Title 7, Consolidated Governments and Local Governmental Functions and Entities

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit a utility district from becoming a member of a local chamber of commerce.

(a) (1) Notwithstanding § 7-82-301(a), a utility district shall be allowed to provide utility service to a customer located within the boundaries of an adjoining utility district if the customer or adjoining utility district files a request with the Tennessee board of utility reg…

All expenditures of money made by a utility district must be made for a lawful district purpose.

(a) A petition for the incorporation of a utility district shall be filed with the Tennessee board of utility regulation for review and approval and to the county mayor of any county in which the proposed district is situated, the petition to be signed by not less than twenty-fiv…

(a) (1) The Tennessee board of utility regulation shall issue an order approving or disapproving the petition for the incorporation of the utility district within ninety (90) calendar days of receipt of the petition by the board, its agent or representative. If the board approves…

All costs incident to the publication and posting of notices, and to the public hearing and determination, and all costs of the proceedings, including the costs of filing and entering the order, shall be borne by the parties filing the petition, and the county mayor may, in such …

Any party having an interest in the subject matter and aggrieved or prejudiced by the finding and adjudication of the county mayor may pray and obtain an appeal from the finding and adjudication to the circuit court of the county in the manner provided by law for appeals from the…

(a) (1) (A) From and after the date of the making and filing of an order of incorporation, the district so incorporated shall be a “municipality” or public corporation in perpetuity under its corporate name, and the district shall in that name be a body politic and corporate with…

(a) (1) Any district heretofore or hereafter created under authority of this chapter is empowered to conduct, operate and maintain a system or systems for the furnishing of water, sewer, sewage disposal, natural gas, natural gas storage and related facilities, liquefied natural g…

No utility district created prior to March 4, 1947, under the terms and provisions of this chapter, shall undertake to render or obligate itself to render services other than those for the furnishing of water, sewer, sewage disposal, fire protection, natural gas or artificial gas…

(a) Any district created pursuant to this chapter has the power to:(1) Sue and be sued;(2) Have a seal;(3) Acquire by purchase, gift, devise, lease or exercise of the power of eminent domain or other mode of acquisition, hold and dispose of real and personal property of every kin…

Any district has the power to condemn either the fee, or such right, title interest, or easement in the property, as the board may deem necessary for any of the purposes mentioned in this chapter, and such property or interest in such property may be so acquired, whether or not t…

Any district created pursuant to this chapter shall be vested with all the powers necessary and requisite for the accomplishment of the purpose for which such district is created, capable of being delegated by the general assembly. No enumeration of particular powers created in t…

(a) (1) Each utility district shall have three (3) commissioners, except those multi-county utility districts and utility districts having a greater number of commissioners on May 6, 2004.(2) (A) Each utility district shall select board members using the selection method set fort…

(a) (1) The members of the board shall serve without compensation for their services, except that by resolution duly adopted by the board of commissioners, each commissioner may receive per diem payments for not more than twelve (12) meetings of the board of commissioners in any …

(a) The board of commissioners of any district has the power and authority to:(1) Exercise by vote, ordinance or resolution all of the general and specific powers of the district;(2) Make all needful rules, regulations and bylaws for the management and the conduct of the affairs …

All personnel employed by the board of commissioners of any utility district incorporated under this chapter, including, but not limited to, the commissioners themselves, are hereby prohibited from receiving any money or other goods or services of value of any sort as a result of…

The recipient of water service to be provided by a utility shall be entitled to procure the material and install the water service for property personally owned by such proposed customer of the utility district; provided, that such material and installation shall fully comply wit…

(a) Any utility district, whether created pursuant to general law or uncodified public chapter, may enforce the payment of fees or assessments charged for sewer or wastewater disposal utility services by filing an action in the same manner and with the same penalties and interest…

(a) A utility district that dispatches fire trucks and offers other such fire protection services may charge for the services rendered to a nonsubscriber when a fire or other dangerous situation is reported by any citizen or emergency communications district. To impose such charg…

(a) A utility district that has operated a sewerage system in the unincorporated territory of a county for twenty-five (25) years or more shall not cease operating the sewerage system in the unincorporated territory so long as the sewerage system maintains sufficient capacity to …

(a) (1) The commissioners of each utility district shall cause an audited annual financial report to be made of the books and records of their district. The comptroller of the treasury, through the department of audit, is responsible for determining that such audits are prepared …

(a) (1) (A) Within sixty (60) days of the fiscal year end, a customer of the district may file with the commissioners of the district a protest, giving reasons why, in the opinion of the customer, the utility's adopted rates are too high or too low. Within a period of fifteen (15…

