Water Code, 1943

The tax collector must give a receipt when a payment is made.

The tax collector must pay money received to the treasurer.

The tax collector may choose whether to accept negotiable paper as payment for an assessment or for a redemption.

This section defines “negotiable paper” to include bank checks, drafts, and express or post office money orders payable on demand.

Accepting negotiable paper counts as payment of an assessment or redemption on the date it is accepted, but only once the paper is duly paid.

If negotiable paper is not paid when presented, the payment entry on the assessment book must be canceled and the assessment is treated as a lien as if no payment had been attempted. The tax collector must also make memoranda needed to cancel the entry if the paper is later returned unpaid.

When a cancellation is made, the tax collector must record it in the assessment book and promptly notify the assessee.

A mailed remittance is treated as received on the postmark date, or earlier mailing date if satisfactorily proven; the tax collector does not have to accept it if it arrives more than 30 days after the delinquent date.

The board must order the collector to cancel or modify an assessment when the board finds certain property-assessment errors.

The treasurer must refund certain assessments, penalties, or related costs when the board orders it and the amounts were paid twice or were collected by mistake or unlawfully.

A refund order under Section 36832 can be made only if the refund claim is verified by the person who paid the assessment, penalties, or costs (or that person’s guardian, executor, or administrator) and filed within three years after the payment sought to be refunded.

Unpaid assessments become delinquent unless they are paid within six calendar months after they are due.

This section defines “assessment” to include standby charges and other charges levied for the use of district water.

The board may adopt a resolution allowing assessments to be paid in two equal installments.

After assessments become delinquent, the tax collector must publish a notice with specified property, amount, payment, sale, redemption, contact, and termination information.

The Section 36951 notice must be published in the county where the property is located, using the method required by Government Code Section 6063, and the publication must start 21 to 28 days before the date stated in the notice.

If a notice of delinquent-property sale contains certain errors and the error is found before the sale, the collector must immediately republish the notice.

On the sale date in the notice, the collector must sell each separately assessed parcel with unpaid assessments and penalties to the district.

The collector must record that each sold parcel was “Sold to the district” in the assessment book, together with the sale date.

After a delinquent sale, the collector must prepare and sign a duplicate certificate of sale for each separately assessed and sold parcel.

This section provides a sample form for a certificate of sale for real property sold for a delinquent water district assessment, and says the purchaser is entitled to a deed after three years unless the property is redeemed.

For each duplicate certificate of sale, one copy must be kept by the collector and the other must be recorded with the county recorder.

For property sold for taxes or assessments, the proceeds must be accounted for and distributed under the specified Government Code article, unless the sale and accounting are handled under the Revenue and Taxation Code provision.

A sale for assessments is not invalid just because the owner is misnamed or ownership details are mistaken.

The section says allocation-based conservation water pricing can help prevent wasteful water use and save water, and it encourages public entities to use it voluntarily.

Property sold to the district for delinquent assessments must keep being assessed for district purposes until the collector delivers a collector’s deed, and it cannot be sold again for delinquent assessments until it is redeemed or sold by the district.

If property is sold to the district for delinquent assessments, the collector must give the treasurer a statement of the sale, and the treasurer must allocate and transfer the proper amount to the general obligation bond fund.

This section defines key terms used in the chapter on allocation-based conservation water pricing.

A redemptioner may redeem property sold for delinquent district assessments within three years of sale, or later until a collector’s deed is delivered, by paying the listed amounts.

After receiving the redemption money plus the recorder’s fee, the collector must issue duplicate certificates of redemption.

One duplicate certificate of redemption must be given to the redemptioner.

The collector must record the other duplicate certificate of redemption with the county recorder where the certificate of sale is on record.

If delinquent-assessment property has not been redeemed after three years, and the required notice and board demand are made, the collector must deliver a collector’s deed to the district.

The collector must publish a notice after a demand for a collector’s deed, and do so 45 to 60 days before the deed is delivered.

The collector must mail a copy of the published notice by certified mail to each party of interest, and must make a reasonable effort to find their names and addresses.

After the first publication of the required notice, the amount needed to redeem must include the notice publication cost and the cost of securing the lot book guarantee.

A collector’s deed must state the sale date and that no one redeemed the property during the redemption period.

A collector’s deed to a district must be recorded the same way real property conveyances are normally recorded.

The district can sell, lease, or otherwise deal with property acquired by collector’s deed, but sale authority must come from a board resolution fixing the price in the district’s best interest.

A duly acknowledged or proved collector’s deed is prima facie evidence of several facts about the assessment, sale, nonpayment, nonredemption, and the officer who executed it.

A collector’s deed that is acknowledged or proved is conclusive evidence that the assessment and related proceedings were regular, except in cases of actual fraud.

Challenges or defenses based on a collector’s deed must be raised within one year after the deed is recorded.

Claims challenging certain district sale-related instruments must be brought within one year after the district executes the instrument.

Sections 37161 and 37162 do not apply in several listed situations, including when the assessment was paid before sale, the property was redeemed after sale, no assessment or no assessments were due, fraud is shown, the deed is void on its face, or the owner was a minor or insane person at the time of sale.

A person challenging the validity, irregularity, or ineffectiveness of certain agreements, deeds, leases, options, assessments, sales, or assessment deeds must prove the challenge and state the grounds specifically.

The board may decide by resolution to allow installment redemption of property sold to the district for delinquent assessments, and may later end that election by further resolution.

This section defines key terms used in the chapter on installment redemption.

Any person may choose to pay delinquent assessments in installments under this chapter, but only before the collector’s deed is delivered.

While payments are being made under this chapter, a collector’s deed may not be delivered and the right of redemption may not be terminated.

A person electing to pay delinquent assessments in installments must pay at least 33 1/3% of the redemption amount, and must also pay current assessments with penalties by the required deadline.

The redemptioner must pay current assessments and penalties each succeeding fiscal year before the delinquency date of the last installment of current assessments.

The redemptioner must make yearly installment redemption payments before the delinquency date, including interest at 3/4 of 1% per month on the unpaid balance.