Sec. 10. (a) After an electrical lighting system has been completed and is ready for operation, the municipal works board shall assess the real property in the city block or blocks affected for the proportionate part of the annual lighting cost and, in the case of a system of ornamental lighting, the installation costs, that the property owners are required to pay annually. The works board shall assess each lot or parcel of the property equally per front foot.

(b) The works board shall prepare and file an assessment roll, setting forth the assessments against each lot and parcel of real property to be assessed, based upon:

(1) the cost of the lighting for the full period of one (1) year and for that part of a year the system may be operated between the time of its completion and the beginning of the next calendar year; and

(2) in the case of a system of ornamental lighting, the costs of installing the system.

The preparation and filing of the assessment roll and all proceedings for its adoption and confirmation, notices to property owners, certifying the roll to the county treasurer, and all other proceedings in connection with the roll must be according to the statutes regarding public improvements in municipalities.

(c) The first assessment made against each lot or parcel of real property is a lien on that lot or parcel, from the time of the final acceptance of the electrical system by the municipality. The lien covers the cost of lighting for the part of the calendar year following acceptance of the system, the cost of lighting for the next full calendar year, and, in the case of a system of ornamental lighting, the cost of installing the system.

(d) After the first assessment is made, a lien attaches upon the assessment date of each year without further certification to the county treasurer, for the amount of the lighting cost for the succeeding calendar year and in the same proportions per front foot as fixed by the original assessment roll.

(e) Assessments made under this section shall be paid in the same manner as taxes are paid, at the regular tax paying periods following the adoption of the assessment roll. An assessment not paid at the time fixed by statute is subject to and may be collected according to the statutes regarding delinquent taxes, and all property upon which an assessment is a lien is subject to proceedings for the collection of taxes.

(f) The lien of an assessment under this section has equal priority with all other assessment liens and is superior to all other liens except liens for taxes.

[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citations: 19-5-24-8 part; 19-5-24-10.]

As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.82. Amended by P.L.245-2015, SEC.29.