§ 156-105. Assessment lien; collection; sale of land. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 156‑105.  Assessment lien; collection; sale ofland.

The assessments shall constitute a first and paramount lien, secondonly to State and county taxes, upon the lands assessed for the payment of thebonds and interest thereon as they become due, and shall be collected in thesame manner and by the same officers as the State and county taxes arecollected. The assessments shall be due and payable on the first Monday inSeptember each year, and if the same shall not be paid in full by the thirty‑firstday of December following, it shall be the duty of the sheriff or tax collectorto sell the lands so delinquent. The sale of lands for failure to pay suchassessments shall be made at the courthouse door of the county in which thelands are situated, between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and fouro'clock in the afternoon of any date except Sunday or another legal holidaywhen the courthouse is closed for transactions, which may be designated by theboard of drainage commissioners. After any such sale date has been designatedby the board of drainage commissioners, if for any necessary cause the salecannot be made on that date, the sale may be continued from day to day for notexceeding four days, or the lands may be readvertised and sold on any day whichthe board of drainage commissioners may or shall designate during the samehours and without any order being obtained therefor during the same calendaryear. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any order from anycourt for any sale or resale held hereunder. The existing general tax law inforce when sales are made for delinquent assessments shall have application inredeeming lands so sold; and in all other respects, except as herein orotherwise modified or amended, the existing law as to the collection of Stateand county taxes shall apply to the collection of such drainage assessments. Nobid at any sale shall be received unless sufficient in amount to discharge allthe drainage assessments and other charges due by the delinquent lands or ownerthereof, together with all costs and expenses of sale. If no sufficient bid bereceived, the board of drainage commissioners of the district shall be deemedthe purchaser in its corporate capacity at a sum sufficient to pay allassessments which are due and costs as above stated, and shall be entitled toreceive a certificate of purchase and deed in the manner provided by law forpurchasers at tax sales. The board of drainage commissioners shall only berequired to pay to the sheriff the costs and expenses of sale before receivinga certificate of purchase. The board of drainage commissioners of the districtin their corporate capacity shall be in like position and have the same rightsand be subject to the same duties as the purchaser of lands at any tax saleunder the general law. If the board of drainage commissioners shall have beenthe purchaser of lands so sold, the amount paid in redemption by the owner, orany person having an estate therein or lien thereon, shall include the sum bidtherefor plus the penalty. The board of drainage commissioners shall pay to thesheriff or tax collector the amount representing their bid at the sale of saidlands before they shall be entitled to receive a deed therefor, which thesheriff shall pay to the treasurer of the drainage district in the same manneras other funds received by him. The board of drainage commissioners, afteracquiring a deed for said lands, may hold the same as an asset of the district,and shall be liable for the payment of all drainage assessments and State andcounty taxes accruing after the sale at which the district was a bidder, and inall respects be deemed the owner of said lands and subject to the sameprivileges and liabilities as any other landowner, including the right to conveythe said lands for a consideration and pay the proceeds of said sale to thetreasurer of the district, which may be distributed by the drainagecommissioners for the benefit of the district in the same manner as otherdistrict funds.

If any sheriff or tax collector failed for any reason to collectdrainage assessments upon lands in any drainage districts due in 1917, or anysubsequent years, and further failed to make valid sales of the lands sodelinquent in the payment of such assessments, then and in such event theexisting sheriff or tax collector is hereby authorized and directed to proceedto collect such unpaid drainage assessments, with interest thereon from thedates when such assessments respectively became due, and in default of paymentbeing made he is further authorized to make sales of such lands as may be indefault at any time hereafter, at the times and in the manner authorized by lawas amended herein; and the purchaser at said sales shall acquire title to suchlands in the manner provided by law. If the sheriff or tax collector in officeat the time such assessments were in default has since died or gone out ofoffice, the powers herein given shall be exercised by the existing sheriff ortax collector.

The 1931 amendment to this section shall have the same force and effectfrom and after April 13, 1931, as if it had been ratified and enacted prior tothe first day of January, 1929, and no sale of drainage lands held under theprovisions of section 5361 shall be deemed or declared void by reason of thefact that they may not have been held on the day specified in section 5361 ofthe Consolidated Statutes prior to this amendment. (1911, c. 67, s. 12; 1917, c. 152, s. 9; C.S., s. 5361; Pub. Loc. 1923,c. 88, ss. 3, 4, 5; 1931, c. 273; 2003‑337, s. 12.)