Orange County Municipal Code Art. 4 Costs of Abatement

The Orange County Sheriff shall keep an itemized account of the costs involved in abating a nuisance as described in this Division. The Sheriff shall mail by certified mail, return receipt requested to the owner and the occupant of the property on which the nuisance was located a statement showing the costs of the abatement and an invoice demanding payment to the County of Orange or said costs or five hundred dollars ($500.00) whichever is less.

The statement shall be accompanied by a notice to the owner and occupant that the amount set forth in the invoice may be protested as set forth in section 3-15-9. If the amount set forth in the invoice is not protested within ten (10) calendar days after service, it shall be deemed final, due and payable. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

(a) The owner or occupant may protest payment of the amount set forth in the invoice by making a written request to the Orange County Sheriff, within ten (10) calendar days of service of the statement of costs and invoice described in section 3-15-8, for a hearing before a hearing officer. Upon receipt of such a request, the Sheriff shall schedule a hearing upon at least ten (10) calendar days notice to the owner and occupant. Said notice of the hearing shall be personally served if possible. If personal service is not possible, the notice of hearing shall be served by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner of the property as shown on the latest equalized assessment roll and to the occupant of the property at the address of the property.

(b) At the time fixed for the hearing, the hearing officer shall consider the statement of costs of abatement and the protest and objections raised by the protesting party or parties and shall hear the testimony of all competent persons, subject to reasonable limitations of cumulative testimony and other procedures as set forth in section 3-15-16, desiring to testify respecting the cost of abating the nuisance and any other matter which may be pertinent.

(c) The hearing officer may revise, correct or modify the invoice as he considers just and thereafter shall confirm the invoice. The hearing officer shall excuse the owner or the occupant of the property from payment of the amount set forth in the invoice if the hearing officer determines that the owner or occupant was not in possession of the property at the time of the disturbance or could not reasonably have prevented the disturbance, unless the person responsible for the disturbance was the minor child of the owner or occupant of the property. The hearing officer shall excuse the owner or occupant of the property from payment of the amount set forth in the invoice if the hearing officer determines that the owner or occupant took reasonable steps to stop the disturbance following the first response by the Sheriff thereto.

The decision of the hearing officer shall be in writing and shall be served by certified mail return receipt requested on the owner and occupant of the property. The decision shall be final upon mailing. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

If the owner of the property does not pay the amount set forth in the invoice within thirty (30) calendar days after the invoice becomes final or the hearing officer confirms the invoice or after the invoice has been confirmed by the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors, if appealed, the Board of Supervisors shall order that the amount set forth in the invoice shall become a special assessment against the property on which the nuisance was abated and that a notice of lien shall be filed. The assessment shall continue until it is paid, together with interest at the rate of seven (7) percent per year computed from the date of confirmation of the invoice until payment. The assessment may be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary municipal taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedures and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary taxes. All acts applicable to levy, collection and enforcement of property taxes shall apply to this special assessment. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

In the event of an assessment pursuant to section 3-15-10, the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors shall file in the office of the County Recorder a notice in substantially the following form:

"Under the authority of California Government Code Section 25845, the County of Orange did on ________, 19___, abate a nuisance upon the real property hereafter described and then on ________, 19___, did assess the cost of the abatement not to exceed $500.00 upon the real property. The record owner of such property was _____

_____ (name and

address). The County claims a special assessment on the real property for the costs of abatement in the amount of $_____. This amount is a special assessment against the real property until it is paid, with interest at the rate of seven (7) percent per year from ________, 19___ (insert date of confirmation of invoice), and discharged of record. The real property referred to above, and upon which the special assessment is claimed is that certain parcel of land situated within the County of Orange, State of California, more particularly described as follows:

_____ .

(Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

If the owner of the property is not the occupant of the property, and if the occupant of the property does not pay the amount set forth in the invoice within thirty (30) calendar days after the invoice becomes final or the hearing officer confirms the invoice or after the invoice has been confirmed by the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors, if appealed, the Auditor shall take appropriate steps to collect the amount set forth in the invoice from the occupant of the property, including causing a lawsuit to be filed on behalf of the County of Orange against the occupant for the amount set forth in the invoice. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

If the owner and occupant of the property are different persons, they shall be jointly and severally liable for the amount set forth in the invoice. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

(a) The Planning Commission shall constitute the Board of Appeals for any decision of the hearing officer. The Board of Supervisors shall constitute the Board of Appeals for any decision of the Planning Commission.

(b) Any decision of the hearing officer may be appealed to the Board of Appeals by the owner or occupant of the property or by any member of the Board of Supervisors. Notice of the appeal shall be filed with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors within ten (10) calendar days after the decision becomes final. Late notices of appeal will not be considered. Hearings on appeal shall be limited to those issues raised in the notice of appeal.

The Sheriff shall give notice of the hearing on the appeal in the manner and to the persons described in section 3-15-9 not less than ten (10) calendar days prior thereto.

(c) The filing of a timely notice of appeal shall stay any further proceedings under the determination appealed from until the Board of Appeals has made its determination.

(d) The Board of Appeals may uphold, reverse or modify any determination appealed. The decision of the Board of Appeals shall become final upon service thereof by registered mail upon those persons described in section 3-15-9. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

A hearing officer shall be appointed by the Board of Supervisors to conduct hearings pursuant to this Division as necessary. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

The rules of evidence set forth in section 5-2-19 of this Code shall apply to hearings conducted pursuant to this Division, and the Sheriff, the hearing officer, the Planning Commission, and the owner or occupant of the property may request the Board of Supervisors to issue subpoenas as set forth therein. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)

If any section, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this Division, or the application thereof to any person or place, is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Division or its application to other persons or places. The Board of Supervisors hereby declares that it would have adopted this Division, and each section, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, sentences, clauses, phrases or portions, or the application thereof to any person or place, be declared invalid or unconstitutional. (Ord. No. 3789, § 1, 8-7-90)