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HomeMy WebLinkAbout022767 RES - 11/26/1996RESOLUTION SPECIFYING RULES TO APPLY WHEN THE CITY INTENDS TO ASSESS ABUTTING PROPERTY OR AFFECTED RAILWAYS TO SECURE PAYMENT FOR HIGHWAY OR RELATED IMPROVEMENTS, INCLUDING RULES CONCERNING ASSESSMENT HEARING NOTICE AND THE ASSESSMENT HEARING ITSELF; AND AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING SERVICES TO PREPARE ASSESSMENT CERTIFICATES Texas Transportation Code Chapter 313 describes the steps which the city must take to assess property and impose a lien on it to secure payment for highway or related improvements. An assessment may be made against abutting property or an affected railway only after notice and the opportunity for a hearing. The city council is authorized to adopt rules governing assessment hearing notice and the assessment hearing itself. The city council may issue assignable assessment certificates. The certificates document that assessment liens have been imposed properly. The certificates may be used as evidence in assessment lien enforcement suits. To make the assessment lien process more efficient, the city council adopts these rules concerning assessment hearing notice, the assessment hearing itself, and assessment certificates. The rules are to be applied whenever the city proposes to pay for street or related improvements by making assessments against either abutting property or affected railways under Texas Transportation Code Chapter 313. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS: SECTION 1. Notice of an assessment hearing will be by publication and certified mail. The city secretary will arrange for the notice to be published at least 3 times in a Corpus Christi newspaper beginning not later than the twenty-first (21st) day before the assessment hearing date The director of engineering services will ensure that written notice of the assessment hearing is also given by certified mail, both to the owners of the properties abutting the proposed improvements and to owners of affected railways. The notice will be deposited in the mail, postage prepaid, at least 14 days before the assessment hearing date. The written notice may consist of a copy of the published notice. The notice will be sent to these owners as their names and addresses are shown on the city's rendered tax roll. If names do not appear on the city's rendered tax roll, then the notice MS0922.046.mis(bak) November 21, 1996 (1138am) i1IUROFILMED 1 2 will be addressed to those owners as their names and addresses are shown on the city's unrendered tax roll. If an owner of property abutting a part of a highway to be improved is listed as "unknown" on the city's tax roll, or if the name of an owner is shown on the city's tax roll but no address for the owner is shown, it is not necessary to mail a notice. If the owner is shown as an estate, the notice may be mailed to the estate's address. SECTION 2. Notice to be published and mailed will: A. describe in general terms the nature of the improvement for which the proposed assessment is to be imposed; B. state the part of the highway to be improved; C. state the estimated amount per front -foot proposed to be assessed against the owners of abutting property and the property on which the hearing is to be held; D. state the estimated total cost of the improvement on each part of the highway; E. state the amount proposed to be assessed for the improvement to be constructed in part of the area between, under, and two feet outside of rails, tracks, double tracks, turnouts, or switches of a railway; and F. state the time and place of the hearing. SECTION 3. At the assessment hearing, an owner of property abutting a proposed improvement or the owner of an affected railway is entitled to be heard on any matter for which a hearing is a constitutional prerequisite to the validity of an assessment under Texas Transportation Code Chapter 313. Furthermore, an owner may contest the: A. amount of the proposed assessment; B. lien and liability for the assessment; C. special benefit of the proposed improvement to the abutting property and the owners of the abutting property; and D. accuracy, sufficiency, regularity, or validity of the proceedings or contract for the improvement and proposed assessment. SECTION 4. At the assessment hearing, the city council may: MS0922 046 mis(bak) November 21, 1996 (11:38am) 3 A. correct an error, inaccuracy, irregularity, or invalidity; B. supply a deficiency; C. determine the amount of an assessment; D. determine any other necessary matter; and E. by ordinance, end the hearing and impose the assessment before, during, or after the construction of the improvement. SECTION 5. Improvement costs which are assessed will be apportioned among the parcels of abutting property and their owners in accordance with the front -foot rule. If, in the opinion of the city council, the application of the front -foot rule in a particular case will result in injustice or inequality, the city council will assess the costs in the proportion it determines just and equitable, considering: A. the special benefit the property and its owner receive in enhanced value to the property; B. the equities of the owners; and C. the adjustment of the apportionment to produce a substantial equality of benefits received and burdens imposed. The city council may also assess against a railway that uses, occupies, or crosses a highway the cost of improvements in the area between, under, or in the area extending two feet outside of the railway's rails, tracks, double tracks, turn outs, or switches. SECTION 6. During an assessment hearing, it is customary for the city council to consider testimony by the city's director of engineering services and an expert real estate appraiser. To make these hearings more efficient, testimony by either the city's director of engineering services or a city -retained real estate appraiser on any matters relevant to the assessment process will be in writing. This written testimony will be filed with the city secretary no later than 72 hours before the assessment hearing. While both of these individuals should be available at the assessment hearing to respond to city council or other inquiries, this rule is designed to avoid the need to receive testimony at the hearing. SECTION 7. The city council may issue assignable certificates to evidence assessments imposed. The certificates may be used as evidence in assessment lien enforcement suits. Thus, for each street improvement project where assessments are made in accordance with Texas Transportation Code Chapter 313, the director of engineering services is authorized to prepare assessment certificates to be issued by the city council. MS0922.046. mis(bek) November 21, 1996(11.3Bem) 4 SECTION 8. This resolution may be cited as the "Assessment Process Rules Resolution." ATTEST: CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI Armando Chapa, City Secretary ^ / MAYOR, M ' ' ODES APPROVED: 255 DAX OF /U 17-2-0 am , 1996. JAMES R. BRAY JR., CITY ATTORNEY By: Cf 0 . SCLC Michael L. Scanlon Assistant City Attorney MS0922046.m1s(bek) November 21, 1996 (11:Mem) Corpus Christi, Texas day of C kin ki , 19 (Up The above resolution was passed by the following vote: Mary Rhodes Dr. Jack Best Betty Black Melody Cooper Tony Heldenfels Betty Jean Longoria John Longoria Edward A. Martin Dr. David McNichols \forms\066 atof u 1