Title 48 — Special Taxing Districts

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, "owner" means the person who appears upon the records of the office of the county recorder as the holder of legal title in fee simple to land within the district. When it appears from the records of the clerk of the superior…

A. Irrigation water delivery districts shall be bodies corporate for the purposes specified in this chapter and shall have the rights, privileges and powers conferred by law, but the districts shall not be considered municipal corporations. B. The district shall have perpetual su…

Failure to use irrigation water for five or more years shall not be an abandonment or forfeiture of water rights pertaining to lands included within an irrigation water delivery district as long as the district taxes are paid thereon.

This chapter shall not be construed to repeal any other act, statute or part of statute providing for the organization of irrigation or other similar districts.

When the owners of a majority of the acreage of lots or parcels, contiguous or noncontiguous, of land entitled to or capable of receiving irrigation water from the same ditch or ditch system, pipe line or system of pipes desire to provide for the delivery of irrigation water to t…

A. For the purpose of organizing an irrigation water delivery district as provided in this chapter, a petition shall be filed in the office of the board of supervisors of the county in which the lands proposed to be organized are located. The petition shall contain: 1. A statemen…

A. When the petition is filed with the board of supervisors, the board shall examine it and investigate the signatures thereon. If the board finds that the petition conforms to the provisions of this chapter, it shall fix the amount of probable expenses which will be incurred in …

A. At the time fixed for the hearing, any owner of land within the proposed district may appear and object to the organization thereof, or to the proposed boundaries thereof, or to the inclusion of his land therein. The board of supervisors shall hear and consider all of the obje…

When a petition filed as provided in section 48-3422 purports to be signed by the owners of the entire acreage in the proposed district and the board of supervisors finds that it is in fact signed by the owners of all of the acreage, the board may immediately enter an order decla…

The validity of the organization of the district shall not be questioned in any court, except by the state, unless the action questioning the validity is filed within one year after the order declaring the district organized is filed in the office of the county recorder.

A. Upon application signed by a majority of the board of trustees and by the owners of the lands proposed to be admitted or excluded, additional lands may be included in or excluded from the district by order of the board of supervisors. B. Upon application signed by a majority o…

The board of supervisors may dissolve any district organized under this chapter. Dissolution shall be ordered only on filing of a petition similar to the petition required on organization, except that the petition need not describe the boundaries of nor the lands within the distr…

A. The management and control of an irrigation water delivery district is vested in a board of trustees which shall consist of three persons who are landowners within the district. The board may employ personnel necessary to conduct the affairs of the district. Attorneys and engi…

Before entering upon his duties, each member of the board shall execute a bond in the amount of one thousand dollars, conditioned upon the faithful performance of his duties and that he will account for all district funds or property coming into his possession. The bond shall be …

A. The trustees appointed at the organization of the district, or elected thereafter, shall hold office for two years from January 1 following their appointment or election and until their successors are elected or appointed and qualified. B. The office of a trustee who removes f…

A. The regular election for trustees shall be held biennially on the third Wednesday in November next prior to the expiration of the regular term of the incumbent board. The election shall be held at a convenient place within the district, or in proximity thereto, to be determine…

A. Immediately after qualifying, the members of the board shall meet and elect a secretary, who may be one of their number. If the secretary is absent from any board meeting any member present may be appointed to act in his stead. B. The secretary shall keep minutes of all board …

A. The board may borrow money, incur indebtedness and issue warrants against the district treasurer for the payment of the compensation of employees, purchase of material or equipment, payment of obligations of the district incurred under contracts for water service or other dist…

A. Each landowner within the district shall immediately after the organization thereof place the ditch, pipe line or conduit and other facilities connected therewith through which irrigation water is delivered to his land, in fair condition. If no such ditch, pipe line or conduit…

Any irrigation water delivery district may use the public highways, roads, streets and alleys in or outside the district which may be needed for rights of way, subject to such reasonable restrictions as may be imposed by the board of supervisors of the county or by the governing …

A district may contract to provide irrigation service to lands not included within the district, at charges which shall be not less and on terms not more favorable than for similar service to district lands, including all overhead expense and costs provided for by taxation and ot…

The delivery of water to landowners under this chapter shall be subject to the laws of this state with respect thereto, to the provisions of this chapter, and to such rules and regulations not inconsistent with law as the board of trustees may adopt, or to the provisions of any c…

A. The board of supervisors may suspend the functions of delivering and distributing irrigation water and of maintaining the ditches, pipe lines and other facilities for delivering irrigation water of any irrigation water delivery district upon application in the same form and by…

The treasurer of the county in which the district is located shall be treasurer ex officio of the district. He shall keep all monies of the district in a separate fund, or upon the direction of the board of trustees, in more than one separate fund, and shall pay from such fund or…

A. Property owned or used by districts organized under this chapter shall be exempt from taxation when used for district purposes. B. The expense of maintaining the district wells, ditches or conduit system, including reasonable overhead and office expense and including amounts c…

A. On or before July 1 each year the board of trustees shall estimate the amount of money necessary to be raised by taxation to defray district expenses including assessments and charges to irrigation projects, if any have been assessed, up to the time when funds will be availabl…

A. If any parcel of land within an irrigation water delivery district is part of an established irrigation project organized under any law of the state relating to irrigation, electrical or agricultural improvement districts, or of any reclamation project of the United States, an…

A. The board of trustees, at the time of making the annual estimate of expenses, shall estimate the amount of district expenses for a like period not to be paid from taxes. The estimate shall be based on subsisting contracts for furnishing or distributing water, costs of similar …

A. Before any particular parcel of district land is entitled to irrigation service, all district taxes and charges for the construction or repair of facilities standing against such parcel, whether for the current year or carried forward from a previous year or years, together wi…

Services provided by a county to an irrigation water delivery district are subject to reimbursement pursuant to section 11-251.06.