Title 48, Special Taxing Districts

A. When a petition is filed for the exclusion of lands from a district and the board of directors is satisfied that the lands to be excluded are sterile, alkaline or for any reason unfit for profitable cultivation and not worth in productiveness the amount of the annual tax norma…

A. When a majority of the bona fide owners of land in an irrigation district organized under this chapter petition the board of supervisors to call a special election for the purpose of submitting to the electors of the irrigation district a proposal to vote on dissolution of the…

The officers of an irrigation district shall consist of a board of directors and a secretary appointed by the board. The treasurer of the county in which the office of the district is located shall be ex officio treasurer of the district. The officers shall hold office until thei…

The directors elected shall qualify and organize as a board, select a president from the members, and appoint a secretary.

Official oaths and bonds required by this chapter shall be in the form prescribed by law for official oaths and bonds of county officials, except that the obligee named in the bond shall be the district.

A. The compensation of members of the board of directors shall be determined by the board, but shall not exceed fifty dollars for each day or part of the day devoted to the business of the district, and such mileage, expenses and insurance related benefits as the board by resolut…

A. The board of directors shall hold a regular monthly meeting in the district office on the first Tuesday in each month and such special meetings necessary for the transaction of business. Special meetings shall be called by the president of the board, or any two directors. Meet…

A. The minutes of proceedings of the board of directors or an abstract thereof may be published when the board by resolution entered upon its minutes so direct. B. All by-laws, rules, regulations or resolutions of a general nature governing drainage ditches, laterals, canals and …

The board shall: 1. Adopt a seal. 2. Manage and conduct the affairs and business of the district. 3. Make and execute all necessary contracts, deeds and conveyances. 4. Employ such agents, attorneys and employees as required, and prescribe their duties and compensation. 5. Establ…

In order to accomplish the purposes of the district the board may: 1. Purchase or acquire water rights. 2. Acquire or lease real estate and personal property when necessary. 3. Acquire and hold stock in irrigation ditch and reservoir companies. 4. Lease, sell and otherwise dispos…

A. The board of directors of an irrigation district may invest and reinvest all money belonging or credited to the district as a sinking fund. The investment shall be made for the best interests of the district. B. The funds may be invested and reinvested under the authority of t…

If the district has been vested with the necessary authority, the board of directors may: 1. Construct ditches, conduits, drains, sluices, water gates, pumps, pumping plants, electric transmission lines, cement linings for canals to prevent seepage of irrigation or other water, a…

A. If a district was providing not less than ninety per cent of its total deliveries of water for municipal and industrial uses on June 12, 1980, the district may deliver municipal and industrial service to all lands within the boundaries of the district as constituted on June 12…

A. The board of directors may, in the name of the district, institute, maintain, prosecute and defend any proceedings and any actions, civil or criminal, necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter or enforce, maintain, protect or preserve any right, privilege or immuni…

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…