§ 4-55A-19 — Improvement district; assessments; terms of payment;

liens. A. The board may, by ordinance: (1) establish the time and terms of paying the assessment or installments on the assessment, including but not limited to any provision for differing optional time periods over which installments of assessments for the same district may be paid and, at the discretion of the board, differing interest rates on the assessments that are payable over different time periods; provided that in the situation where the board provides for optional time periods for payment of assessment installments, the ordinance shall set a limit on the time during which the affected property owner must select one of the specified options in writing and shall provide that failure to select one of the options within the time limit conclusively establishes the selection of a specific option designated in the ordinance; (2) set any rate or rates of interest upon deferred payments of the assessment or provide for setting, by resolution, of the rate or rates of interest upon deferred payments after sale of bonds or assignable certificates as provided in Section 4-55A-20 NMSA 1978, which shall commence from the date of publication or posting of the ordinance levying the assessment; provided that the same interest rate shall be set for assessments which are payable over the same time period; and provided further that no rate or rates of interest in excess of twelve percent a year upon such deferred payments of the assessment shall become effective unless the state board of finance or any successor thereof at any time approves such higher rate or rates in writing based upon the determination of the state board of finance that the higher rate is reasonable under existing or anticipated bond market conditions, which approval shall be conclusive; (3) fix penalties to be charged for delinquent payment of an assessment; (4) establish procedures and standards for an adjustment of assessment in order to allow transfer of a parcel free of an assessment lien, accomodate [accommodate] subdivision of an assessed parcel or accommodate property line corrections and adjustments without changing the original payment schedule, the priority or original amount of the assessment. Such an adjustment of assessment may allow the owner of the original tract of land to pay off any pro rata share of the assessment lien in advance of the schedule of payments. The procedures and standards may also provide for the method of assessment on the newly created parcels to vary from the method of assessment used on the original tract; and (5) provide for the payment of any assessments levied pursuant to Chapter 4, Article 55A NMSA 1978 from other funds received by any owner of a tract or parcel in an improvement district in a location also intended by the board for the stimulation of manufacturing, industrial, commercial or business development pursuant to Section 4- 55A-4.1 NMSA 1978. B. After the publication or posting of the ordinance levying an assessment as provided in Section 4-55A-18 NMSA 1978, the assessment together with any interest or penalty accruing to the assessment is a lien upon the tract or parcel of land so assessed. Such a lien is coequal with the lien for general ad valorem taxes and the lien of other improvement districts and is superior to all other liens, claims and titles. Unmatured installments are not deemed to be within the terms of any general covenant or warranty. All purchasers, mortgagees or encumbrancers of a tract or parcel of land so assessed shall hold the tract or parcel of land subject to the lien so created unless the assessment lien is adjusted pursuant to this section. C. Within sixty days after the publication or posting of the ordinance ratifying an assessment roll and levying the assessments, the county clerk shall prepare, sign, attest and record in his office a claim of lien for any unpaid amount due and assessed against a tract or parcel of land. D. Any tract or parcel of land so assessed shall not be relieved from the assessment or lien by the sale of the tract or parcel of land for general taxes or any other assessment, subject to the provisions of Section 4-55A-26 NMSA 1978. The statute of limitations shall not begin to run against an assessment until after the last installment of the assessment becomes due. E. The fact that an improvement is omitted for any benefited tract or parcel of land does not invalidate a lien or assessment made against any other tract or parcel of land.

Legislative History

Laws 1980, ch. 91, § 19; 1981, ch. 44, § 4; 1991, ch. 199, § 42.