Chapter 73 — Chapter 73

They shall at all times be under the control and direction of the court or presiding judge, and shall obey its or his directions; failure [failing] so to do they shall forfeit their compensation and be dealt with summarily as for contempt. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 25; Code 1…

Suit may also be brought upon their bonds, in the name of the state and the amount recovered shall be applied to the construction of the work or to the party injured, as justice may require. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 26; Code 1915, § 1902; C.S. 1929, § 40-132; 1941 Comp., § 7…

report.] Within ten days after said commissioner [commissioners] shall be elected and qualified they shall meet and organize by electing one of their number president and one secretary, and as soon as may be thereafter, they shall personally examine the lands in said district and…

If said proposed work as in the petition described, is not best suited to carry out the purposes of the petition the commissioners shall consider and base their report upon some other plan best suited to carry out those purposes and propose to the court the plan by them recommend…

Upon the filing of the preliminary report the court or the presiding judge thereof shall by order fix a time and place when and where the same shall be heard at some general or special term of said court, not less than thirty days from the filing of said report. Notice of the tim…

Upon the day fixed for hearing upon said report, said court may adjourn said hearing for good cause or may proceed to hear, try and determine all issues arising upon said report. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 30; Code 1915, § 1906; C.S. 1929, § 40-136; 1941 Comp., § 77-1836; 1953…

Any interested party may appear and remonstrate against said report or any material part thereof. All remonstrances shall be in writing, be verified on oath, be filed at least five days before the day fixed for hearing and shall set forth the facts upon which they are based. Hist…

When lands are added to the district the owners thereof shall be served with said notice as provided for serving of notice of hearing on the petition. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 32; Code 1915, § 1908; C.S. 1929, § 40-138; 1941 Comp., § 77-1838; 1953 Comp., § 75-19-38.

All issues arising upon said preliminary report shall be tried by the court without a jury. If the court shall find in favor of the remonstrance, or if said report be that the proposed work will not promote the agricultural interests, or that the benefits from said proposed work …

On such petition being filed the court or judge thereof shall make an order fixing a time and place of hearing thereon and ordering notice; thereupon the clerk of said court, for the county in which the proceedings are instituted, shall cause twenty days' notice of the filings of…

But if the preliminary report be that the benefits of said proposed work (or work by the commissioners proposed) will exceed the damages and the cost of construction and that the agricultural interests will be promoted thereby, and no remonstrance thereto is filed, or if on the t…

Court.] Such findings and order shall be final and conclusive unless appealed from, to the supreme court within thirty days after filing thereof. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 35; Code 1915, § 1911; C.S. 1929, § 40-141; 1941 Comp., § 77-1841; 1953 Comp., § 75-19-41.

Upon entering of such order of confirmation of said preliminary report of record, such drainage district shall be, and is thereby declared to be organized as a drainage district by the name mentioned in said petition, or such other name as the court shall fix, with the boundaries…

The commissioners appointed as aforesaid and their successors in office shall from the entry of such order of confirmation, constitute the corporate authority of said drainage district, and shall exercise the functions conferred on them by law, and do all things and perform all a…

All proceedings herein required, prior to the entry of such order of confirmation of record, shall be deemed to be and are hereby declared to be necessary to the formation of said body corporate. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 38; Code 1915, § 1914; C.S. 1929, § 40-144; 1941 Comp.…

If any of the owners or reputed owners of land in said district are nonresidents of the county or counties in which the proposed district lies, the petition shall be accompanied by an affidavit giving the names and post-office addresses of such nonresidents, if such are known, an…

The certificates of the clerk of the court, or other public officer, or the affidavit of any person who knows the facts, affixed to a copy of said notice, shall be sufficient evidence of the posting, serving, mailing or publication thereof. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 6; Code 1…

Personal service of said notice on or service by leaving at the usual place of abode of all owners or reputed owners of lands within said district shall give the court complete jurisdiction, without posting, publication or mailing of said notice. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 7; …

If it shall be found before the hearing on a petition for the organization of a drainage district, that one or more owners or reputed owners of land in said district have not been duly served with notice of hearing on said petition, the court, or presiding judge, shall not thereb…

Said notice shall be served personally or by leaving at the usual place of abode of said unserved owners, or reputed owners as in Section 73-6-4 NMSA 1978 provided not less than eight days before said hearing or published not less than fourteen days before said adjourned hearing,…

As soon as may be after the confirmation of the said preliminary report, or within such time as the court may direct, said commissioners shall employ a competent drainage engineer and proceed to have all necessary levels taken and surveys made, and shall lay out said proposed wor…

Said order of confirmation may, at the same or at any subsequent term of said court, be revised, modified or changed, in whole or in part, on petition of the commissioners, after such notice as the court may require, to parties adversely interested. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § …

At any time prior to making the order confirming said report or thereafter the court may permit the commissioners to present and file a supplemental report, or amend their report as to any matter which, pursuant to the provisions hereof, was or might have been included in the ori…

In case the petition or proceedings are dismissed as provided in Section 73-6-39 NMSA 1978, a judgment shall be entered against the petitioners and in favor of the commissioners for the costs, expenses and liabilities incurred in said proceedings, and for the benefit of those who…

All petitioners shall, among themselves, contribute in the payment of said judgment, in proportion to the number of acres of land they have within the boundaries of the proposed district. History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 51; Code 1915, § 1927; C.S. 1929, § 40-157; 1941 Comp., § 77-1…

