Title 48 — Special Taxing Districts

The board of directors may acquire by purchase or condemnation the irrigation system, canals and works through which lands in the district have been or may be supplied with water for irrigation or drainage works or equipment by which lands in the district have been or are being d…

If the board proposes to purchase a system of irrigation already constructed or partially constructed, and to enlarge and complete such system so that it is adequate to the needs of the district, the board may include in one contract the purchase, enlargement and completion of su…

A. When plans and specifications for any construction, repair, alteration, extension, improvement or other district purpose, have been adopted by the board of directors as provided by this chapter, the board of directors shall give notice of the proposed work by publication of an…

A. At the time and place specified in the advertisement the board shall meet and consider the bids and shall within a reasonable time thereafter accept or reject all or any portion of any bid, or may reject all bids, and shall return deposits of unsuccessful bidders. The board ma…

A. All engineering determinations and supervision provided for and directed by any law relating to irrigation districts shall be made under the direction of the director of water resources, and when so made shall be binding upon the state land department and the state certificati…

The directors, officers, agents and employees of the district may enter upon any land in the district for any district purpose to make surveys and locate sites for construction of a reservoir, canal or canals, and necessary laterals or create, extend or maintain the irrigation or…

The board of directors may construct district works across any stream of water, water-course, street, avenue, highway, railway, canal, ditch, flume or private property which the route of the canal or canals, ditches, conduits or other irrigation or drainage works or appurtenances…

A. Subject to the law of priority, all water of the district available for distribution shall be apportioned to the lands thereof pro rata but when water costs are, under the practice of the district, defrayed by a water tax, the board may withhold water service from any parcel o…

If the water available in a district is insufficient at any time to supply all lands of the district susceptible of irrigation therefrom and otherwise entitled to water, the board of directors shall provide for the distribution of all available water upon certain or alternate day…

Irrigation districts organized under this chapter may construct, maintain and keep in repair levees for the protection of lands included therein from overflow. The provisions of this chapter relating to construction, maintenance and repair of irrigation works, issuance of bonds a…

A. The title to all property acquired by the district under this chapter shall immediately vest in the district in its name, and shall be held by the district for the uses and purposes set forth in this chapter. B. The district may hold, use or acquire, manage, occupy and possess…

A. When irrigable lands within an irrigation district have been included within any federal reclamation project, or subdivision thereof, authorized for construction under the federal reclamation laws, and the appropriate authority of the United States government certifies that fu…

The board of directors or other officers of the district shall not incur any debt or liability, either by issuing bonds or otherwise, in excess of the express provisions of this chapter. Any debt or liability incurred in excess of such limitation shall be absolutely void.

An officer of a district who knowingly violates or fails to perform any duty imposed upon him by law is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. Any officer convicted under this section shall forfeit his office.

A. The board may adopt rules for eradicating and controlling noxious weeds, shrubs, grasses and vines in the district. The rules shall describe the character and objectionable features of the noxious plant. The board shall adopt the rules at a regular or special meeting and provi…

A. As an alternative to proceeding under section 48-2997, the board of directors may remove and eradicate noxious weeds, shrubs, vines or grasses from the district under this section. If the board elects to do so, it shall adopt a resolution containing: 1. A legal description, by…

A. An election shall be held in the district each year in which the term of office of a director at large expires and in each division of the district in which the term of office of a director from a division expires. The election shall be held on the second Tuesday after the fir…

If the district has been divided into divisions by the board of supervisors, the board of directors by an order entered in its proceedings not less than thirty days prior to the first district election shall establish, define and divide the district into three divisions as nearly…

If the district has not been divided into divisions by the board of supervisors as provided by section 48-2915, the board of directors shall not divide the district into divisions, and three directors of the district shall be elected at large from the qualified electors of the di…

Irrigation districts having a board of directors of nine members shall elect one director in each division each year in accordance with section 48-2914. In all other respects the election shall be held and conducted as provided in this article.

A. The board of directors of an irrigation district using the personal and individual system of voting shall provide for and require a registration of the voters of the irrigation district. The registration books shall be opened for a period beginning on the thirtieth day after a…

A. Fifteen days before a district election, the district secretary shall: 1. Cause a notice or notices to be posted in each division: (a) Giving the time and place of holding the election. (b) Specifying the polling places of each division or a central polling place for the distr…

The polls shall be opened at eight o'clock in the morning and kept open until six o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. The election judges shall choose one of their number to be chairman. The chairman may appoint judges and clerks to fill vacancies occurring during the progr…

Each qualified elector voting at an election shall be entitled to one vote on each question submitted and one vote for each office to be filled at all elections, but when the holder of record title is a married person, only the spouse in whose name the title stands shall be entit…

After closing the polls, the judges of the election shall ascertain the result of the vote and within two days thereafter certify the result in writing to the board of directors of the district and deliver to it all ballots used in the election and all records made thereof.

