Title 7, Title 7

(1) When any special assessment levied and assessed under any of the provisions of this part is considered unlawful by the party whose property is assessed, the person may pay the assessment or any part of the assessment considered unlawful under protest to the county treasurer. …

(1) Whenever, by reason of any alleged nonconformity to law or by reason of any omission or irregularity, any special assessment is either invalid or its validity is questioned, the board of directors may make all necessary orders and may take all necessary steps to correct, reas…

(1) When, under any of the provisions of this part, special assessments are assessed against any lot or parcel of land as the property of a particular person, a misnomer of the owner or supposed owner or other mistake relating to the ownership of the land may not affect the asses…

(1) The payment of the assessment to defray the cost of constructing any improvement may be spread over a term not to exceed 40 years. (2) The assessments are payable in equal semiannual installments of principal, with interest on the unpaid installments, or, if the board of dire…

The installments of assessments remaining unpaid bear simple interest at an annual rate equal to: (1) the sum of: (a) the average interest rate payable on the outstanding bonds issued to finance the improvement in respect of which the special assessments are levied; plus (b) addi…

Any special assessment made and levied to defray the cost and expenses of any improvement, together with any amounts imposed for delinquency and for cost of collection, constitutes a lien upon and against the property upon which the assessment is made and levied from and after th…

(1) Whenever property created as a condominium is proposed to be assessed for costs of an improvement pursuant to 7-13-2280 and the property is not solely a certain unit in the condominium, then the owner of the property created as a condominium that is entitled to protest under …

(1) The board of directors shall fix all water and sewer rates and shall, through the general manager, collect the sewer charges and the charges for the sale and distribution of water to all users. (2) (a) The board, in furnishing water, sewer service, other services, and facilit…

(1) If for any reason the revenue of the district is inadequate to pay the interest or principal of any bonded debt as it becomes due, exclusive of revenue or special assessment bonded indebtedness incurred pursuant to 7-13-2333 or bonded indebtedness incurred to refund the reven…

(1) When the amount of money required for any purpose enumerated in 7-13-2302 has been determined, the county commissioners or board of directors may use one or any combination of the following methods of assessment: (a) Each lot or parcel of land to be assessed may be assessed w…

(1) When the written estimate of the amount of money required has been delivered to the board of county commissioners, the board shall give notice of its intention to levy and collect a tax sufficient for the payment of bond obligations and other expenses. (2) The notice must be …

The legislature hereby finds, determines, and declares that the giving of notice in accordance with 7-13-2304(2) is reasonably calculated to inform the owners of taxable real property located within the boundaries of the district of the hearing provided for in 7-13-2306(4) and th…

The notice required by 7-13-2304 must state: (1) the amount of money required; (2) the method of assessment that the board or boards of county commissioners intend to employ; (3) the boundaries or description of the lands to be assessed, which may be recited in full or may be giv…

(1) The hearing provided for in 7-13-2306(4) shall be had no less than 15 days after the last publication of the notice. (2) At the time and place designated for said hearing, any owner of property situated within the area to be assessed may appear and protest the levy of the tax…

(1) When the tax is considered unlawful for any reason by the person whose property is taxed, whether or not the person has protested the tax at the hearing provided for in 7-13-2306(4), the person may pay the tax or the installments of the tax under protest in the manner provide…

(1) All taxes referred to in 7-13-2302(3) shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner and form as county taxes are collected and when collected shall be paid to the district for which such taxes were levied and collected. (2) Such taxes, if not paid, shall become d…

(1) If such taxes are levied for the payment of a bonded debt for the benefit of certain property within the district, as stated in the aforesaid resolution of the board of directors, such taxes shall be a lien upon each lot or parcel of said property to the extent of the levy of…

The board of directors shall designate a depositary or depositaries to have the custody of the funds of the district, all of which depositaries shall give security sufficient to secure the district against possible loss and shall pay the warrants drawn by the auditor for demands …

(1) Whenever the board of directors considers it necessary for the district to incur a bonded indebtedness, other than for indebtedness to refund bonded indebtedness as provided for in 7-13-2332 or revenue or special indebtedness incurred pursuant to 7-13-2333, it shall by resolu…

The maximum term of bonds shall not exceed 40 years.

(1) The board of directors shall fix a date on which an election is held in accordance with 13-1-504 for the purpose of authorizing the bonded indebtedness to be incurred. (2) The board may order as many as two elections each year if: (a) there are no bids within the amount of ap…

(1) The board of directors shall give notice in accordance with 13-1-108 of the holding of the election. (2) The notice must: (a) state the date of the election; (b) state the hours the polls will be open; (c) describe the boundaries of voting precincts, which may include only th…

Every registered elector owning or residing upon real property within such voting precincts, but no others, shall be entitled to vote at the election.

