After local officials hold their public meetings, they must call a public hearing where the benefit assessment plan can be approved or rejected. Property owners must be notified of the hearing at least 45 days in advance. At the hearing, local officials count the ballots and make them public. Unlike votes cast in elections, votes cast in assessment proceedings are not secret.Ballots are weighted by the amount each property owner is to pay, with those paying more getting a larger share of the vote. In other words, the ballots are weighted in proportion to the amount of benefit each property receives from the benefit assessment. This means that a property owner that receives twice the benefit of another property owner would pay twice the assessment. The property owner paying twice as much would also have their vote count twice as much.If the votes cast determine that the weighted majority of the voting property owners are against the assessment, then local officials must abandon the assessment.If the assessment passes, local officials can still modify the plan in response to public comment. However, if substantial modifications are made to the assessment plan upon which landowners cast their vote, a new election may be required. The local agency cannot increase an assessment after the property owners approve it except as provided in the original assessment proposal.