A. The directors shall meet at the office of the district on the first Monday after the election to canvass the returns. If at the time of the meeting the returns from each polling place have been received the board of directors shall canvass the returns, or if all the returns ha…

No ballot, list, tally or certificate of an election shall be rejected for any irregularity or default if the intent thereof is apparent and it can be understood, nor shall an election be declared null and void if conducted substantially in conformity with the provisions of this …

The secretary of the board as soon as the board of directors has declared the result of an election shall enter in the records of the board a statement of the results disclosing: 1. A copy of the notice of the election. 2. The names of the judges of the election. 3. The total num…

A. A certified copy of the statement of results as entered on the records of the board of directors shall be made by the secretary and filed in the offices of the board of supervisors of each county in which a part of the district is located. B. The secretary of the district shal…

A director elected or appointed under this chapter shall be subject to recall by the vote of a majority of the qualified electors of the division which he represents or of the entire district in the case of a director at large. The proceedings for recall shall be in all respects …

A. Instead of the personal and individual system of district voting as provided by article 4 of this chapter, the bona fide landowners of a district who reside in the state may petition the board of directors of the district to adopt an acreage system of voting within the distric…

A. The board of directors shall prescribe the form of registration lists, ballots, poll lists, election returns and all other papers and documents used in connection with the holding of elections, and shall provide for preserving the secrecy of the ballot. The provisions and form…

A. In the acreage system of voting every bona fide owner of land within the district holding title or evidence of title of record, including entrymen upon public lands under the public land laws of the United States or a certificate of purchase from the state, who has held such t…

When voting is conducted under the acreage system, at least five days before holding a regular or special election the secretary of the district shall make up an election register. The election register shall denote the names of the holders of lands within the district, the numbe…

Ballots shall at all times be under the supervision and direction of the election judges who shall: 1. Keep the ballots not voted within the polling place and within plain view of the election judges and of the public. 2. Deliver them only to qualified voters within the place whe…

A. Every qualified voter before receiving an official ballot shall call out his name to the election clerk. If his name is found on the election register the clerk shall hand him a blank official ballot, first inserting in a space provided for that purpose the number of votes whi…

A. If when the inspector announces the name of the voter tendering him a ballot and the number of votes to which he is entitled as indicated on the ballot, it is found that the number of votes does not correspond with the number of votes to which the voter is entitled as shown by…

A. The voter shall indicate the candidate for whom he votes or the question or proposal for or against which he votes by writing in the space to the right of the name of the candidate, question or proposal the number of votes he casts. B. The right of a person to vote may be chal…

An elector absent from the county in which the district is located, or who expects to be absent therefrom at the time of holding an election in the district, or who furnishes the secretary of the board with a doctor's certificate of physical inability to attend the polls, may vot…

A majority of the acreage as represented by the votes cast at an election conducted under the acreage system shall determine the result.

A. Acreage shall be voted only by the owner of the recorded title thereto, and a conveyance of acreage made within thirty days previous to any election for the primary purpose of enabling the grantee to vote the acreage shall be of no force or effect as qualifying such nominal gr…

All lands located within the boundaries of and susceptible of irrigation from irrigation works of an irrigation district, the legal titles to which are vested in the state, are subject to the laws of the state relating to the organization, government and regulation of irrigation …

A. Officially certified lists of all state lands included within the boundaries of an irrigation district and susceptible of irrigation from the works thereof, with the amounts of assessments and charges of every character made against such lands, shall be furnished to the state …

All irrigation districts within the state which include within their boundaries state lands which may be irrigated from the proposed irrigation works of the district shall, as soon as the permanent boundaries thereof are fixed and established, deliver to the state land department…

All assessments and charges levied prior to July 14, 1922 against lands located within irrigation districts and susceptible to irrigation from the proposed works of such districts, the legal titles to which are vested in the state, are validated and declared to be a lien against …

If a sale is made of state lands as described in section 48-3073, a lessee in possession thereof at the time of sale shall, in addition to having his improvements placed thereon appraised in the manner provided by law, be credited with the water right acquired through the payment…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as creating a lien against the interest of the state in any state lands, nor an obligation against the state to pay charges, assessments or debts incurred by irrigation districts against state lands located within the district.

A. Public lands of the United States, entered and unentered, within the boundaries of an irrigation district organized in this state shall be assessed for district purposes in the manner provided by law to the extent authorized by an act of Congress entitled, "an act to promote r…

In addition to the purposes otherwise authorized by law, irrigation districts may be organized for the purpose of cooperating with, and all irrigation districts organized under this chapter shall have the power to cooperate and contract with, the United States under the reclamati…

A. The board of directors shall perform all acts deemed necessary to carry out the powers set forth in this article. The board may enter into any obligation or contract with the United States for the purposes set forth in section 48-3091, and may provide therein for the delivery,…