Introduced By: Representatives Long, Callahan and Maher
Date Introduced : June 9, 1999
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Sections 4, 6, 9 and 10 of Chapter 1103 of the 1941 Public Laws entitled "An Act to Create a Sewer Commission for the Town of Middletown, and to Authorize Said Town to Construct and Maintain a Sewer System" are hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 4. Said bonds shall be signed by the town treasurer and countersigned by the president of the town council and shall be issued and sold at not less than par at such times, in such manner and in such amounts as the town council may determine. They shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding six (6) per cent per annum. Coupons shall bear the facsimile signature of the town treasurer. The premiums, if any, arising from the sale of said bonds shall be applied to the cost of preparing, issuing and marketing them, and any balance of such premiums shall be applied to the payment of the principal of said bonds in the order of their maturity. The proceeds arising from the sale of the bonds shall be delivered to the town treasurer, and such proceeds, except as hereinbefore provided in respect to the premiums arising from the sale thereof, shall be expended for the purposes of this chapter (other than operations) or in payment of the principal of or interest on temporary notes issued under section 5 of this chapter or to replenish general funds as provided in section 8 of this chapter. No purchaser of any bonds or notes issued under this chapter, however, shall be in any way responsible for the proper application of the proceeds derived from the sale thereof.
Sec. 6. All bonds and all temporary notes issued under the provisions of this chapter and the debts evidenced thereby shall be obligatory on the town of Middletown in the same manner and to the same extent as other debts lawfully contracted by it. Payment for such bonds and notes may be apportioned among all taxpayers or only among the users of the sewerage works, as the town council deems appropriate. The bonds and notes issued hereunder shall be excepted from the operation of section 45-12-2 of the general laws, as amended. No such obligation shall at any time be included in the debt of said town for the purpose of ascertaining its borrowing capacity. The town shall annually appropriate a sum sufficient to pay the interest upon bonds and also to pay the principal of any bonds maturing in such year, until said bonds and the interest thereon are paid in full.
Sec. 9. (a) Fees, charges and assessments generally. The town council shall prescribe annual just and equitable charges to be charged all users of the sewerage system, all owners of land abutting upon that portion of any street or highway or right of way in which sewers have been constructed under the provisions of this chapter, all owners of land abutting upon that portion of any public street, highway or right of way in which sewers have been constructed otherwise than under this chapter, and all users of such other sewers. The charges to owners of such abutting land as do not use the sewers shall be less than those charged to users of the sewers and shall be at a uniform rate for each front footage of land abutting on such street or highway or right of way; provided, however, that a minimum rate may be established for any lot of land having a front footage of less than fifty (50) feet, which rate may be equal to that charged for a lot with a front footage of fifty (50) feet; and, provided, further, that a higher rate per front footage may be charged for a lot of land upon which a dwelling house is located than for an unimproved lot of land. Such annual charges shall be sufficient at all times to pay the cost of and are hereby appropriated to the construction, capital improvement, debt service, operation, maintenance and repair of the sewerage works, including sewers constructed in public streets, highways or rights of way otherwise than under this chapter as the town council deems appropriate.
(b) Certificate of charges; charges as lien on real estate. The town council shall annually on or before the first day of July certify to the town treasurer all the annual charges made by it under the authority of this chapter for the fiscal year then commencing.
Each charge made by the town council pursuant to this section shall be a lien upon the lands, buildings and improvements upon which it is made in the same way and manner as taxes assessed on real estate, but such lien shall not expire until the charge with all interest, costs and penalties thereon is paid in full, and, if the charge is not paid as required, it shall be collected in the same manner that taxes assessed on real estate are by law collected.
