468.57 Installment payments — waiver.

1. If the owner of any land against which a levy exceeding five hundred dollars has been made and certified shall, within thirty days from the date of such levy, agree in writing endorsed upon any improvement certificate referred to in section 468.70, or in a separate agreement, that in consideration of having a right to pay the owner’s assessment in installments, the owner will not make any objection as to the legality of the assessment for benefit, or the levy of the taxes against the property, then such owner shall have the following options:

a. To pay one-third of the amount of the assessment at the time of filing the agreement; one-third within twenty days after the engineer in charge certifies to the auditor that the improvement is one-half completed; and the remaining one-third within twenty days after the improvement has been completed and accepted by the board. All installments shall be without interest if paid at said times, otherwise the assessments shall bear interest from the date of the levy at a rate determined by the board notwithstanding chapter 74A, payable annually, and be collected as other taxes on real estate, with like interest for delinquency.

b. To pay the assessments in not less than ten nor more than twenty equal installments, with the number of payments and interest rate determined by the board, notwithstanding chapter 74A. The first installment of each assessment, or the total amount if five hundred dollars or less, is due and payable on July 1 next succeeding the date of the levy, unless the assessment is filed with the county treasurer after May 31 in any year. The first installment shall bear interest on the whole unpaid assessment from the date of the levy as set by the board to the first day of December following the due date. The succeeding annual installments, with interest on the whole unpaid amount, to the first day of December following the due date, are respectively due on July 1 annually, and must be paid at the same time and in the same manner as the first semiannual payment of ordinary taxes. All future installments of an assessment may be paid on any date by payment of the then outstanding balance plus interest to the next December 1, or additional annual installments may be paid after the current installment has been paid before December 1 without interest. A payment must be for the full amount of the next installment. If installments remain to be paid, the next annual installment with interest added to December 1 will be due. After December 1, if a drainage assessment is not delinquent, a property owner may pay one-half or all of the next annual installment of principal and interest of a drainage assessment prior to the delinquency date of the installment. When the next installment has been paid in full, successive principal installments may be prepaid. The county treasurer shall accept the payments of the drainage assessment, and shall credit the next annual installment or future installments of the drainage assessment to the extent of the payment or payments, and shall remit the payments to the drainage fund. If a property owner elects to pay one or more principal installments in advance, the pay schedule shall be advanced by the number of principal installments prepaid. Each installment of an assessment with interest on the unpaid balance is delinquent from October 1 after its due date. However, when the last day of September is a Saturday or Sunday, that amount shall be delinquent from the second business day of October. Taxes assessed pursuant to this chapter which become delinquent shall bear the same delinquent interest as ordinary taxes. When collected, the interest must be credited to the same drainage fund as the drainage special assessment.

2. The provisions of this section and of sections 468.58 through 468.61 may within the discretion of the board, also be made applicable to repairs and improvements made under the provisions of section 468.126.

[S13, §1989-a26, -a27; SS15, §1989-a12; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §7484; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §455.64]

85 Acts, ch 163, §2; 86 Acts, ch 1099, §1; 89 Acts, ch 126, §2

CS89, §468.57

92 Acts, ch 1016, §37; 94 Acts, ch 1035, §2; 95 Acts, ch 57, §24; 97 Acts, ch 121, §26; 2011 Acts, ch 25, §143; 2011 Acts, ch 109, §4; 2012 Acts, ch 1138, §107

Referred to in §468.55, 468.59, 468.127