|
AR - Act authorizing lien for cleanup fees constitutional
A court would likely conclude that there is no constitutional violation on the face
of an act that allows a county to impose, in addition to Arkansas property taxes,
a lien for cleanup costs on real property.
The act provides that if a property owner does not comply with an order to abate,
remove, or eliminate unsanitary articles and conditions on the property, the county
may take any corrective actions to bring the property into compliance with the order,
and may impose a lien against the property for any unpaid costs incurred by the
county. The legislature passes laws to protect the health, safety, and welfare of
the entire populace pursuant to its police power, but may not unreasonably or arbitrarily
impose a restriction or injury on property. Protecting the public from property
that may harbor infectious diseases or that may pose a physical danger is an appropriate
exercise of the state's police powers, and the act is reasonably related to the
general goal of protecting the people of the state from unsanitary or unsafe conditions.
Additionally, though the act requires that notice of the order must be posted on
the property and mailed to the last known address of the property owner, or published
if there is no last known address, in certain circumstances a government agency
may have to do more than merely send a certified mail notification to the owner
of record.
|
If and only to the extent that this publication contains contributions from tax
professionals who are subject to the rules of professional conduct set forth in
Circular 230, as promulgated by the United States Department of the Treasury, the
publisher, on behalf of those contributors, hereby states that any U.S. federal
tax advice that is contained in such contributions was not intended or written to
be used by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed
on the taxpayer by the Internal Revenue Service, and it cannot be used by any taxpayer
for such purpose.
|
|