§ 8. Funding.

(1)

The board of fire commissioners is hereby authorized to levy and impose an annual assessment for services provided by the district in an amount not in excess of three and ninety-five hundredths (3.95) mills on the dollar of assessed value for funding of the Sylvania Heights Fire District.

(2)

The aforementioned annual assessment shall be levied and imposed by the board of fire commissioners, by resolution, which shall be reduced to writing and a copy of such resolution shall forthwith be forwarded to the property appraiser of Okaloosa County, the tax collector of Okaloosa County, and the board of county commissioners of Okaloosa County, Florida. One (1) copy of such resolution shall be displayed at a prominent location in the courthouse in Crestview, Florida, and one (1) copy shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation throughout the county.

(3)

The members of the board of fire commissioners are hereby specifically authorized to levy and assess the aforementioned annual assessment for the one-half year commencing July 1, 1977. Such billings and charges shall be an amount equal to fifty (50) percent of the annual assessment provided for previously herein.

(4)

All assessments to be levied and collected pursuant hereto shall be due, and assessed and certified by the property appraiser of Okaloosa County, and collected by the tax collector of Okaloosa County in the same manner and at the same times and with the same penalties for late payment as municipal property taxes of the various municipalities in Okaloosa County, Florida.

(5)

The annual assessment hereby authorized to be levied, assessed and imposed shall thereupon become a lien upon property within the district on the date when the resolution imposing the same is passed and executed by the board of fire commissioners and enforced in the same manner as liens for ad valorem taxes. Such lien for such district annual assessment shall be a first lien superior in dignity to all other liens except ad valorem property tax liens.