§ 106-743.5.  Waiver of utility assessments.

(a) In the ordinance establishing an enhanced voluntary agricultural district under this Part, a county or a city may provide that all assessments for utilities provided by that county or city are held in abeyance, with or without interest, for farmland subject to a conservation agreement under G.S. 106-743.2 that remains in effect until improvements on the farmland property are connected to the utility for which the assessment was made.

(b) The ordinance may provide that, when the period of abeyance ends, the assessment is payable in accordance with the terms set out in the assessment resolution.

(c) Statutes of limitations are suspended during the time that any assessment is held in abeyance under this section without interest.

(d) If an ordinance is adopted by a county or a city under this section, then the assessment procedures followed under Article 9 of Chapter 153A or Article 10 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes, respectively, shall conform to the terms of this ordinance with respect to qualifying farms that entered into conservation agreements while such ordinance was in effect.

(e) Nothing in this section is intended to diminish the authority of counties or cities to hold assessments in abeyance under G.S 153A-201 and G.S. 160A-237. (2005-390, s. 5.)