Title XXII, Levees, Drainage, and Reclamation of Lands

-- Use. (1) Owners in a district may be employed on maintenance work and their work credited against their maintenance assessments, within the discretion of the board or the drainage commissioners. In part or full payment for the work, printed credit slips shall be issued by the …

All drainage assessments provided for in this chapter together with all penalties for default in payment and all costs of collection shall, from the date of filing the district assessment register in the office of the county clerk until paid, constitute a lien superior to all oth…

(1) Any person who acquires title to any property affected by any proceeding under this chapter, after the filing of the petition for establishment of any district and the giving of notice thereof by the clerk of the court, shall be deemed privy to the person owning or in possess…

property. (1) In order to effect the drainage, protection and reclamation of the land and other property in any district organized under this chapter subject to assessment, to protect cities from overflow, and to promote the public health or general welfare of the community, the …

Whenever any property is going to be taken or damaged by the board pursuant to this chapter, the board may effect an agreement with the owner for compensation therefor. If no agreement is reached, the board may condemn the property pursuant to the Eminent Domain Act of Kentucky.

Supervision by chief engineer. (1) The board may construct any improvement needed to carry out the plan for reclamation. To accomplish that end the board may employ men and teams and lease, rent, hire or purchase machinery, and directly construct any improvement, by the use of ot…

acting under franchise or cause corporation to construct. (1) The board shall make all necessary bridges and culverts along or across any public highway or railroad which may be deemed necessary for the use or the protection of the work of reclamation in the district, except as p…

crossing right-of-way of railroad or other franchise corporation. If any drain is constructed in any district which crosses the right-of-way of a railroad or any corporation operating under a franchise, at any place other than at a natural depression in the earth or a watercourse…

culvert. (1) If a drain improving any channel or watercourse in a district is on the line of any natural depression or watercourse which crosses any public highway where there is no bridge or culvert or opening in the highway sufficient to allow the flow of water in the drain as …

Removal of obstructions in public drain. (1) Whenever any public drain, established and constructed under this chapter or under any statute in force prior to June 18, 1918, empties into a natural drain, the natural drain, from the mouth of the public drain to the mouth of the nat…

Any owner may use the drain as an outlet for lateral ditches from his land. If his land is separated from the drain by the land of another and they are unable to agree as to the conditions on which one may enter another's land and construct the ditch, he may file his ancillary pe…

obstruct improvement. (1) If repairs to any improvement become necessary by reason of the act or negligence of any owner or his servant, agent, or stock, by which the improvement is obstructed, any repairs necessary to restore it to its previous condition shall be made by the own…

improvements -- May levy additional assessments. (1) If the work set out in the plan for reclamation of any district is found insufficient to reclaim all of the property of the district, the board may formulate new or amended plans containing new improvements or providing for the…

Appoint appraisers -- Notice. (1) The board, or the owners of property adjacent to the district who desire to have their property made a part of the district, may file a petition with the clerk of the fiscal court organizing the district praying the court to amend its former orde…

Compensation -- Order of appraisal -- Costs. Any owner who will be affected by the proposed changes, amendments and corrections enumerated in the petition provided for in KRS 268.600, may file objections to the granting of the prayer of the petition by the date named in the notic…

If the plan for reclamation in any district relates in part to the drainage of the lands and in part to the prevention of overflowing of lands within the district from any stream or body of water coming from without the district, any stream, drain, cut or depression, or any fill,…

Appropriations by county or city to aid district. (1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to deprive the fiscal court or other governing authority of any county or city of its jurisdiction and control over any levee or drain established or constructed under its authority. …

If upon the dissolution of any district organized under this chapter any money is in the hands of the treasurer, after all liabilities of the district are satisfied, it shall be prorated to the several pieces of property according to the assessed benefits in the organization of t…

In counties containing not more than one (1) drainage district established under Chapter 268 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes, or under the Act of 1918 from which it came, twenty-five percent (25%) of the landowners, or the owners of twenty-five percent (25%) of the land, may, at…

Any person who violates any of the provisions of KRS 268.580 shall be fined not less than ten dollars ($10) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100).

Any board established under this chapter shall comply with the provisions of KRS 65A.010 to 65A.090.

Maturity -- Interest rate -- Exchange of bonds or sale -- Use of proceeds. (1) Whenever the board of drainage commissioners or other governing authority of any drainage, levee, or reclamation district organized under any law of this state finds and declares of record that it is a…

(1) If provisions are made for the issuance of refunding bonds, any property owner may, at any time within two (2) weeks after the order providing for their issuance is made, pay the full amount of uncollected principal tax or assessment chargeable to his property for the payment…

require abandonment of refunding. (1) Before issuing any refunding bonds the board of drainage commissioners or other governing authority shall set a date and place for a hearing, and give notice of the hearing to all persons owning any interest in any property assessed in the di…