The secretary of the board of directors, as soon as the result is declared, shall enter in the records of such board a statement of such results.

(1) (a) When the board of directors canvasses the vote of a bond election, the board shall determine the approval or rejection of the bond proposition as provided in subsections (1)(b) through (1)(d) after calculating the percentage of qualified electors voting in the bond electi…

The board of directors may sell or dispose of the bonds issued pursuant to 7-13-2321(2) or 7-13-2328 at times or in a manner that it considers to be to the public interest.

Any bonds issued by any district organized under the provisions of this part and part 22 are hereby given the same force, value, and use as bonds issued by any municipality and shall be exempt from all taxation within the state of Montana.

(1) In addition to the powers granted to a district in this part to finance facilities and improvements, a district may issue general obligation bonds for a term of up to 40 years to: (a) provide funds to pay part or all of the cost of acquisition, construction, or improvement of…

(1) (a) District refunding bonds, issued to provide money to refund outstanding bonded indebtedness, may be issued without a vote of the electorate. In order to issue refunding bonds, the board of directors shall adopt a resolution setting forth the facts regarding the outstandin…

(1) The board of directors of the district may authorize the issuance of bonds payable from all or a portion of the revenue of the district or from special assessments levied against benefited property in the district to finance the acquisition, construction, improvement, or exte…

(1) If more than 60% of a district's customers reside within the city limits of a municipality and the district purchases its water from the municipality, the district may initiate a consolidation plan with the municipality. (2) The consolidation plan must: (a) provide for adjust…

(1) As provided in this section, the board of directors of any district may correct an erroneous property description of land within the district. (2) The board of directors shall by resolution: (a) set forth the current property description and the proposed property description;…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (5), any portion of any county or any municipality, or both, may be added to any district organized under the provisions of part 22 and this part at any time upon petition presented in the manner provided in part 22 and this part for the organ…

(1) Two or more districts organized under the provisions of part 22 and this part may consolidate at any time upon petitions submitted to the board of directors of each district. The petitions must be in the form required for petitions for the organization of districts. Each peti…

Any territory included within any district formed under the provisions of this part and part 22 and not benefited in any manner by such district or its continued inclusion therein may be excluded therefrom by order of the board of directors of such district upon the verified peti…

(1) The petition referred to in 7-13-2343 shall describe the territory sought to be excluded, shall set forth that such territory is not benefited in any manner by said district or its continued inclusion therein, and shall pray that such territory may be excluded and taken from …

(1) Upon the filing of a petition with the secretary of the district, the secretary shall call a meeting of the board of directors of the district at a time not less than 25 days or more than 50 days after the filing of the petition and cause a notice of the filing of the petitio…

(1) If upon such hearing the board of directors determines that it is for the best interests of the district that the lands mentioned in the petition or some portion thereof be excluded from the district or if it appears that such lands or some portion thereof will not be benefit…

From the time of the making of the order of exclusion, the lands so excluded shall be deemed to be no longer included in the district, but such order of exclusion shall not be taken to invalidate in any manner any taxes or assessments theretofore levied or assessed against the la…

(1) The board of directors of any district formed under the provisions of this part and part 22 may itself initiate the proceedings for the exclusion from the district of any land or lands which it may not be for the best interests of the district to be included or which may not …

(1) The board of directors may establish one or more subdistricts within a district to provide for and finance the cost of water or sewer projects, improvements, or extensions that would benefit land in the subdistrict but not other land in the district. Before establishing a sub…

The board administering and operating the district shall submit the minutes of its proceedings for electronic storage as provided in 7-1-204.

(1) A district may be dissolved as provided in 7-13-2352 or this section. (2) Upon receipt of a petition to dissolve the district, signed by more than 50% of the property owners of the district, the board of directors shall set a date for a public hearing on dissolution of the di…

(1) The board of directors may, after notice is given as provided in 7-1-2121, hold a hearing for dissolution of the district if: (a) the district has no facilities; (b) the district provides no services; (c) the board is not a party to any existing contracts and is not engaged i…

A television district organized under Title 7, chapter 11, part 10, or the former provisions of this part may not perform any acts or take any steps to construct or operate community antenna systems, commonly known and referred to as cable TV systems.

(1) A television district may construct and operate a broadcast FM translator facility (88 to 108 megahertz) as provided in this section. (2) (a) A request to provide FM translator services may be initiated by a petition signed by at least 51% of the registered electors who are r…