A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT providing that unpaid charges for utility service in the towns of cerro gordo and fair bluff shall constitute a lien upon the real property served and the towns may collect the liens in the same manner as unpaid property taxes.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. In case any charge for utility service or for the use of utility facilities is not paid within 10 days after it becomes due, the charge shall become a lien upon the property served or in connection with which the service or facility is used, provided that the owner of the property is in actual possession of the property at the time the service for which the charge is made was rendered. The charge may at any time thereafter be collected, either by suit in the name of the municipality or by the tax collector for the municipality, by the sale of the property upon which the lien attaches at the county courthouse door, after advertising the sale once a week for four successive weeks in some newspaper published in the municipality or the area surrounding the municipality which is qualified to carry legal notices. The sale shall be made under the same rules and regulations and subject to the same costs and penalties and to the same rights of redemption as are provided by law for the foreclosure of the lien on real estate for taxes.
SECTION 2.  This act applies to the Towns of Cerro Gordo and Fair Bluff only.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2011.