SF 2254 (LSB 5921SV (1) 83)

SENATE FILE 2254

BY  COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

(SUCCESSOR TO SF 2186)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the powers and duties of county treasurers to assess certain property associated with fence disputes and water districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 169C.1, Code 2009, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  1A.  “County system” means the same as defined in section 445.1.
    Sec. 2.  Section 169C.6, subsection 3, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  If the fence is not erected or maintained as required in section 359A.6, and upon the written request of the board of township trustees, the board of supervisors of the county where the fence is to be erected or maintained shall act in the same manner as the board of township trustees under that section, including by erecting or maintaining the fence, ordering payment from a defaulted party, and certifying an amount due to the county auditor treasurer in the same manner as in section 359A.6. The amount due shall include the total costs required to erect or maintain the fence and a penalty equal to five percent of the total costs. The amount shall be placed upon the tax books county system, and collected with interest and penalties after due, in the same manner as other unpaid property taxes in the same manner as ordinary taxes. Upon certification to the county treasurer, the amount assessed shall be a lien on the parcel until paid.
    Sec. 3.  Section 331.512, subsection 1, paragraph d, Code 2009, is amended by striking the paragraph.
    Sec. 4.  Section 359A.4, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   359A.4  Decision —— deposit.

   At said time and place the fence viewers shall meet and determine by written order the obligations, rights, and duties of the respective parties in such matter, and assign to each owner the part which the owner shall erect, maintain, rebuild, trim or cut back, or pay for, and fix the value thereof, and prescribe the time within which the same shall be completed or paid for, and, in case of repair, may specify the kind of repairs to be made. If the fence is not erected, rebuilt, or repaired within the time prescribed in the order, the fence viewers shall require the complaining landowner to deposit with the fence viewers a sum of money sufficient to pay for the erecting, rebuilding, trimming, cutting back or repairing such fence together with the fees of the fence viewers and costs. Such complaining landowner shall be reimbursed as soon as the taxes costs and fees assessed against the party in default are collected as provided in section 359A.6.
    Sec. 5.  Section 359A.6, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   359A.6  Default —— costs and fees collected as taxes.

   If the erecting, rebuilding, or repairing of such a fence be is not completed within thirty days from and after the time fixed therefor in such the order, the board of township trustees acting as fence viewers shall cause the fence to be erected, rebuilt, and repaired, and the value thereof may be fixed by the fence viewers, and unless the sum so fixed, together with all fees of the fence viewers caused by such default, as taxed by them, is paid to the county treasurer, within ten days after the same is so ascertained; or when ordered to pay for an existing fence, and the value thereof is fixed by the fence viewers, and said sum, together with the fees of the fence viewers, as taxed by them, remains unpaid by the party in default for ten days, the fence viewers shall certify to the county auditor treasurer the full amount due from the party or parties in default, including all fees and costs taxed assessed by the fence viewers, together with a description of the real estate owned by the party or parties in default along or upon which the said fence exists, and the county auditor treasurer shall enter the same upon the tax list county system, and the amount shall be collected as other taxes in the same manner as ordinary taxes. Upon certification to the county treasurer, the amount assessed shall be a lien on the parcel until paid.
    Sec. 6.  Section 357.22, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   357.22  Lien of assessments —— tax.

   When the assessment has been completed, and the bonds have been sold and delivered to the county auditor, and the schedule of assessment shall be turned over has been delivered to the county auditor treasurer, the installments due thereon shall be collected in the same manner as ordinary taxes and shall constitute a lien on the property against which they are made. If the treasurer does not receive sufficient funds to enable the treasurer to pay the interest and retire the bonds as they become due, the auditor shall levy an annual tax of eighty-one cents per thousand dollars of assessed value of all taxable property within the district to pay such deficiency, and the county treasurer shall apply the proceeds of such levy to the payment of the bonds and the interest on the same so long as the bonds are in arrears on either interest or principal.
    Sec. 7.  Section 445.1, subsection 5, Code Supplement 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   5.  “Rate or charge” means an item, including rentals, legally certified to the county treasurer for collection as provided in sections 169C.6, 331.465, 331.489, 358.20, 359A.6, 364.11, 364.12, and 468.589 and section 384.84, subsection 4.
EXPLANATION
   This bill relates to the powers and duties of county treasurers to assess certain property associated with fence viewing disputes and water districts. 
   ASSESSMENTS ARISING FROM FENCE DISPUTES. Code chapter 169C provides for the habitual trespass of livestock onto the land of a neighboring landowner or strays from the land where the livestock are kept onto a public road. A neighboring landowner or local authority (county or city) may request that the responsible landowner of the land where the trespassing or stray livestock are kept construct or maintain a fence on the land. Code chapter 359A provides that adjacent landowners are both responsible for constructing and maintaining partition fences. In both cases the township trustees (including by acting through fence viewers) may intervene by having construction or repair work done independently, ordering the responsible landowner to make payment, and certifying the amount due to the county auditor who places the amount on the tax books for collection as a tax debt. This bill changes that procedure by requiring the county trustees to certify the amount due to the county treasurer who must enter the information into the county system. The county system is a method of data storage and retrieval approved by the auditor of state which includes tax lists, books, records, indexes, registers, or schedules (see Code section 445.1). The bill provides that the amount due is collected in a manner similar to that provided for the collection of rates and charges by the governing body of a city utility (see Code section 384.84). The assessed amount as certified is a lien upon the land until paid.
   ASSESSMENTS ARISING FROM WATER DISTRICT IMPROVEMENTS. Code chapter 357 provides for the assessment of landowners benefiting from work done to a water district which may be financed through the issuance of bonds. When the assessment is completed and the bonds are sold, the county auditor receives a schedule of assessment for collection in installment payments in the same manner as ordinary taxes. The amount assessed is a lien on the benefited property. The bill provides that the bonds are to be delivered to the county auditor, and the schedule of assessment is to be delivered to the county treasurer which are still collected as taxes due.