P.R. Laws tit. 23, § 6432
(a) Benefit assessments. — The Board is hereby authorized to impose assessments against one (1) or more private parcels in the District that are particularly and substantially benefited by the Center or any portion thereof or expansion thereto, or by one (1) or more improvement projects or projects on private parcels conducted or to be conducted in the District. The amount of the assessments to be imposed shall be based on the benefit or utility that each private parcel receives or shall receive from, or from the service or improvement thereto or from said improvement projects or projects on private parcels, as determined by the Board.
(b) Adoption of budget. — The Board shall, before the commencement of each fiscal year, prepare and adopt an annual budget of the foreseeable expenses for the following fiscal year of the Center and the District, and of the development, construction, maintenance, repair, replacement, renovation, expansion, marketing and operation by the Authority, the Center, the District and of designated improvement projects and improvements on private parcels. The annual budget may be amended by the Authority from time to time as necessary to cover any increase in expenses or additional expenses of the District or of the Authority, and to cover any increase in benefit assessments. The annual budget shall include the following information:
(1) A description of the improvement projects and improvements on private parcels, or expansions thereto, to be constructed;
(2) the estimated cost of the improvement projects and improvements on private parcels, or expansions thereto, to be constructed and the estimated costs of the maintenance, repair, replacement, renovation, marketing and operation of improvement projects and improvements on private parcels, or portions thereof already in existence;
(3) the total amount to be imposed and collected as benefit assessments;
(4) the amount of benefit assessments to be imposed on every private parcel within the District, and
(5) the description and the cost of improvements within the Center to be constructed, replaced or renovated and of the expense of the Center to be financed by the benefit assessments to be imposed.
(c) Exemption from payment of benefit assessments. — Any portion of the District which is exempted from the payment of property taxes by virtue of a determination by a public entity or the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico pursuant to any government incentives program shall not be exempted from the payment of benefit assessments. Any part of the property within the District owned by the Authority which has not been sold, leased or subleased or otherwise transferred by the Authority as a private parcel, shall be exempt from the payment of benefit assessments. Except as otherwise provided herein, no owner or lessee of a private parcel shall be exempt from the benefit assessments of the improvement projects, improvements on private parcels or the Center to be financed by said charges, by waiver of the use, or of the benefit received, or for abandonment of the private parcel so assessed.
(d) Collection of benefit assessments. — Upon adoption of the annual budget or any amendment thereto, the Board shall notify, levy and collect the benefit assessments from each owner or lessee of private parcels. The benefit assessments imposed against each private parcel shall be payable in equal monthly installments or as otherwise determined by the Board, on the first day of each month, or at such other times as determined by the Board. Any payments received by the Board after the tenth (10th) day of each month or after such other period of time as determined by the Board, shall be delinquent and the total amount of the benefit assessment shall thereafter be subject to a late payment fee and shall bear interest in an amount to be determined by the Board pursuant to the applicable law from the date due until paid. Any payment received by the Board shall be applied first to any interest accrued on the unpaid benefit assessment, then to any late payment fee imposed by the Board, then to any costs and attorney’s fees incurred by the Board in the collection process, and then to the payment of the delinquent benefit assessment. After the tenth (10th) day of each month, or after such other period of time as determined by the Board, the Authority shall demand from the delinquent owners or lessees of private parcels by certified mail with acknowledgment of receipt, the payment of all amounts then due to the Authority. If said owners or lessees fail to pay all delinquent amounts due by them within fifteen (15) days after the mailing of the Authority’s demand for payment, the Authority may demand payment of all amounts then due in court. The delinquent benefit assessments plus any penalties, interest and late payment fees may be judicially claimed pursuant to the provisions of Rule 60 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979, as amended, or any successor provision of law, regardless of the amount of the delinquent benefit assessments.
In the event where the delinquent amounts are payable by a lessee of a private parcel owned by the Authority, or any part thereof, the court may order such lessee to deposit in court in favor of the Authority, all the rents, proceeds or products received by such lessee in relation to said private parcel, until the delinquent benefit assessments and any penalties, late payment fees or interest thereon have been totally satisfied.
(e) Statutory tacit lien. — The benefit assessments imposed on private parcels pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a statutory tacit lien on said private parcels, which shall have priority over any other liens on said property regardless of their nature, whether imposed upon it before or after the statutory tacit lien determined by the benefit assessments, except that it shall be subordinated to:
(1) The fiscal lien that secures the payment of the delinquent tax debt transferred pursuant to Section 6 of Act No. 21 of June 20, 1997, as amended;
(2) the lien for property tax imposed by §§ 5001 et seq. of Title 21, known as the “Municipal Property Tax Act of 1991”, or any successor statute, and
(3) any lien constituted before September 2, 2000.
The benefit assessment’s statutory tacit lien shall only guarantee the payment of the benefit assessments described in this chapter pursuant to the applicable annual budget approved by the Board, as the same may be amended. The statutory tacit lien created hereby shall be in favor of the Authority and shall only guarantee the payment of all payable benefit assessments, any late payment fees, interest and all reasonable costs and expenses and attorney’s fees incurred by the Board incidental to the collection process.
(f) Lump sum payment in advance. — Benefit assessments may be in the discretion of the owner or lessee, paid in one (1) lump sum in advance for the year for which it was imposed, and the Authority may grant, in return, the discount it deems appropriate as provided in its rules and regulations, which shall be uniform for all owners or lessees.
History —Sept. 2, 2000, No. 351, § 4.02; Oct. 4, 2001, No. 142, § 17; Sept. 21, 2004, No. 394, § 5.