Once the amount of the fees for benefits to be imposed on each of the properties included in the district has been determined through a resolution to that effect, a certified copy of the latter shall be forwarded to the Municipal Revenues Collection Center, which shall proceed to impose, serve and collect the fees for benefits and remit the same to the Authority within the term provided in this section. All the provisions of §§ 5001 et seq. of Title 21, known as the “Municipal Property Tax Act of 1991”, applicable to taxes on real property shall apply to the fees for benefits, except those provisions regarding exemptions, exonerations, discounts for prompt payment, dates of payment and penalties, and the provisions of § 5053 of Title 21.
The Municipal Revenues Collection Center shall have up to a maximum of one hundred and eighty (180) days from the date it receives the resolution of the Authority to notify to all owners of real property included in the district by regular mail, the amount of the fees for benefits to be paid and their due date. In subsequent years, and until the term during which the fees for benefits provided in the resolution of the Authority shall be imposed is concluded, the Municipal Revenues Collection Center shall annually notify all owners by regular mail the amount of the fees for benefits to be paid that year and their due date. Every notice shall inform the owners of all consequences should they fail to make the payment on the date provided for the payment of the fees for benefits.
A Special Fund in the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico is hereby created, denominated “Special Districts Improvement Fund”. The Municipal Revenues Collection Center shall deposit the fees for benefits collected pursuant to this chapter in said fund, pending their forwarding to the Authority; Provided, That said Center shall forward the funds to the Authority within a term not greater than ninety (90) days from the date of their receipt.
The Municipal Revenues Collection Center shall withhold five percent (5%) of all fees for benefits collected, to cover the costs it incurs for the imposition, notification and collection of the fees for benefits.
The fees for benefits imposed on a property pursuant to the provisions of this act and the resolution to that effect, shall constitute a tacit legal lien on said property, which shall have priority over any other lien on the property, regardless of its nature, whether they are imposed on the property before or after the lien determined by the fees for benefits and on any other third acquirer even though the latter may have filed its rights in the Property Registry, except that it shall be less than:
(a) The fiscal lien securing the tax debts in arrears transferred pursuant to the terms of § 5924 of Title 21;
(b) the lien related to the property taxes imposed by §§ 5001 et seq. of Title 21, known as the “Municipal Property Tax Act of 1991”, or any successorial or related chapter, and
(c) any liens constituted prior to the effectiveness of this act. Said tacit legal lien on fees for benefits received shall only guarantee the payment of the fees for benefits described in the resolution. In case an infrastructure project financed through fees for benefits is not executed, the entity shall return to the owners of the real property included in the special improvement district, the amount they have paid as fees for benefits.
History —June 21, 1988, No. 44, added as § 14 on June 24, 1998, No. 92, § 11, eff. 90 days after June 24, 1998.