Alameda Municipal Code Div. I General Provisions and Definitions

a. Construction. Sections 3-17 to 3-18, inclusive, of this article establish the law of this City respecting the subject to which they relate. Unless the context otherwise requires, the general provisions of this subsection hereinafter set forth govern the construction of this article.

b. Pending Proceedings. Any action or proceeding commenced or right accrued before Sections 3-11 to 3-52, inclusive, this article, as amended, take effect is not affected by the sections, but all procedure taken thenceforth shall conform to the provisions of the sections as far as possible.

c. Headings. Article, chapter, and section headings do not in any manner affect the scope, meaning or intent of the provisions of this article.

d. Reference to Code. Whenever any reference is made to any portion of this Code or of any other ordinance of this City the reference applies to all amendments and additions thereto now or hereafter made.

e. Section Defined. Section shall mean a section of this article unless some other title or ordinance is specifically mentioned and subdivision shall mean a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned.

f. Shall and May. Shall is mandatory and may is permissive.

g. Oath. Oath includes affirmation.

h. Person. Person includes any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, syndicate, estate, trust, business trust, or organization of any kind.

i. Writing. Writing includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, petition, permit, statement, or record is required by this title, it shall be made in writing in the English language.

j. Notice, How Given. Unless expressly otherwise provided any notice required to be given to any person by any provision of this article may be given by mail. For service by mail, the notice shall be deposited in the post office in a sealed envelope, postage paid, addressed to the proper person at his/her address as shown on any document or record in the matter concerning which the notice is sent, or at his/her last known address, or, if no address is known, to him/her in this City.

k. Publication, How Made. Whenever it is required by this article that any publication be made, it shall be made in a newspaper of general circulation published in this City. If there is no such newspaper, publication shall be made by posting in three (3) public places in the City for the required length of time, but no less than five (5) days, or as otherwise directed by the City Council.

l. Abbreviations. In the assessment, advertisement and sale of real property for taxes, any abbreviations may be used if a written explanation of them appears either:

1. On each page of the roll, or

2. In the front of each book of the roll and a reference to this explanation appears on each page of the roll.

m. Holidays. If any act is required by this article to be performed on or before a particular date and the date falls on a Sunday or holiday, the act may be performed on the next business day with the same effect as if performed on the particular date.

n. Informality in Proceedings. No act in all the proceedings for raising revenue by taxation is illegal on account of informality or because not completed within the required time.

o. Delegation of Power. Whenever a power is granted to, or a duty imposed on, any person by any provision of this article, it may be exercised or performed by any deputy or person authorized by him, unless it is expressly provided that it shall be exercised in person.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. §§ 3-211—3-2115)

As used in this article:

Amount of sold taxes on property which has been sold to the City shall mean the sum of the following amounts:

a. The amount of taxes which were a lien on the real property at the time of sale.

b. All other unpaid taxes of every description which were a lien on the property for the year of sale and for each year since the sale, as shown on the rolls. As used in this paragraph, rolls does not include any roll for which the time of sale to the City is not past.

Assessee shall mean the person to whom property or a tax is assessed.

Assessment period shall mean between the lien date and the end of the regular, annual time within which the City Board of Equalization may equalize assessments.

Current roll shall mean the roll containing the property on which current taxes are a lien.

Current taxes shall mean taxes which are a lien on property but which are not included in the amount of sold taxes as defined in this subsection, except that between a lien date and the time in the same calendar year when property is sold to the City for taxes, the taxes becoming a lien on this lien date in such calendar year are not yet current taxes.

Improvements shall mean and include:

a. All buildings, structures, fences, and fixtures erected on or affixed to the land;

b. All fruit, nut bearing, or ornamental trees and vines not of natural growth, and not exempt from taxation.

Lien date shall mean the time when taxes for any fiscal year become a lien on property. This time is 12:01 a.m. on March 1 preceding the beginning of the fiscal year for which the taxes are to be collected.

Personal property shall mean and include all property except real estate.

Possessory interests shall mean:

a. The possession of, claim to, or right to the possession of land or improvements, except when coupled with ownership of the land or improvements in the same person.

b. Taxable improvements on tax exempt land.

Possessory interests shall not be considered as sufficient security for the payment of any taxes.

Property shall mean and include all matters and things real, personal, and mixed, capable of private ownership.

Real estate or real property shall mean and include:

a. The possession of, claim to, ownership of, or right to the possession of land or improvements.

b. All mines, minerals, and quarries in the land, all standing timber whether or not belonging to the owner of the land, and all rights and privileges appertaining thereto.

Redemption Officer means the Finance Director of the City of Alameda.

Revenue district shall mean and include every district for which this City assesses property and collects taxes or assessment.

Roll shall mean the entire assessment roll. The secured roll shall mean that part of the roll containing State assessed property and property the taxes on which are a lien on real property sufficient, in the opinion of the Assessor, to secure payment of the taxes. The remainder of the roll is the unsecured roll. The local roll shall mean those parts of the secured roll and the unsecured roll containing property which it is the City Assessor's duty to assess.

State assessed property shall mean all property required to be assessed by the State Board of Equalization under Section 14 of Article XIII of the Constitution.

Taxing agency shall mean and include the State, County and every district that assesses property for taxation purposes and levies taxes or assessments on the property so assessed.

Tax deeded property shall mean real property which has been deeded to the City for taxes.

Tax sold property shall mean real property which has been sold to the City by operation of law for taxes and from which the lien of the taxes for which it was sold has not been removed.

Value or full cash value or market value shall mean the amount of cash or its equivalent which property would bring if exposed for sale in the open market under conditions in which neither buyer nor seller could take advantage of the exigencies of the other and both with knowledge of all of the uses and purposes to which the property is adapted and for which it is capable of being used and of the enforceable restrictions upon those uses and purposes.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. §§ 3-221—3-2220; Ord. No. 1673 N.S.)