§16-13B-15. Assessment certificates; assignments; designation of registrar for assessment certificates.

(a) All assessments levied under this article shall be evidenced by assessment certificates issued by the assessment district in accordance with this section. The board may issue assessment certificates to any person or governmental agency financing the cost of a project, and may also issue assessment certificates in the name of the assessment district, on behalf of itself or as agent for any other person or governmental agency. The board shall issue the assessment certificates as soon as practicable after it has determined the method of financing the cost of the project and laid the assessments against the property, as provided in section ten of this article. The assessment certificates shall evidence on their face the assessments applicable to the property for which each such certificate has been issued and each installment of principal and interest payable, and a copy of each assessment certificate shall be provided to the owner of the property against which the assessment evidenced by the assessment certificate has been laid. Each assessment certificate shall be issued in registered form and shall show on the face thereof the name and address of the owner of the property to which the assessment certificate applies, the name and address of the person serving as the registrar for such certificate in accordance with subsection (c) of this section, and the name and address of the person to whom the certificate is issued. Assessment certificates shall be signed by the chairman and secretary of the board of the assessment district issuing the certificates, shall refer to the resolution laying the assessments and shall show the amount and date of the assessment and describe the property against which the assessment is laid, describing the same as to ownership, amount, frontage (solely in case of a wastewater and water project) and briefly as to location, and the mailing address of the owner thereof. Assessment certificates shall also show the dates on which principal and interest payments are due, shall set forth that the payment of all such installments shall be made to the sheriff of the county in which the assessment district is located, as provided in section seventeen of this article, and shall contain a provision that in the event there is default in the payment of any one of such installments and such default continues for a period of sixty days after written notice of such default, then all unpaid installments shall become due and payable at the election of the certificate holder and the holder may proceed to collect all of the unpaid balances of installments, with interest until paid.

(b) Each assessment certificate issued under this article shall be enforceable by the holder thereof, and shall be assignable by endorsement and delivery of the certificate and upon delivery to the registrar of the assessment certificates of a written notice of such assignment executed by the assignor and assignee, each of whose signatures shall be duly notarized.

(c) Prior to the issuance of any assessment certificates, the board shall, by resolution, designate a financial institution located in this state as the registrar for such certificates, who shall maintain a complete and accurate record of the names and addresses of the persons or governmental agencies to whom the assessment certificates are issued. Within ten days of the issuance of an assessment certificate or any revised assessment certificates in lieu thereof, the board of the assessment district issuing the same shall provide to such registrar a list of the names and addresses of the person or governmental agency to whom the certificates were issued, which shall be certified by the secretary of the board. The record of certificate holders maintained by the registrar shall be open to inspection by the sheriff of the county in which the assessment district is located and may be relied upon by the sheriff for purposes of disbursing assessment fees in accordance with section seventeen of this article or in otherwise determining the lawful holders of the assessment certificates.