At the time of confirmation of such assessments, it shall be competent for the court to order the assessments for cost of construction, to be paid in not more than fifteen installments of such amounts and at such times as will be convenient for the accomplishment of the proposed …

Unless otherwise provided by said order, such assessment shall be payable at once; and from the time of the entry of said order, assessments for cost of construction and interest thereon, shall be a lien upon the lands assessed until paid. Any owner of land, or any corporation as…

annual report.] Assessments for keeping any drain, ditch, levee or other work in repair under these provisions, shall be due and payable on the first Tuesday of September annually. Commissioners having charge of any completed drain, ditch or other work shall, on the first Tuesday…

Within thirty days after filing such annual report, at a time and place to be fixed by the court, or presiding judge, the court or presiding judge shall examine said report, hear all objections to the same, fix and determine the amount of such assessments and cause such adjudicat…

The commissioners from the time of their appointment may go upon the lands lying within said district for the purpose of examining the same, and making plans, plats and surveys, and after the organization of said district, and payment or tender of compensation allowed, may go upo…

Where a drainage district has no sufficient outlet within its borders it is hereby provided that said district shall have the right to condemn right-of-way across the necessary lands to reach an outlet, the damages, if any, to the owners of lands through which the right-of-way is…

The commissioners shall not be confined to the points of commencement, routes or termini of the drains or ditches, or the number, extent or size of the same or the location, plan or extent of any drain, ditch or other work, as proposed by the petitioners, but shall locate, design…

Upon receiving a thirty days' notice from the commissioners in writing, which notice shall be accompanied by the plans and specifications, of the size and character of such ditch or drain, any railway company, over whose right-of-way or yard such drain or ditch shall be laid out,…

If in the first assessment for construction the commissioners shall have reported to the court a smaller sum than is needed to complete the work of construction, or if in any year an additional sum is necessary to pay the interest on lawful indebtedness of said drainage district,…

Omission to assess benefits, or to assess for cost of construction, or to make additional assessments, or to make assessment for repairs against, or to award damages to any one or more tracts of land or easements in a drainage district, or to assess benefits, or to assess for cos…

Any owner of land, or any interest in land, within a drainage district, who claims that his land in said district is exempt from liability for, or lien of any assessment for cost of construction or repairs, or any additional assessment by said commissioners levied against the sam…

In the case the court decides that such lands should not, at the time said assessments were made be assessed for drainage purposes, and that said assessment or assessments, are void, the commissioner may levy an additional assessment on all of the assessable land and corporations…

lien on lands.] All drainage assessments and installments thereof with interest thereon heretofore or hereafter confirmed and made payable under and pursuant to the provisions of Sections 73-6-1 to 73-6-17, 73-6-25 to 73-6-44, 73-7-1 to 73-7-24, 73-7-37, 73-7-38, and 73-7-40 to 7…

collection.] Drainage commissioners may at any time certify any such delinquent assessments, installments and/or interest to be due and unpaid, indicating the amount of each such assessment, installment and/or interest then due, as to each tract or parcel of land, to the official…

assessments.] Drainage districts organized under the provisions of Sections 73-6-1 to 73-6-17, 73- 6-25 to 73-6-44, 73-7-1 to 73-7-24, 73-7-37, 73-7-38 and 73-7-40 to 73-7-56 NMSA 1978, may enforce the collection of delinquent drainage assessments heretofore or hereafter becoming…

Such foreclosure proceedings shall be by petition in equity as an action in rem filed by or in the name of the drainage district, and such petition shall aver the nonpayment of assessments or installments thereof and/or interest thereon with a description of the tracts or parcels…

Upon the filing of said petition, notice of the pendency of such suit in the name of the clerk of the court in which said petition is filed shall be given by publication once a week for four consecutive weeks and by mailing a copy of such notice by registered prepaid postage addr…

If the commissioners find that the proposed district as described in the petition filed, will not embrace all of the lands that will be benefited by the proposed work, or that it will include lands that will not be benefited and are not necessary to be included in said district f…

judgment.] The suit shall stand for trial at the day named in such notice or as soon thereafter as the business of the court will permit. Such proceedings shall in all respects be conducted as provided by law for suits in equity and the court shall hear the cause as in other case…

redemption; commissioners as purchasers; disposition of receipts.] The said special master shall sell the lands as to which the judgment entered has not been paid, at the courthouse of the county where the lands or some part thereof are situated, after having first advertised sai…

and fees.] In case the drainage commissioners shall consent thereto, or shall fail to commence proceedings to foreclose as aforesaid within twelve months after any assesments [assessments], installments and/or interest shall have become delinquent, then the holder of any bond or …

In any case where the lands are offered for sale, pursuant to such foreclosure proceedings, and there is no bid upon any tract or parcel of land, such unsold lands may be disposed of by the drainage commissioners at public or private sale at such price and upon such terms as the …

assessments; sale for best obtainable price; redemption; disposition of proceeds. If it shall appear at any time that any tract or parcel of land covered by a certificate of sale held by any county acquired by it at general tax sale for taxes and/or drainage assessments cannot be…

district for payment of taxes.] Where lands have been heretofore sold at general tax sale for taxes and drainage assessments and the certificate is held by the county, such lands as to drainage assessments thereon shall be certified back to the drainage commissioners upon their d…

best obtainable price; disposition of proceeds.] In all cases where lands in such drainage districts have been sold or may hereafter be sold to satisfy delinquent drainage assessments and the interest or penalties thereon as provided by Sections 73-7-25 through 73-7-35 of said st…