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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.1336 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:Senate Introduced Date:20000413 Primary Sponsor:Drummond All Sponsors:Drummond Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\skb\18326som00.doc Residing Body:Senate Subject:Water and Sewer, sewage services, special purpose districts, lateral collection lines; Political Subdivisions History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ Senate 20000420 Read second time, notice of general amendments Senate 20000419 Recalled from Committee, 11 SJ placed on the Calendar Senate 20000413 Introduced, read first time, 11 SJ referred to Committee Versions of This Bill Revised on April 19, 2000 - Word format
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
RECALLED
April 19, 2000
S. 1336
S. Printed 4/19/00--S.
Read the first time April 13, 2000.
TO AMEND SECTION 6-11-1210, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE PURPOSE FOR ESTABLISHING SPECIAL PURPOSE DISTRICTS FOR SEWAGE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE COST OF CONSTRUCTING LATERAL COLLECTION LINES MAY BE ASSESSED AGAINST PROPERTIES DERIVING A PARTICULAR BENEFIT FROM THE LINES; TO AMEND SECTION 6-11-1220, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS, SO AS TO AMEND THE TERM "FRONT-FOOT ASSESSMENT" TO INCLUDE AN ASSESSMENT LEVIED ON A PER PARCEL OR PER UNIT BASIS; AND TO AMEND SECTION 6-11-1230, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE POWERS OF THE COMMISSION OR GOVERNING AGENCY OF THE SPECIAL PURPOSE DISTRICT, SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE COMMISSION TO ASSESS LOTS OR PARCELS WHICH DERIVE A PARTICULAR BENEFIT FROM LATERAL COLLECTION LINES FOR THE COST OF THE LINES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 6-11-1210 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 6-11-1210. The General Assembly has from time to time created and established special purpose or public service districts throughout the State of South Carolina for the purpose, inter alia, of providing for the establishing of appropriate facilities for the collection, disposal, or the treatment of sewage. Generally the cost of constructing such these facilities has been defrayed from the proceeds of a districtwide ad valorem tax upon all property lying within the district involved. This method of financing such the facilities was based upon the General Assembly's conclusion that all properties within the district benefited by the proposed improvement in proportion to their assessed value. However, it appears that in some instances, the cost of constructing all or a portion of such the facilities can may be more equitably distributed by assessing the cost of constructing sewer laterals lateral collecting lines against the properties facing thereon the collecting lines or otherwise deriving a particular benefit from them. In addition a sewer service charge is likewise proper in many instances.
The General Assembly concludes that in order to facilitate the construction and operation of sewer systems by special purpose or public service districts, all of such districts should be granted all of the powers set forth in this article.
In view of the foregoing, the General Assembly has determined to give the governing body of each such district, in addition to those powers already vested in them respectively, the power to:
(a) To place into effect, revise, enforce, and collect a schedule of charges for its sewage collection service;
(b) to contract with any public or private agency operating a water system for the collection of such the sewer charges;
(c) to adopt and enforce regulations requiring all properties to which sewer service is available to connect to the district's sewage collection facilities as now existing or hereafter improved;
(d) to make regulations generally with respect to the discharge of sewage and the use of privies, septic tanks, and any other type of sewage facilities;
(e) to impose front-foot assessments against properties abutting the sewage lateral collection laterals lines or otherwise deriving a particular benefit from them; and
(f) to make unpaid sewer service charges a lien against the property served.
It is the legislative intent of this article that it shall be deemed is considered complementary and supplementary to existing laws relating to each such district. and to add The article adds to the powers, functions, and duties committed to of the several governing bodies thereof in order that such the districts may fulfill their function of preserving the public health and provide for all those who own, use, or occupy dwellings, commercial buildings, or other structures therein. In enacting this law, the General Assembly exercises its general police powers having found that such the exercise was necessary for the maintenance and preservation of the health of the inhabitants of the State. Nothing herein contained in this article shall be construed is considered to be in derogation of the powers of the Department of Health and Environmental Control."
SECTION 2. Section 6-11-1220(g) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(g) The term 'front-foot assessment' shall mean means the assessment levied to reimburse a district for that portion of the cost of installing sewer laterals (collection lines) lateral collection lines imposed by the commission on a front-foot basis or per parcel or per unit basis."