(1) The board of commissioners of any district shall prescribe and collect reasonable rates, fees, tolls, or charges for the services, facilities and commodities of its system or systems, shall prescribe penalties for the nonpayment of the rates, fees, tolls, or charges, and shal…

(a) Each district has the power and is hereby authorized from time to time to issue negotiable bonds in anticipation of the collection of revenues for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, reconstructing, improving, bettering or extending any facility or system authorized by th…

(a) Such bonds shall be authorized by resolution of the board of the district, and may be issued in one (1) or more series; may bear such date or dates; may mature at such time or times not exceeding forty (40) years from their respective dates; may bear interest at such rate or …

(1) Any resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds under this chapter may contain covenants, including, but not limited to:(1) The purpose or purposes to which the proceeds of the sale of the bonds may be applied and the deposit, use and disposition of the bonds;(2) The use, de…

Such bonds bearing the signatures of officers in office on the date of the signing of the bonds shall be valid and binding obligations, notwithstanding that before the delivery of the bonds and payment for the bonds any or all the persons whose signatures appear on the bonds shal…

(a) There shall be and there is created a statutory lien in the nature of a mortgage lien upon any system or systems acquired or constructed in accordance with this chapter, including all extensions and improvements to the system or systems, or combinations of extensions and impr…

No holder or holders of any bonds issued pursuant to this chapter shall ever have the right to compel the levy of any tax to pay the bonds or the interest on the bonds. Each bond shall recite in substance that the bond and interest on the bonds are payable solely from the revenue…

When any bonds authorized to be issued pursuant to this chapter are held by any federal or state governmental authority or agency, such bonds, to the extent of the principal and interest on the bond outstanding at any time, may be recalled with the consent of such authority or ag…

(a) Utility districts embracing territory in two (2) or more counties may be created in the manner provided in this chapter. (b) The petition for the incorporation of such utility district may be submitted to the county mayor of any one (1) of the counties situated in whole or in…

(a) (1) (A) Except as provided in subdivision (a)(1)(B), the commissioners nominated in such petition shall be designated in such a manner that each county situated in whole or in part in the proposed district shall be represented on the board of commissioners by at least one (1)…

(a) The notice of public hearing on the convenience and necessity of the incorporation of the district shall be published, as provided in § 7-82-202, in each of the counties situated in whole or in part in such proposed district in a newspaper published and having a general circu…

In cases where more than three (3) commissioners are nominated under this chapter, such commissioners shall be appointed for terms of two (2), three (3) and four (4) years, the number of commissioners appointed for each such term to be as nearly equal as possible.

A certified copy of the order creating such district shall be filed with the county clerk of each of the counties included in whole or in part in such district and shall be entered of record. A copy of such order shall also be published in each of the counties situated in whole o…

Appeals from an order creating such a district may be prayed as provided in this chapter to the circuit court of any county included in whole or in part in such district.

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the office of any commissioner, other than a commissioner at large, shall become vacant if the incumbent ceases to reside in or be a district customer in the county from which the commissioner was elected. (b) In any county having a popul…

It is expressly the legislative intent that nothing in this part shall be construed to be retroactive, and that the terms and conditions of such sections shall in no wise affect or abridge the rights, powers, privileges and duties of utility districts existing on March 21, 1955.

(a) There is created in the office of the comptroller of the treasury a Tennessee board of utility regulation for the purpose of advising and directing utility systems in the area of utility management, and to determine and ensure the financial integrity of those utility systems.…

(a) In order to further the legislative objective of self-supporting and well-managed utility systems, the board has the power and authority to:(1) Adopt, modify, repeal, promulgate, and enforce rules for:(A) The conduct of the affairs of the board;(B) Enforcement of the board's …

(a) The comptroller of the treasury shall file with the Tennessee board of utility regulation a copy of the audited annual financial report of any financially distressed utility system within sixty (60) days from the date that the audit is filed with the comptroller of the treasu…

(a) (1) The board may order the merger or consolidation of an ailing utility system with another utility system if the merger is necessary to ensure:(A) The long-term financial stability of the ailing utility system;(B) Continued utility service to the ailing utility system's cus…

The Tennessee board of utility regulation shall publish annually on its public website a report describing the activities of the board for the preceding year. The board shall receive and consider from any source, whether private or governmental, suggestions for amendments to this…

(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the Tennessee board of utility regulation has the authority to review utility systems under its jurisdiction and may include the assistance of the department of environment and conservation, the comptroller of the treasury, the Tenness…

(a) Each utility system shall submit to the Tennessee board of utility regulation by the first day of the system's fiscal year an annual report on a form approved by the board. If a utility system fails to submit the annual report in accordance with this section, then the board m…