SECTIONS 51320-51349 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 51320-51349

51320. When the work contemplated by the original or any
supplemental reclamation plan is completed, the board may so report
to the board of supervisors, and petition the board of supervisors to
appoint valuation assessment commissioners.

51321. The report and petition shall state that the work
contemplated by the original or supplemental reclamation plan is
completed, and that hereafter the district will only require funds
for the maintenance, repair and operation of the reclamation works,
or construction of works supplemental thereto or in replacement
thereof.

51322. Upon receipt of the report and petition the board of
supervisors shall appoint three valuation assessment commissioners
who shall qualify in the manner provided in Section 51230.

51323. The commissioners shall view and fix upon the district land
an assessment valuation per acre for each parcel which is in
proportion to the benefits to be derived from the continuance in
operation of the district reclamation works.

51324. The commissioners shall prepare an operation and maintenance
assessment roll in duplicate containing the following information in
separate columns:
(a) A description of each parcel assessed by legal subdivisions,
swamp-land surveys, or other boundaries sufficient to identify the
same.
(b) The number of acres in each parcel.
(c) The names of the owners of each parcel, if known, and if
unknown, that fact.
(d) The assessment valuation per acre of each parcel assessed.
(e) The total assessment valuations of each parcel, exclusive of
improvements situated thereon.
(f) A blank column for rate to be fixed as shown hereinafter.
(g) A blank column for amount of assessment to be computed as
shown hereinafter.

51324.5. In preparation of the operation and maintenance assessment
roll, the commissioners may, as one of the means of determining the
assessment valuation per acre of each parcel, establish a base value
per acre for each parcel of land according to the land use category
or type of land use category for the parcel as reflected on the
records of the county assessor. The base value may be adjusted to
reflect the benefits derived by the parcel from continuance in
operation of the district reclamation works in accordance with the
benefit formula adopted by the commissioners. If land use categories
are utilized by the commissioners, they shall file, with the
operation and maintenance assessment roll, a report describing the
basis for identifying the categories or category types utilized in
establishing the assessment valuation per acre and the basis for
future adjustment of that valuation, pursuant to Section 51346.5, to
reflect changes in the land use category or type of land use category
shown for each parcel on the records of the county assessor.

51325. No error in the name of the owner or supposed owner of any
parcel assessed, and no error in any other particular, shall render
the assessment thereof invalid.

51326. The assessment valuations shall be used as a basis for
levying assessments against the parcels described in the operation
and maintenance assessment roll for the purpose of raising funds for
the maintenance, repair and operation of the district reclamation
works, the payment of incidental expenses thereof, and for the
construction of reclamation works supplemental to, or in replacement
of, those already possessed, when in the opinion of the board, such
works are necessary for carrying out the original or any supplemental
plan of the district.

51327. The operation and maintenance assessment roll shall be filed
in the office of the clerk of the board of supervisors in the same
manner as a report made under an original, supplemental or additional
plan of reclamation.

51328. Operation and maintenance assessment rolls adopted by any
district prior to September 19, 1939, may be used for any or all of
the purposes provided for in this article.

51329. Upon receipt of the operation and maintenance assessment
roll the board of supervisors shall appoint a time when it will meet
for the purpose of hearing objections thereto.

51330. No objection to the assessment valuations shall be
considered by the board of supervisors, or allowed in any other
action or proceeding, unless the objection is made in writing to the
board of supervisors before the date of the hearing.

51331. Notice of the hearing shall be given in the same manner and
for the same time as the notice of the hearing of objections to an
original assessment.

51332. At the hearing, the board of supervisors shall hear any
evidence offered in support of the written objections and may modify
or amend the assessment valuations.

51332.1. The board of supervisors shall then make an order
approving the assessment valuation or any modification thereof and
shall endorse the order on the assessment roll. The endorsement shall
be signed by the chairman of the board of supervisors and attested
by the clerk thereof.

51332.2. The decision of the board of supervisors in approving the
assessment roll is final, and thereafter the endorsed assessment roll
is conclusive evidence that the assessment valuations were
determined and fixed according to law, except in an action commenced
pursuant to Section 51333.

51333. Within 30 days after an operation and maintenance assessment
roll is approved by the board of supervisors, any person aggrieved
by the decision may commence an action in the superior court of the
principal county to have the assessment valuations corrected,
modified or annulled.

51334. If the action is not commenced within 30 days after approval
of the operation and maintenance assessment roll, no action or
defense shall thereafter be maintained attacking the legality of the
assessment valuations therein.

51335. When the board determines that it is necessary to raise any
sum for a purpose specified in Section 51326 it shall, by order
entered in its minutes, state the total amount necessary to be raised
and fix a rate designating the number of cents to be levied on each
one hundred dollars ($100) of assessment valuation shown on the
operation and maintenance assessment roll.