Certification to sheriff -- Apportionment and total allowed. (1) Upon the issuance of the refunding bonds, all uncollected annual installments whether matured or not, shall be made payable in annual installments in amounts sufficient to provide for the payment of the refunding bo…

bondholders. All taxes levied for the payment of refunding bonds shall be collected and collection enforced at the same time, in the same manner, and by the same means, and shall be secured by the same lien as is provided by law for other taxes levied by the district. The holder …

Any drainage, levee or reclamation district may comply with or avail itself of the provisions of any legislation enacted by Congress to refund or extend the time of payment of the bonded indebtedness of any district or otherwise lighten the burden of taxation resting on the prope…

Any county may remove any ponds, pools, or swamp marshes, or reclaim swamp land that may cause sickness in the county, by ditching, leveeing, or cleaning out logs and brush that may cause any creek to scatter or form pools of stagnant water. The cost shall be paid for out of the …

If the probable cost of the improvement is more than the income and revenues of the county for the year in which it is to be constructed, the county judge/executive shall order an election to be held in the county to ascertain the will of the qualified voters. The election shall …

for redemption of bonds. The fiscal court may contract with any individual or corporation to do all work and to furnish all material in the execution of any such improvement voted for in the county, and may contract to pay in bonds, or may sell the bonds and pay for the improveme…

Issue of bonds. If any pond, marsh or swamp land exists in a small part of any county, and the voters thereof desire to improve that part, and the cost of the improvement amounts to more than the revenue and income of the county for that year, the county judge/executive may lay o…

Any corporation heretofore existing for the purpose of improving the public health by draining swamp land or lands which need drainage to make them more suitable for cultivation, shall be continued in force for those objects and purposes and shall have the benefit of KRS 269.120 …

-- Compensation. Upon written petition signed by more than one-half (1/2) of the landowners residing within the boundary of the district of the corporation, or their agents, guardians or personal representatives, the county judge/executive of any county in which the corporation e…

(1) Before entering upon the duties of his office, each member of the board of commissioners shall take the following oath before the clerk of the Circuit Court: "I, .... do solemnly swear that I will faithfully perform the duties of commissioner to assess, apportion and rate tax…

Error not to invalidate assessment -- Subsequent assessments. (1) The board of commissioners shall, as of July 1 succeeding its appointment, assess and apportion upon the land within the boundary of the district of the corporation a tax of not more than twenty-five cents ($0.25) …

(1) The board of commissioners shall cause to be published pursuant to KRS Chapter 424, a notice substantially as follows: "The .... company's tax notice. "All holders and persons interested in land within the boundary of the .... company are hereby notified that the board of com…

Court order conclusive. The Circuit Court may cause proof to be taken as to whether the notice required by KRS 269.150 was given by the board of commissioners, and may, in its final judgment confirming the report, determine this fact and any other fact necessary to establish a bi…

for collection. The taxes shall be assessed as of July 1, and payable to the corporation on or after October 1 of the year for which assessed, and shall become due on December 1 of that year. On all taxes paid during October before maturity, there shall be a discount of three per…

tax is paid -- Use of taxes. The corporation shall have a lien for all taxes upon the land assessed and upon all personal property of the owners found upon the premises not exempt from execution, attachment, or distraint. This lien shall not be defeated by any means. It is a gene…

After December 1 of any year for which taxes are due, the corporation may file in the Circuit Court, in the proceedings in which the report has already been confirmed, the affidavit of one of its officers stating that the taxes are due upon a certain tract of land and the amount …

(1) Taxes shall be collectible either by rule as provided in KRS 269.190, or by action, equitable or ordinary, in any appropriate court. Suits for taxes shall be in the name of the corporation. The plaintiff shall have all the rights of other plaintiffs in courts of law and equit…

The corporation may extend its ditches, make other ditches, connect with any creek or stream and straighten or cut across any curve to facilitate drainage, and, when necessary, take the lands of private persons. The corporation is vested with the right and power of eminent domain…

Assessments. Upon the petition of the corporation desiring an extension or addition to the boundaries of its drainage district, the petition to be accompanied by a map showing the desired extension or addition, the county judge/executive shall cause summons to be issued against t…

directors of corporation. (1) The clerk of the Circuit Court shall receive from the corporation not more than ten cents ($0.10) for each parcel of land assessed, and shall deposit such sums in the manner provided for in KRS 30A.120. The county clerk shall receive a fee pursuant t…

counties of over 250,000 -- Inspection and notice by county engineer. (1) The owner of land in any county containing more than 250,000 population through which a nonnavigable stream has its natural outlet, or through which ditches or drains have been constructed and other ditches…

and payment of cost. The county engineer shall remove any obstruction not removed by the property owner within sixty (60) days after having been notified. The county engineer shall do this work in the same manner as road work is done in the county. He or his deputies shall keep a…

(1) If at any time any person or persons owning lands within any drainage district desires to withdraw his lands in whole or in part from the drainage district, such person or persons upon the approval of a majority of the qualified members of the drainage board may petition the …

(1) The county judge/executive in each county of this Commonwealth, wherein the fiscal court has requested it, is hereby authorized to establish a countywide surface water drainage district for the entire county including all municipalities. The cost of procuring the necessary ri…