N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 15-1955: Proceedings for assessment and collection of cost

§ 15-1955. Proceedings for assessment and collection of cost.

1. Except as otherwise provided by law, all costs and expenses

necessary for the formation, improvement and maintenance of a drainage

improvement district shall be met from funds collected from the owners

of lands benefited or affected or from public corporations as provided

in title 19 of this article. The fiscal year shall start on the first

day of July.

2. On or before the first day of July each year the department shall

prepare and file for each existing or proposed district having

outstanding indebtedness or for which the borrowing of money has been

authorized, an itemized statement of the amounts that must be collected

on the tax roll to be prepared that year to meet the fiscal obligations

of the district for the following fiscal year, including retirement of

outstanding or contemplated evidences of indebtedness, interest thereon,

repayments to the drainage fund and all other costs of whatever name or

nature. Such statement shall set forth separately each project or parts

of a project or other items in such manner as to facilitate the

preparation of the tax rolls as herein provided. The total of each such

item shall further be subdivided to show the amount thereof to be paid

by each county, town, city or village and the amount to be levied on the

individual properties. This last amount shall be further subdivided to

show the total amount to be levied and collected in each county, town,

city or village, all as previously determined by the department.

3. Such statement shall be approved as to the various amounts by the

Comptroller. Certified copies of each statement shall be filed with the

Comptroller, with the clerk of the county legislative body, or such

other similar official as shall have been designated by the county

legislative body, the clerk of each town and the clerk of each city or

village affected thereby.

4. The amount shown on each statement to be due from any county, town,

city or village shall be by such municipality assessed, levied and

collected in the same manner as provided by law with reference to

general taxes and paid to the treasurer of the county, who shall

forthwith forward the same to the Comptroller to be paid by him into the

drainage improvement district fund applicable to such district or

proposed district or into the drainage fund. That portion of each such

item which is to be levied on the individual properties in any town or

city shall be handled as follows. The appropriate board of assessors

shall ascertain from the maps filed and apportionment of cost filed or

recorded, the various parcels liable for any part of such item and shall

enter in appropriate columns in the annual assessment roll before the

delivery thereof to the county legislative body the number of each such

parcel, the name of the owner as far as the same can be ascertained by

the assessors and the figure to be used in determining the amount to be

borne by each parcel, be it area, enhancements, modified enhancements,

assessed valuation or percentage, all as shown by the above-mentioned

maps or statements. Should a parcel have been subdivided, each division

shall be so entered separately and the area, enhancement or other

figures shall be subdivided accordingly by the assessors.

5. The county legislative body shall each year, at the time the annual

tax levy is made, levy upon each separate parcel so shown on the

assessment rolls an amount which shall bear the same relation to the

total to be collected as shown by the annual statement as the area,

enhancement or similar figure assigned to that parcel bears to the total

of all such areas, enhancements or similar figures. Should the board of

supervisors discover errors in the work of the assessors, they hereby

are specifically empowered to correct the same so that the full amount

shown by the annual statement of the department shall be assessed upon

the properties liable therefor and it shall be the duty of the assessors

to aid the county legislative body in making such corrections.

6. The amount so levied shall be collected and shall be a like lien as

general taxes until the amount thereof is paid to the county treasurer,

superior in force and effect to all other liens except unpaid general

taxes, provided, however, that the collection of such tax shall be

enforced only by sale of the land or property assessed. On or before the

first day of June in each year the county treasurer shall pay the amount

so to be raised in his county, as shown by the annual statement of the

department of the previous year, to the Comptroller who shall pay the

same into the drainage improvement district fund or into the drainage

fund as the case may be. The tax collectors and county treasurers

collecting and paying such taxes to the Comptroller shall be governed by

and have all the powers specified in the Real Property Tax Law, which

formerly were specified in articles 4 and 7 of the Tax Law for the

collection of taxes and sale of property by county treasurers for unpaid

taxes and redemption of lands.