51335.5. In the event the assessment for any parcel of land
separately assessed, based upon the rate fixed pursuant to Section
51335, is less than twenty-five dollars ($25), a minimum assessment
may be set by the board at an amount determined by the board to be
adequate to defray the cost of collecting each minimum assessment,
but which shall not exceed twenty-five dollars ($25) for each
separately assessed parcel of land.

51336. Incidental expenses, as used in this article and in Section
52560 include, among other things, the difference in amount between
the par value of refunding bonds and the amount less than par for
which the bonds are sold, and also the amount necessary to be made
available for the payment of interest upon the refunding bonds
directed to be sold from the date of sale thereof to the date of
maturity of the bonds to be refunded out of the proceeds of the sale.
Amounts assessed for incidental expenses for the difference in
amount between the par value of the refunding bonds and the amount
less than par for which they are sold, with any interest thereon
shall be assessed against the several parcels of district land in the
same proportion as the original assessment, or any subsequent
reapportionments thereof which secure the payment of the refunding
bonds sold for less than par value.

51337. In lieu of completing the operation and maintenance
assessment roll, the board may, following each levy of assessment,
cause a supplement to be prepared and filed with the county treasurer
setting forth the rate and total assessment as determined by the
board, and when so filed it shall be deemed a part of the original
operation and maintenance assessment roll to the same extent and
purpose as if said rate and total assessment had actually been
inserted in said original operation and maintenance assessment roll.

51338. The board, by order entered upon its minutes and endorsed on
or made a part of the operation and maintenance assessment roll or
supplement, may direct that the payment of the assessment be made in
one installment or in more than one annual or semiannual installment
over a period not to exceed five years.

51339. If the board orders payment of the total assessment inserted
in column (g) in installments over a period of years, the due date
and the amount of each installment shall be endorsed by, or under the
direction of, the board, on the operation and maintenance assessment
roll or supplement.

51340. When the operation and maintenance assessment roll or
supplement has been completed by inserting the rate and assessment in
columns (f) and (g), and an order has been entered providing for the
payment of all or any part thereof, it shall be filed forthwith in
the office of the county treasurer.

51341. An assessment levy is a lien upon the parcels against which
it is levied from the date the completed operation and maintenance
assessment roll or supplement is filed in the office of the county
treasurer until paid, and bears interest until paid from a date 60
days after the date of such filing.

51342. The rate of interest on unpaid operation and maintenance
assessments is 1 1/2 percent per month commencing from the date of
delinquency unless the board, by resolution, adopts a lesser rate and
files a certified copy of the resolution with the county treasurer
for insertion in the operation and maintenance assessment roll.

51343. Additional operation and maintenance assessment levies may
be made by the board, as required, so long as the operation and
maintenance assessment roll remains in effect.

51344. The operation and maintenance assessment roll shall be
returned to and held by the board except during such periods as it is
filed in the office of the county treasurer during the period of
assessment or installment collections or while any warrants of the
district payable from such assessment levy are outstanding and
unpaid, except warrants for the payment of which money has been
deposited in the maintenance fund.

51345. The operation and maintenance assessment roll referred to in
Sections 51337 to 51344, inclusive, shall be the original operation
and maintenance assessment roll or a copy thereof, certified by the
secretary of the board as correctly setting forth the subject matter
of the original roll, together with all reapportioned assessment
valuations of all subdivisions of any original assessment parcel.

51346. The operation and maintenance assessment roll shall be used
for the purposes specified in Section 51326 until the board, or
landowners representing at least 15 percent of the district lands,
petition the board of supervisors for an order directing the
valuation assessment commissioners who made the original operation
and maintenance assessment roll or new valuation assessment
commissioners, to be named in the order, to prepare a new operation
and maintenance assessment roll.

51346.5. If the valuation assessment commissioners have utilized
land use categories as a basis for the assessment valuation pursuant
to Section 51324.5, the board may, without petitioning for the
preparation of a new roll under Section 51346, adjust, not more often
than annually, the assessment valuations for each parcel of land or
subdivided parcel of land within district boundaries to reflect
changes in the land use category or type of land use category shown
for that parcel on the records of the county assessor, in order to
conform to the category currently shown on the records of the county
assessor for the respective parcel, in conformity with the report of
the commissioners. Any such adjustment to the assessment valuation
shall be accomplished by the preparation and filing of a supplement
to the operation and maintenance assessment roll to be filed in
accordance with Section 51337 upon which shall be endorsed the
statement "Adjusted to reflect changes in land use as of (date)."

51347. Valuation assessment commissioners appointed to prepare a
new operation and maintenance assessment roll shall have the same
qualifications and take the same oath as the original assessment
commissioners.

51348. The new operation and maintenance assessment roll when
prepared by the valuation assessment commissioners shall be filed
with the clerk of the board of supervisors, and shall be subject to
the same provisions as an original operation and maintenance
assessment roll.

51349. No bonds shall be issued nor funds for the payment of the
principal or interest of any bonded indebtedness of the district
raised on the basis of operation and maintenance assessments.