(c) Time and method of payment. Such annual charges shall be due and payable at the time the regular town taxes are first due and payable next after the date of receipt by the town treasurer of the aforesaid certificate of said annual charges from the town council and the town treasurer shall forthwith certify said charges to the tax collector for collection and said tax collector shall proceed to collect such charges in the same manner and at the same time the regular taxes of the town are first payable, with provision for installments as in the case of the regular taxes. Interest at the rate per annum fixed for nonpayment of town taxes shall be charged and collected upon all overdue charges from the date they become payable until paid.
(d) Apportionment after annual certification. If any person becomes a user after such annual certification, the town council may certify to the town treasurer a just and equitable charge under this section with respect to such person based upon the portion of the fiscal year remaining after the beginning of such use. A person becoming a user with respect to land as to which such person was not previously a user shall be deemed a new user for the purposes of this paragraph. The town treasurer shall certify the charge to the tax collector for collection and the charge shall be payable when the next installment of regular town taxes is payable but may be paid in equal installments on the remaining installment payment dates for the regular town taxes for the year in question. In all other respects the charge under this paragraph shall be subject to the other provisions of this section.
(e) Use of general funds pending receipt of charges. Pending the receipt of charges under this section, general funds of the town may be used for the purposes for which the charges are appropriated. The general funds shall be replenished from such receipts without interest within the fiscal year in which such use occurs.
(f) Owner regarded as user. Where an occupant of land uses the sewerage system, the owner of the land shall be regarded as the user for the purposes of this section.
Sec. 10. Costs of construction of lateral; annual assessments, liens created.
(a) Generally the cost of construction of each lateral sewer installed after the effective date of the amendment of this chapter inserting this section shall be assessed upon all owners of land abutting upon that portion of any street or highway or right of way in which such lateral sewer is constructed. Such assessment shall be at a uniform rate for each front footage of land abutting on such street, highway or right of way; provided, however, that a minimum rate may be established for any lot of land having a front footage of less than fifty (50) feet, which rate may be equal to that charged for a lot with a front footage of fifty (50) feet; and provided, further, that a higher rate per front footage may be charged for a lot of land upon which a dwelling house is located than for an unimproved lot of land. It is hereby determined that assessments made under this section will not exceed the benefits to the abutting owners. Lateral sewers shall include all sewers which are not designed to receive the sewerage from any other common sewers. The cost of construction of all sewers installed after the effective date of the amendment of this chapter inserting this section which are not lateral sewers shall also be assessed in the same manner as lateral sewers but only to the extent of the cost thereof which would have been incurred if they had been laid as lateral sewers. The town council shall determine consistently with generally accepted engineering practice what is a lateral sewer as defined above and the cost thereof and the partial cost of other sewers to be assessed or charged and its determination shall be conclusive. As to any sewer, the town council may provide that the assessments may be paid in equal annual installments for a period not exceeding twenty (20) years with interest thereon at a rate determined by the town council not exceeding six (6%) per cent per annum payable at the time each installment becomes due. Any landowner shall have the privilege, however, of prepaying unpaid installments with interest to the time of prepayment.
(b) Rate of assessment. The town council shall from time to time establish the rate of assessment for each front footage of abutting land based upon the actual costs of construction.
(c) Annual assessments; lien on real estate. The town council shall annually on or before the 1st day of July certify to the town treasurer all the assessments made by it under the authority of this section 10. Each assessment made by the town council pursuant to this section shall be a lien upon the lands, buildings and improvements upon which it is made in the same way and manner as taxes assessed on real estate and if not paid as required shall be collected in the same manner that taxes assessed on real estate are by law collected. Each assessment made by the town council pursuant to this section shall be a lien upon the lands, buildings and improvements upon which it is made in the same way and manner as taxes are assessed on real estate, but such lien shall not expire until the assessment with all interest, costs and penalties thereon is paid in full, and if the assessment is not paid as required, it shall be collected in the same manner that taxes assessed on real estate are by law collected. Interest at the rate per annum fixed for non-payment of town taxes shall be charged and collected upon all overdue assessments and installments of principal of and of interest on assessments from the date they become payable until paid.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
