(a) The expense of establishing and maintaining a district shall be paid for by the proceeds of a service charge which shall be levied and collected in an amount sufficient to pay the expense. The service charge shall be levied upon and collected from persons and properties served by the system. Such charge shall be a personal obligation of the owner of the property served by the system, and to secure the collection of the charge there shall be a lien against the property in favor of the district, which lien shall be enforceable by sale thereof in the same manner in which the foreclosure of a municipal assessment for public improvements is authorized.
(b) A property owner who owns a structure, used solely as a residence, which at the time of its original construction was situated on a county line, may avoid the payment of a service charge which is based upon the presence of such structure, if all of the following:
(1) Between January 1, 1990, and December 28, 1990, such structure was not assessed for taxes in Mobile County.
(2) Between January 1, 1990, and December 28, 1990, any homestead exemption was not claimed for such structure in reduction of taxes assessed in Mobile County.
(3) The property owner furnishes proof to the district, of an agreement between such property owner and another district or municipality located in the county within whose boundaries the remaining portion of the structure is located, to provide fire fighting and emergency medical services to such property owner's property so long as the structure is existent.
(4) The property owner furnishes to the district all of the following:
a. An irrevocable waiver of liability absolving the district from any and all liability for failure to respond to calls for fire fighting or emergency medical services to any portion of such owner's property contiguous to the aforesaid structure.
b. An agreement that any service charges imposed with respect to future construction on the property shall constitute a lien upon the entire property located within the district, including the property upon which the residence is situated.
(c) Subsection (b) may be applied retroactively in respect of unpaid service charges if (1) in the opinion of the board of trustees the waiving of previously imposed service charges will have no significant impact on the financial viability of the district; and (2) the district has long term debt outstanding, the aggregate amount of which is such that retroactive waiver for all properties covered by subsection (b) is no more than one-tenth of one percent of the amount of such long term debt then outstanding.
Last modified: May 3, 2021