A. This chapter establishes the procedures for setting the fees and charges for sewage disposal and domestic water supply services and facilities, streets and highways maintenance and street lighting, and establishes procedures for collection thereof.
B. Fees and charges shall be established by resolution of the board of supervisors and shall be collected either by installment billing or in conjunction with the county’s ad valorem property taxes.
C. “Entity,” as used in this chapter, means a maintenance district, county service area, street lighting district or water works district. (Ord. 473EE § 1, 1990: Ord. 473 § 1(part), 1983).

The auditor-controller shall mail annual, semiannual or quarterly bills, as the case may be, to the owner of each parcel of real property for which a fee or a charge is set by this chapter. The owner shall be that person shown on the current tax roll as the property owner. The billing shall be due and payable in full within thirty days of the billing date. Payment shall be made to the county auditor-controller. (Ord. 473A § 1, 1983: Ord. 473 § 1(part), 1983).

Any charge or fee installment that remains unpaid for a period of sixty days after the date of billing is delinquent and may be collected as follows:
A. Collection on the Tax Roll.
1. Once a year the auditor-controller shall prepare and submit to the board of supervisors a report of delinquent charges and fees. The report shall contain a description of each delinquent parcel of real property and the amount of delinquent charge or fee.
2. The board of supervisors shall hold a hearing to consider objections or protests to the report. Each owner of property listed in the report shall be given ten days’ mailed notice of the time, date and place of the hearing. Upon the conclusion of the hearing, the board may make revisions or corrections to the report as it deems just and shall confirm said report by resolution. A certified copy of the report and resolution of confirmation shall be filed with the county auditor-controller and recorded in the office of the county recorder on or before August 10th.
3. The delinquent charges set forth in the report as confirmed shall constitute special assessments against the respective properties and are a lien on those properties for the amount of such delinquent charges or fees as of the date of recordation of the report as confirmed.
4. The assessment shall appear as a separate item on the tax bill and shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as the ad valorem property taxes are collected. All laws applicable to the levy, collection, and enforcement of ad valorem taxes, including penalties and interest thereon and cancellation or refund thereof, shall be applicable to such assessment.
B. Enforcement Through Revenue Services. The auditor may refer any delinquent charge or fee to the revenue services division for enforcement efforts which may include filing a recovery action in small claims court.
C. Action by County Counsel. In the event the fee or tax exceeds the jurisdictional limit of the small claims court, the auditor may refer the matter to county counsel for enforcement.
D. Other Enforcement Methods. At its option, the board may, by minute order, authorize the auditor to utilize any other collection procedure authorized by law. (Ord. 473FF § 1, 1997: Ord. 473 § 1(part), 1983).

A. On or before April 30th of each year the county engineer and the county road commissioner, after consultation with recognized representatives of any entity, shall jointly prepare a written report which shall contain a description of each parcel of real property receiving services from each entity, which shall indicate the particular service or services and the amount of the charge for each parcel for the following fiscal year, computed in conformity with the amount of benefit each parcel receives.
This report shall be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors.
B. Upon filing of the report, the clerk shall fix a time, date and place for hearing thereon and for filing objections or protests to the report. The clerk shall publish notice of the hearing as provided in Government Code Section 6066, prior to the date set for hearing, in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in the county.
C. At any time, date and place stated in the notice, the board of supervisors shall hear and consider all objections or protests, if any, to the report and may continue the hearing from time to time. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the board of supervisors may adopt, revise, change, reduce or modify any charge, and shall make this determination upon each fee or charge as described in the report and thereafter, by resolution, shall establish such fees and charges.
D. Annual fees and charges set forth in the report, as confirmed, shall appear as a separate item on the tax bill. Fees and charges payable by installments shall be billed by the Madera County auditor-controller and shall not be an item on the tax bill unless they become delinquent. The annual fees and charges and any delinquent installment charges shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary county ad valorem property taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for such taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of county ad valorem property taxes shall be applicable to such fees and charges, except that, if for the first year the fee or charge is levied the real property to which the fee or charge relates has been transferred or conveyed to a bona fide purchaser for value, or if a lien of a bona fide encumbrancer for value has been created and attaches thereon, prior to the date on which the first installment of the taxes would become delinquent, the fee or charge confirmed pursuant to this section shall not result in a lien against the real property but, instead, shall be transferred to the unsecured roll for collection.
E. Whenever a railroad or utility right-of-way is included within the service area, or zone of the service area, or maintenance district, the railroad or utility right-of-way shall be subject to the fees and charges authorized only if, and to the extent that, it is found that it will benefit from the particular extended service, and the railroad or utility right-of-way shall be subject to the same penalties, and the same procedure in sale, in case of delinquency, as other properties in the service area are zoned. In determining whether or not the railroad or utility right-of-way benefits from the extended service, its use as a right-of-way shall be presumed to be permanent. (Ord. 473EE § 2, 1990: Ord. 473A § 2, 1983; Ord. 473 § 1(part), 1983).