to set forth or give notice of such contribution in the resolution of intention or other proceedings hereunder.

Upon appropriating any such funds in aid of any work, the legislative body by resolution shall direct the street superintendent to apportion the sum thus appropriated pro rata between all properties assessed upon the original assessment or any reassessment made therefor, whichever is the latest in point of time. Such sum shall be apportioned in the same ratio that the original assessments bore to the total assessment against all properties assessed.

The street superintendent shall thereupon prepare a reassessment after deducting such apportionment rebate and return the same to the legislative body. The reassessment need not be in any prescribed form but shall refer to the original assessment filed, giving the date of filing of the original assessment, and shall state that it was made pursuant to the order of the legislative body and shall be accompanied by a diagram showing the lots to be reassessed and their relation to the work. Such diagram may be the original assessment diagram if it otherwise conforms to the provisions of this chapter.

Upon receipt of the reassessment the legislative body shall fix a time and place when any and all persons objecting to the proposed reassessment may be heard. Such time must be at least 20 days after the reassessment has been 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 newspaper.

The notice shall contain a reference to the original assessment and diagram and reference shall also be made to the reassessment and diagram of the street superintendent for full particulars, as to the extent of the district affected by these proceedings and for all other particulars.

At the time fixed for the hearing or at such time or times to which the hearing may be continued the legislative body shall consider all objections to the reassessment and may correct inequalities or mistakes therein. When the legislative body is satisfied with the correctness of the reassessment it shall confirm the same.

The street superintendent shall record the confirmed reassessment and diagram, in his office, with a certificate at the end thereof executed 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 reassessments all payments theretofore made upon the original assessment or upon the bonds issued to represent the original assessment.

The reassessment shall be collectible by and payable to the treasurer or such other officer as the legislative body may designate so far as practicable in the same manner as an original assessment and shall be enforceable by action in the 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, no reassessment made pursuant to this chapter shall change the security or lien of any such bond in any manner whatsoever or the method of the enforcement thereof. The lien of such reassessment shall hold its relative rank as to other special assessment liens as of the date of filing of the original assessment. Upon confirming the reassessment, the city shall transfer into the bond and assessment redemption fund the amounts so apportioned among the several assessments.

Whenever prior to the confirmation of the reassessment any principal payments have been made on any assessment or on any bond issue to represent any such assessment, the owner of record of the property against which such assessment was levied, at the time such payment was made, or where a purchaser under a contract of purchase or a lessee under a lease, pursuant to the terms of which contract of purchase or lease, is required to and has made such payments upon the original assessment or bonds, then such purchaser or lessee shall be entitled to receive a refund of an amount of the difference between the original assessment and the reassessment in the proportion that such payments made by him bears to the original assessment, with respect to the lot or parcel of land for which such payments were made. The balance of any such appropriation, as determined by the reassessment, shall be credited pro rata to the bonds in payment thereof, applying such payment first to the interest due and then upon the principal. Thereafter the treasurer shall pay to the holder of each bond the payment so credited from the bond and assessment redemption fund. The treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to make all payments of refunds as authorized by this chapter.

Whenever it shall appear to the legislative body that payments have been made on any such assessments or bonds prior to the reassessment, it shall be its duty to cause to be published in the newspaper in which the ordinance or resolution of intention for the work was published, unless the legislative body directs publication in some other paper, a notice stating the fact of such reassessment and calling upon all property owners affected by the work to make claim for refund within two years from date of the first publication of the notice. Reference shall be made to the reassessment and diagram for all particulars. Such notice shall be published once a week for two weeks.

If claim for such refund is not made within the period specified, then all claims therefor shall be barred and the amount remaining unclaimed shall revert to the fund from which the supplemental appropriation was made by the legislative body.

No action shall be brought to contest, modify, annul, review or in any way attack the validity of the reassessment and the proceedings had under this chapter unless the same shall have been commenced within 30 days after the recording of the diagram and reassessment, and thereafter all persons shall be barred from any such action or any defense of invalidity of the reassessment and all bonds issued thereon.

In making the reassessment the street superintendent shall first deduct from the amount appropriated by the legislative body the estimated cost of the reassessment proceedings. If the estimate for any reason exceeds the actual cost thereof, then the excess of the fund reserved for the payment of costs shall revert to the fund from which the appropriation was made. If the estimate proves to be insufficient to meet the costs of the reassessment, the legislative body shall appropriate such additional sums as may be necessary to meet the excess costs and expenses thereof.

The making of any reassessment pursuant to this chapter in any proceedings shall not constitute a bar or limit the right to make further reassessments as the legislative body may determine.