(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, any county, statutory or home rule charter city, or town, making a special assessment may, at its discretion, defer the payment of that assessment for any homestead property:

(1) owned by a person 65 years of age or older or retired by virtue of a permanent and total disability for whom it would be a hardship to make the payments; or

(2) owned by a person who is a member of the Minnesota National Guard or other military reserves who is ordered into active military service, as defined in section 190.05, subdivision 5b or 5c, as stated in the person’s military orders, for whom it would be a hardship to make the payments.

(b) Any county, statutory or home rule charter city, or town electing to defer special assessments shall adopt an ordinance or resolution establishing standards and guidelines for determining the existence of a hardship and for determining the existence of a disability, but nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the determination of hardship on the basis of exceptional and unusual circumstances not covered by the standards and guidelines where the determination is made in a nondiscriminatory manner and does not give the applicant an unreasonable preference or advantage over other applicants.