CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 8750-8774
WATER CODE
SECTION 8750-8774
8750. Whenever in the opinion of the board it is necessary to levy
an assessment upon any lands within the drainage district for any of
the purposes specified in this chapter, the board shall adopt plans
and make careful estimates of the costs and expense.
8751. The estimate shall include the following:
(a) The expenses of bonding the assessment if authorized by law,
other than an assessment to pay the costs and expenses necessary for
the maintenance, repair, and operation of its existing works of
reclamation and flood control.
(b) The costs and expenses necessary for the completion,
maintenance, and operation of any project adopted by the board prior
to April 1, 1923.
(c) The costs and expenses necessary for the adoption and carrying
to completion of any project or work involved in or contained in the
report of the California Debris Commission dated January 5, 1925.
8752. The plans to be carried out shall be divided by the board
into separate projects or units in such manner as will in its
judgment best facilitate the levying of assessments for each
particular project or unit in a just and equitable manner, according
to benefits upon the lands in the district affected by the project or
unit.
8753. Each separate and particular project or unit shall include
all by-passes, cuts, canals, sumps, levees, pumping plants and other
works of flood control and drainage necessary to properly conduct the
water of any stream, natural or otherwise, the outlet of which has
been intercepted by the construction of any levee or embankment
included in the project or unit into a by-pass.
8754. The board shall enter in the minutes of the board a
resolution to the effect that the execution of each separate project
or unit which they determine upon is a public necessity.
8755. Each project or unit shall be designated by the board in the
resolution by name and number.
8756. All assessments, plans and funds intended for or connected
with the execution of each project or unit shall be designated by
name and number and kept separate and used only for the purpose of
carrying out the particular project or unit.
8757. In determining the benefits that will or may accrue to each
particular tract of land by the construction or maintenance of the
works contemplated by any project or unit, the works of the project
or unit shall be considered as a whole and land shall be assessed for
the works embraced in the project or unit only in the proportion
that it will or may be benefited by the construction of the entire
works embraced in the project or unit.
8758. No land shall be considered as benefited by the construction
or maintenance of the works embraced in a project or unit, nor shall
any land be assessed for the expense of the construction or
maintenance of the project or unit, because the land has been or may
be first endangered or flooded, or the natural drainage thereof
obstructed by the construction or maintenance of any part or portion
of the works embraced in the project or unit prior to the completion
of the construction of the entire works embraced in the project or
unit.
8759. Whenever an assessment has been levied by the board upon land
in the district for general administrative expenses and other
expenses not pertaining to any particular project, and the boundaries
of the district have been or shall be extended so as to include land
other than the land included within the district at the time the
assessment was levied, the board shall make an estimate of the fair
and equitable amount which should be contributed by the land included
by the change of boundaries for the purposes of the assessment
previously levied.
8760. The board shall levy and cause to be assessed, equalized and
collected in the manner provided in this part, an assessment to the
amount of the estimate upon land included in the district by the
change of boundaries, according to benefits in the manner provided in
this part.
8761. Whenever in the opinion of the board it appears that the
total amount of any assessment previously levied and assessed and
which has become a lien upon land in the drainage district, including
assessments which have been bonded pursuant to the provisions of
Part 5 of this division, is greater than required to meet all
obligations incurred or to be incurred for the purposes for which the
assessment was levied, the board may by resolution entered in its
minutes, order the release of the lien of and abandonment of any part
of the charges against any tract so assessed not required to be
collected.
8762. The portions of the assessment to be first abandoned and
released shall be such portions of the charges on each tract as are
based upon flood control benefits or by-pass severance as those terms
are defined in, and determined by the assessors appointed by the
reclamation board, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
8763. No assessment upon any tract shall be released or abandoned
in pursuance to Section 8761 until all delinquent installments which
have accrued thereon, together with interest and penalties, have been
paid in full and a copy of the resolution certified by the secretary
of the board and attested with its seal has been deposited in the
office of the county treasurer of each county wherein any land
affected by the assessment is situated.
8764. The resolution shall be annexed by the county treasurer to
the assessment list of the assessment for his county.
8765. When any payment has been made upon an assessment so
abandoned and released, in whole or in part, the board may issue such
warrants in the manner provided in this part as are necessary to
secure a just, fair and equitable readjustment of the assessment so
paid, but the reclamation board shall not take any action after June
30, 1944, to cause warrants to be issued for such readjustment of
Sutter-Butte By-pass Assessment No. 6 and any action or proceeding
brought to secure such readjustment of said Sutter-Butte By-pass
Assessment No. 6 or to require the issuance of any warrant or payment
of any money in connection with such readjustment of Sutter-Butte
By-pass Assessment No. 6 must be commenced before January 1, 1945.
8766. The board may in its discretion abandon any assessment in
whole or in part at any time prior to the time when the lien of the
assessment has accrued to the extent that the assessment is greater
than required to meet the obligations incurred or to be incurred
thereon.
8767. In all cases in which an assessment is levied upon land
within the drainage district, and the assessment upon any tract is
thereafter adjudged invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction,
or, for any reason, the tract is not legally charged with the
assessment, the tract shall be charged in any subsequent assessment
with such proportion of the former assessment as the benefits derived
by the land from the purposes for which the former assessment was
levied bears to the whole amount of the former assessment.
8768. Instead of proceeding under the next preceding section a
subsequent reassessment of the tract may be made separately for the
purpose of charging the land with its proper proportion of the
assessment.
8769. In case of any change of county boundary lines or creation of
any new county, all acts and proceedings provided for in this
chapter relating to any assessment upon land affected by the change
of county boundary lines, or creation of the new county, shall be
done as if the land was situated in the same county as at the time of
appointment of the assessors to make the assessment.
8770. The board has no power or authority to levy any assessment
for any purpose upon property outside of the boundaries of the
drainage district.
8771. Assessments shall be numbered consecutively.
8772. The Reclamation Board shall, by resolution entered in its
minutes, order the release of the lien and abandonment of the charges
against tracts assessed and owned by the United States, State,
counties, cities, school districts, reclamation districts, or similar
other public agency, but not against any tracts deeded to the State,
counties, cities, or districts for delinquent taxes or assessments.
A copy of the resolution, certified by the secretary of the board and
attested by its seal, shall be filed in the office of the county
treasurer of each county wherein such land is situated as evidence of
the release and abandonment of said charges against said lands.
8773. In pursuance to Section 8765, the Reclamation Board, after
June 30, 1946, shall take no action except in accordance with a
judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction to cause warrants to be
issued for such readjustment of Feather River Assessment No. 7 and
any action or proceeding brought by any party to cause payment of
such adjustment must be commenced before January 1, 1947, and after
June 30, 1948, all moneys remaining in Feather River Assessment No. 7
Fund shall revert to the General Fund of the State.
8774. In pursuance to Section 8765, the Reclamation Board, after
June 30, 1946, shall take no action except in accordance with a
judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction to cause warrants to be
issued for such readjustment of Hood Levee Assessment No. 8 and any
action or proceeding brought by any party to cause payment of such
adjustment must be commenced before January 1, 1947, and after June
30, 1948, all moneys remaining in Hood Levee Assessment No. 8 Fund
shall revert to the General Fund of the State.