New Mexico Statutes
Article 16 - Conservancy Districts; Financial Administration
Section 73-16-6 - Payment of construction fund assessments.

A. When the construction fund assessment record is placed on file in the office of the district, notice by publication shall be given to property owners that they may pay their assessments. Any owner of property assessed for the execution of the official plan shall have the privilege of paying such assessment to the treasurer within sixty (60) days from the time such publication is completed, and the amount to be paid shall be the full amount of the assessment without interest. When such assessment has been paid the secretary shall enter upon the said assessment record opposite each tract for which payment is made the words "paid in full," and such assessment shall not relieve the property owner from the payment of a maintenance assessment nor from the payment of any further assessments (not exceeding the total of benefits appraised) which may be necessary as herein provided.
B. Failure to pay the whole construction fund assessment within said period of sixty (60) days shall be conclusively considered and held an election on the part of all persons interested, whether under disability or otherwise, to pay such assessment in installments as hereinafter provided. All persons so electing to pay in installments, shall be conclusively held and considered as consenting to said official plan and all work thereunder, the issuance of bonds and the payment of interest thereon; and such election shall be conclusively held and considered as a waiver of any and all right to question the power or jurisdiction of the district to construct the works set forth in said official plan, the regularity or sufficiency of the proceedings or the validity or the correctness of such assessment; provided, however, that any public corporation may, within sixty (60) days, elect to pay, in whole or in part, the amount assessed against such corporation in not more than ten (10) annual installments, beginning at the time of the next annual levy of taxes by such corporation, but nothing herein contained shall be construed to relieve such corporation from liability for successive levies of assessments, not exceeding the amount of benefits appraised.
C. In case of such election to pay in installments, the construction fund assessment shall be payable in not more than forty (40) annual installments of principal, the first of which installments shall be payable in five years and the last in not more than forty-five (45) years after the filing of the construction fund assessment record in the office of the district; with interest in all cases on the unpaid principal, computed and payable semiannually from the filing of the construction fund assessment record, at a rate not exceeding eight percent (8%) per annum, all as may be determined by the board by resolution.
The assessments against agricultural lands shall be so apportioned that no one of the first ten installments of the construction fund assessment shall exceed the sum of three dollars ($3.00) per acre.
D. Subject to the foregoing requirements, all installments, both of principal and interest, shall be payable at such times as may be determined by the board by resolution.
E. Upon the failure to pay any installment, whether of principal or interest, when due, the whole amount of the unpaid principal of such installment and accrued interest thereon, shall thereafter draw interest at the rate of one percent (1%) per month or fraction of a month until the day of sale, as hereinafter provided; but at any time prior to the day of sale, the owner may pay the amount of all unpaid and overdue installments, with interest at one (1%) percent per month or fraction of a month and all penalties accrued.
F. After the expiration of the period of sixty days within which the property owners may pay their respective assessments, as limited herein, the treasurer shall certify to the board the aggregate of the amount so paid, thereupon the board may pass and spread upon its records a bonding resolution in which shall be stated the amount of the construction fund assessment, and the amount thereof paid as aforesaid; and, in the same resolution shall apportion the uncollected assessment into installments or levies, provide for the collection of interest upon the unpaid installments and may order the issuance of conservancy bonds (in an amount not exceeding ninety (90%) percent of the levy) in anticipation of the collection of said installments. The residue of the tax so levied (not less than ten (10%) percent) shall constitute a contingent account to protect the bonds from casual default, and if not needed for this purpose, may be transferred from time to time to the maintenance fund.
G. Provided, however, that after the expiration of the sixty (60) day period hereinbefore set out, the board may, upon written request of an owner of property within the district, authorize the treasurer to accept payment of the full amount of assessment then outstanding on such property together with interest thereon to the next interest-paying date of outstanding bonds, if in their judgment it is to the best interests of the district to accept such payment, but nothing herein contained shall be construed to relieve such property from the lien of any successive assessments which may be made not exceeding the amount of benefits appraised. In case such payments are tendered and accepted after bonds have been sold, the proceeds from such payments shall be used in the following prescribed manner to purchase and retire outstanding bonds of the district of the issue for which the assessment so paid had been levied. When an amount sufficient for the retirement of one or more bonds has been received, the board shall ask for and receive sealed bids from at least three reputable persons or firms on the number of bonds desired to be purchased. The bids shall state the number of bonds offered for sale, the serial number and maturity date of each such bond and the price including unpaid interest, at which the bond or bonds are offered. The board shall accept the offer which gives the greatest saving to the district in principal and interest over the life of the bonds so offered for sale, provided, however, that the board may reject all bids and request new bids if in their judgment the bids made are unsatisfactory.
History: Laws 1927, ch. 45, § 505; C.S. 1929, § 30-505; Laws 1941, ch. 153, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 77-2905; 1953 Comp., § 75-30-5.
Cross references. — For form of notice of assessment, see 73-17-24 NMSA 1978.
Constitutionality of construction fund and related provisions. — This section, and Section 73-15-2 NMSA 1978 relating to appraisals and Section 73-16-14 NMSA 1978 relating to duties of officers of public corporations, do not violate N.M. Const., art. IX, § 13. Gutierrez v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy Dist., 1929-NMSC-071, 34 N.M. 346, 282 P. 1, cert. denied, 280 U.S. 610, 50 S. Ct. 158, 74 L. Ed. 653 (1930).
Constitutionality of election period. — The 60-day period allowed for election is not unreasonable or unconstitutional. Gutierrez v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy Dist., 1929-NMSC-071, 34 N.M. 346, 282 P. 1, cert. denied, 280 U.S. 610, 50 S. Ct. 158, 74 L. Ed. 653 (1930).
Installment payments, generally. — The landowner's waiver of the right to question the correctness of the assessment, and his agreement to pay interest thereon, was a sufficient consideration for the district to accept payments in installments, and constituted a contract, beyond the power of the legislature to change or impair. Durand v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy Dist., 1941-NMSC-041, 46 N.M. 138, 123 P.2d 389.
Interest on deferred payments is not a part of assessment, but is the carrying charge on the unpaid portion of the assessment. Guiterrez v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy Dist., 1929-NMSC-071, 34 N.M. 346, 282 P. 1, cert. denied, 280 U.S. 610, 50 S. Ct. 158, 74 L. Ed. 653 (1930).
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 45 Am. Jur. 2d Irrigation § 70.
52A C.J.S. Levees and Flood Control § 37; 94 C.J.S. Waters § 337.

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