§423b Suspension of payment of construction charges against areas temporarily unproductive

Summary

Payments for construction charges on lands judged temporarily unproductive must be stopped until the Secretary of the Interior says the land is productive enough to be put into a paying class. When that happens, billing for those construction charges will start or resume. Any payments already made on the temporarily unproductive areas will be applied as a credit to the unpaid construction balance on the productive part of each unit, and that credit applies on and after April 23, 1930, without forcing changes to accounts settled before that date under the original rules. While charges are suspended, irrigation water can still be supplied if the usual operation and maintenance fees are paid, or other fees the Secretary sets (which may need to be paid in advance). If the Secretary later decides any of those lands are permanently unproductive, the charges for them will be written off as a permanent loss to the reclamation fund and handled like other permanently unproductive lands under sections 423 to 423g and 610, and no refunds will be made of construction charges that were paid and used as credits.