§ 158-583. Excessive charges.

(a)

On written appeal filed with the clerk of council within 30 days of the rendition or effective or due date, as the case may be, of any bill or assessment pursuant to this article, the party so charged shall be afforded an opportunity to be heard as to the reasonableness of the amount thereof.

(b)

The hearing shall be conducted before the council or its designated referee. The director of the department of finance or his designee, represented, upon request of the director of the department of finance, by the department of law, shall appear at the hearing to defend the reasonableness of the bill or assessment being challenged. If the bill or assessment be found unreasonable or excessive, it shall be set aside or reduced. The council shall decide the appeal within 60 days of its filing. The pendency of an appeal under this section shall not suspend interest or penalties on any past due bill or assessment, except with respect to any bill, assessment, or portion thereof found to be excessive by the council. Any sums which have actually been paid under protest by a utility, person or corporation which are subsequently found, pursuant to this section, to have been unreasonable or excessive and therefore not to have been due, shall be refunded with legal interest within 30 days of the decision of the council. Any party aggrieved by a decision of the council under this section may appeal therefrom to the civil district court for the parish.

(Code 1956, § 52-72; M.C.S., Ord. No. 21480, § 4, 4-1-04; M.C.S., Ord. No. 21536, § 1, 5-6-04)