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<section article="gpu" article_name="Public Utilities" number="25-204" title_number="25" title_name="Rates and Charges" subtitle_number="2" subtitle_name="Benefit Charges">
  <level label="a">
    <level label="1">
      <text>When construction begins or within 12 months after completion of a water supply or sewer project, the Commission shall:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>in accordance with a classification established under § 25–203 of this subtitle, impose a benefit charge on each property that abuts on the water main or sewer; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>notify each property owner in writing of:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>the classification of the owner’s property;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>the benefit charge imposed on the property; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="3">
          <text>the time and place of a hearing to contest the imposition of the charge.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The Commission may deliver the notice required under this subsection by:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>mailing the notice to the last known address of the property owner;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>giving the notice in person to an adult occupying the property; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>if the property is vacant or unimproved, posting the notice on the property.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <level label="1">
      <text>For each class of property, the Commission shall impose a benefit charge for water supply or sewer construction, or both, that is based on:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>the approximate cost of construction as an integral part of the whole system; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <level label="1">
          <text>the number of front feet abutting on the street, road, lane, alley, right–of–way, or easement in which the water main or sewer is placed; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>for multi–unit classes, the number of units in or on the property that abut on the water main or sewer.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>In accordance with paragraph (1) of this subsection and subject to paragraph (3) of this subsection, in imposing a front foot benefit charge the Commission:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>for an irregularly shaped lot that abuts on a street, road, lane, alley, right–of–way, or easement in which there is or is being constructed a water main or sewer, shall use a front footage the Commission considers reasonable and fair;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>for all the lots in a block owned by the same property owner and appurtenant to a residence, may use a continuous front footage for all the lots regardless of the streets on which the lots face;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>for a lot with a front and rear on separate streets, may use a front footage on both the front and rear; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iv">
        <text>for a corner lot of less than 2 acres in the residential subdivision classification:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>may not use a front footage on more than one side unless the corner lot abuts on two parallel streets; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>if the corner lot abuts on two parallel streets, shall use a front footage that is reasonable and fair, taking into consideration the front footage toward which the building on the lot would naturally face.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>The Commission may impose a front foot benefit charge on the full front footage for a lot described in paragraph (2) of this subsection even if a water main or sewer does not extend along the full length of a boundary.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>The benefit charge shall be:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>unless otherwise provided in this subtitle, uniform for each classification of property in the sanitary district for any 1 year;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>determined by the Commission as costs and conditions require; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>imposed once a year to begin on the January 1 or July 1 after the date of its imposition and may not be increased in that year.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <level label="1">
      <text>Beginning when the Commission imposes a benefit charge for a property, the Commission shall require the property owner to pay the benefit charge annually for a period of years equal to the period of maturity of the bonds the proceeds of which financed the construction of the water main or sewer.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>If a property of the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County is subject to a benefit charge under this subtitle, the benefit charge shall be paid in the same manner as by a private property owner.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>Each benefit charge imposed under this subtitle is a lien against the property that continues until the benefit charge is paid and the account is extinguished in accordance with this subtitle.</text>
  </level>
</section>
