South Carolina Code 6-35-180. Assessment roll; preparation and notice; hearing of objections; correction and confirmation of assessment; waiver of notice requirements
(B) As soon as practicable after the completion of the assessment roll and prior to the publication of the notice provided in the preceding paragraph, the governing body shall mail by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner or owners of each lot or parcel of land against which an assessment is to be levied, at the address appearing on the records of the city or county treasurer, a notice stating the nature of the improvements, the maximum total proposed cost thereof, and the maximum amount to be assessed against the particular property. The notice shall 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 also shall state the time and place fixed for the hearing of objections with respect to the assessment. Any property owner who fails to file with the governing body a written objection to the assessment against his property within the time provided for hearing such objections shall be deemed to have consented to such assessment, and the published and written notices prescribed in this chapter shall so state.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 6-35-180
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Assessment: means a charge against the real property belonging to an owner within an improvement district created pursuant to this chapter. See South Carolina Code 6-35-20
- Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
- District: means an area within the county or municipality designated by the governing body and proposed by petition and approved by the governing body pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and within which an improvement plan is to be accomplished. See South Carolina Code 6-35-20
- Governing body: means , as appropriate, the county council or the municipal council or councils with authority over the geographic area in which the district lies and acting under this chapter. See South Carolina Code 6-35-20
- Government entity: means the county or municipality in which the district is located and the governing body of which acts under this chapter to create such district and impose assessments therein. See South Carolina Code 6-35-20
- Improvements: include , but are not limited to, public infrastructure improvements, such as a parkway, park, and playground; a recreation facility, athletic facility, and pedestrian facility; sidewalk; parking facility ancillary to another public facility; facade redevelopment; storm drain; the relocation, construction, widening, and paving of a street, road, and bridge including demolition of them; underground utility dedicated or to be dedicated to public use; all improvements permitted under Chapter 35 of Title 4 and Chapter 37 of Title 5; a building or other facility for public use; public works eligible for financing under the provisions of § 6-21-50; and things incidental to an improvement including, but not limited to, planning, engineering, promotion, marketing, administrative fees, and acquisition of necessary easements and land, and may include a facility for lease or use by a private person, firm, or corporation. See South Carolina Code 6-35-20
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Owner: means any person eighteen years of age, or older, or the proper legal representative for any person younger than eighteen years of age or otherwise incapacitated person as defined in § 62-5-101(1), and any firm or corporation, who or which owns legal title to a present possessory interest in real estate equal to a life estate or greater, expressly excluding leaseholds, easements, equitable interests, inchoate rights, dower rights, and future interests, and who owns, at the date of the petition required by § 6-35-118, at least an undivided one-tenth interest in a single tract and whose name appears on the county tax records as an owner of real estate, and any duly organized group whose total interest is equal to at least a one-tenth interest in a single tract. See South Carolina Code 6-35-20
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
(C) The governing body, a panel of the governing body, or a hearing officer or officers as designated by the governing body shall hear the objections as provided herein of all persons who have filed written notice of objection within the time prescribed and who may appear and make proof in relation thereto either in person or by their attorney. The governing body, at the sessions held to make final decisions on objections, may thereupon make such corrections in the assessment roll as it may deem proper and confirm the same or set it aside and provide for a new assessment. Whenever the governing body shall confirm an assessment, either as originally prepared or as thereafter corrected, a copy thereof, certified by the clerk of the government entity, shall be filed in the office of the clerk of court, register of deeds, or register of mesne conveyances of the county in which the government entity is situate, and from the time of such filing the assessment impressed in the assessment roll shall constitute and be a lien on the real property against which it is assessed superior to all other liens and encumbrances, except the lien for property taxes, and shall be annually assessed and collected with the property taxes.
(D) Upon the confirmation of an assessment, if any, the governing body shall mail a written notice of the amount of the assessment finally confirmed to all persons who have filed written objections as hereinabove provided. Such property owner may appeal such assessment only if he shall, within twenty days after the mailing of the notice to him confirming the assessment, give written notice to the governing body of his intent to appeal his assessment to the court of common pleas of the county in which the property is situate; but no such appeal shall delay or stay the construction of improvements or affect the validity of the assessments confirmed and not appealed. Appeals shall be heard and determined on the record in the manner of appeals from administrative bodies in this State.
(E) Following the completion of the assessment roll, the requirements of this section as to notice and hearing may be waived upon the filing with the governing body of a waiver signed by all owners of property within the district as of the date of filing of such waiver. Such waiver shall for each parcel in the district state the maximum assessment to be imposed thereupon and all owners of such parcel. Such waiver shall contain a statement that the persons signing the waiver intend thereby to waive all rights to notice, hearing, and appeal otherwise available under § 6-35-180.