SECTION 3. Section 6-11-1230(4)(a) through (d) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 34 of 1997, is further amended to read:
"(4) To provide by resolution that the actual cost of the establishment and construction of a water distribution line or sewer lateral collection line hereafter constructed by the commission and an extension of a line within the district, or so much of the actual cost as the commission considers appropriate, must be assessed subject to the provisions of the next paragraph upon the lots and parcels of land abutting directly on or otherwise deriving a particular benefit from the lateral collection line or extension or expansion of a line according to the extent of the respective frontage, if applicable on them, by an equal rate per foot of frontage; but the commission may provide, in the instance of corner lots, for an assessment considered to be equitable. If the area to be served is part of a development plan or zoned for residential use, then an assessment may be levied by the commission on a parcel or per unit basis rather than on a front-foot basis. As used in this section, 'front-foot assessment' includes assessments levied on a parcel or per unit basis. The commission may provide in the resolution that the front-foot assessments to be levied in connection with the installations may be paid in equal installments covering a period of not exceeding twenty years. The deferred payments are payable annually within the period that county taxes are payable and late payments must be penalized to the same extent as in the case of county taxes.
The General Assembly does not intend through this article to permit assessments against abutting property where no benefit results to the property or where a benefit results only at some remote future time. Accordingly, no commission pursuant to this article may impose a front-foot assessment against any property unless the property is being used for or is devoted to commercial or residential purposes at the time of the assessment or unless, in the case of properties on which no buildings are situate, those properties have been platted, zoned, or otherwise developed as a part of a subdivision devoted to residential or commercial purposes. If any property pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph is exempt from front-foot assessment at the time the assessment is originally levied, is later converted to commercial, industrial, or residential purposes, or is later platted, zoned, or otherwise developed then at that time front-foot assessments may be levied against the property. No In the case of assessments levied on a front-foot basis, an individual residential parcel may not be assessed on the basis of more than two hundred fifty feet of frontage.
In connection with the imposition of such front-foot assessments:
(a) The resolution providing for such front-foot assessments shall designate by a general description the improvement to be made and the street or parts thereof whereon of streets where the work is to be effected and the actual cost thereof and the amount of the cost to be assessed upon all abutting property abutting or otherwise deriving a particular benefit from the sewer line work subject to the provisions of the preceding paragraph and the terms and manner of payment. Such The resolution shall not become effective until at least seven days after it shall have been published in a newspaper of general circulation in the district. Such The resolution may incorporate by reference plats and engineering reports and other data on file in the commission's office provided that the place of filing and reasonable hours for inspection by interested persons are specified in the resolution. Within thirty days of such the publication, the commission shall prepare in poster form a notice advising of the proposed assessments and generally describing the area to be affected and shall deliver the notice to the register of deeds or, if none, to the clerk of court of each county wherein where any affected property lies. The register of deeds or clerk of court shall prominently display such the notice in his office until the assessment roll prescribed by subitem (e) has been filed. Failure to provide or post such the notice shall not affect the validity of any an assessment hereunder described in the notice.
(b) Upon the completion of the construction of any such the sewer laterals lateral collection lines or any extensions thereof of them, the commission shall compute and ascertain the total cost thereof of them and shall thereupon make an assessment of such the total cost or so much thereof of it as it deems the commission considers appropriate. For that purpose the commission shall make out an assessment roll in which must be entered the names of the persons assessed and the amount assessed against their respective properties with a brief description of the lots or parcels of land assessed.
(c) Immediately after such the assessment roll has been completed, the commission shall deposit forthwith cause one copy thereof to be deposited in the commission's office for inspection by interested parties, and shall cause to be published publish at least once in a newspaper of general circulation within the district a notice of completion of the assessment roll setting forth a description in general terms of the improvements and the time fixed for the meeting of the commission for a hearing of objections in respect of the front-foot assessments;. such The meeting may not to be held earlier than ten days from the date of the publication of such the notice.
(d) As soon as practicable after the completion of the assessment roll and prior to the publication of the notice above-mentioned in subparagraph subitem (c), the commission shall mail to the owner or owners of each lot or parcel of land against which a front-foot assessment is to be levied at his or their address, if any, appearing on the records of the county treasurer, a notice stating the nature of the improvement, the total cost thereof of the improvement, the amount to be assessed against the particular property, and the frontage in feet upon which the front-foot assessment is based, if applicable, or that the assessment is levied against on a per parcel or per unit basis, together, in either case, with the terms and conditions upon which the front-foot assessment may be paid. This notice shall also contain a brief description of the particular property involved together with a statement that the amount assessed shall constitute a lien against the property superior to all other liens except property taxes. The notice shall also state the time and place fixed for the meeting of the commission above-mentioned in subitem (c) for a hearing of objections in respect of the front-foot assessments. Any This notice must contain a statement that a property owner who fails, not later than three days prior to the date set for such the meeting, to file with the commission a written objection to the front-foot assessments against his property shall be deemed is considered to have waived all rights to object to such the front-foot assessment;. and the notice prescribed herein shall so state."
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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