Section 11-40-54

Failure of owner to comply with notice of non-conformity, certificate of modified approval, etc.; civil penalties; collection and enforcement of penalties.

(a) If the owner of any property cited under the provisions of the ordinance fails to comply with any notice of non-conformity, fails to comply with any certificate of approval as modified, certificate of disapproval, or certificate directing compliance with a substituted plan, the municipality may:

(1) Repair the building at the expense of the municipality and assess the expenses on the land on which the building stands or to which it is attached.

(2) Assess a civil penalty against the owner of the property.

(b) The civil penalty shall be in the amount of one percent of the current assessed value of the property per month until the deficiency is corrected and until the penalty is paid. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the minimum monthly fine imposed shall be $250 per month or $3,000 per year.

(c) In collecting any penalty imposed by this article, the municipality may:

(1) Impose a lien against the land on which the building stands or stood to secure the payment of the repair or the civil penalty. Promptly after the imposition of the lien, the municipality shall file for record, in recordable form in the office of the probate court for the county in which the land is located, a written notice of the imposition of the lien. The notice shall contain a legal description of the land.

(2) Allow payment of any assessment for repairs or the civil penalty in the manner and as provided for the payment of municipal improvement assessments in the provisions of Section 11-48-48 as the same has heretofore or may hereafter be amended, and upon the property owner's failure to pay the assessment, the officer designated by the city to collect the assessments shall proceed to collect the assessment as provided in Sections 11-48-49 to 11-48-60, inclusive.

(3) Provide a copy of the civil penalty or assessment for repairs to the Revenue Commissioner who, under the "Optional Method of Taxation," is charged with the collection of municipal taxes pursuant to Sections 11-51-40 to 11-51-74, inclusive, whereupon it shall be the duty of the Revenue Commissioner to add the amount of the civil penalty or assessment for repairs to the next regular bills for taxes levied against the respective parts and parcels of land, and thereafter the amounts shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary municipal ad valorem taxes are collected and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure under foreclosure and sale in case of delinquency.

(d) The remedies contained in subsection (c) of this section shall be cumulative.

(e) Any collection or amounts realized under the provisions of this section need not be consigned to general revenue, but may be held in one or more accounts designated in the ordinance and shall be allocated, upon approval of the governing body, for those purposes designated in the ordinance.

(Acts 1992, No. 92-471, p. 939, §5.)