23-120 Provide buildings; tax; levy authorized. - Nebraska Statutes

23-120. Provide buildings; tax; levy authorized.(1) The county board shall acquire, purchase, construct, renovate, remodel,furnish, equip, add to, improve, or provide a suitable courthouse, jail, andother county buildings and a site or sites therefor and for such purposesborrow money and issue the bonds of the county to pay for the same. Agreementsentered into under section 25-412.03 shall be deemed to be in compliance withthis section. The board shall keep such buildings in repair and provide suitablerooms and offices for the accommodation of the several courts of record, NebraskaWorkers' Compensation Court or any judge thereof, Commissioner of Labor forthe conduct and operation of the state free employment service, county board,county clerk, county treasurer, county sheriff, clerk of the district court,county surveyor, county agricultural agent, and county attorney if the countyattorney holds his or her office at the county seat and shall provide suitablefurniture and equipment therefor. All such courts which desire such accommodationshall be suitably housed in the courthouse.(2) No levy exceeding (a) two million dollars in counties having inexcess of two hundred fifty thousand inhabitants, (b) one million dollarsin counties having in excess of one hundred thousand inhabitants and not inexcess of two hundred fifty thousand inhabitants, (c) three hundred thousanddollars in counties having in excess of thirty thousand inhabitants and notin excess of one hundred thousand inhabitants, or (d) one hundred fifty thousanddollars in all other counties shall be made within a one-year period for anyof the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this section without firstsubmitting the proposition to a vote of the people of the county at a generalelection or a special election ordered by the board for that purpose and obtainingthe approval of a majority of the legal voters thereon.(3)(a) The county board of any county in this state may, when requestedso to do by petition signed by at least a majority of the legal voters inthe county based on the average vote of the two preceding general elections,make an annual levy of not to exceed seventeen and five-tenths cents on eachone hundred dollars upon the taxable value of all the taxable property inthe county for any of the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this section.(b) If a county on the day it first initiates a project for any of thepurposes specified in subsection (1) of this section had no bonded indebtednesspayable from its general fund levy, the county board may make an annual levyof not to exceed five and two-tenths cents on each one hundred dollars uponthe taxable value of all the taxable property of the county for a projector projects for any of the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this sectionwithout the filing of a petition described in subdivision (3)(a) of this section.The county board shall designate the particular project for which such levyshall be expended, the period of years, which shall not exceed twenty, for which the tax will be levied forsuch project, and the number of cents of the levy for each year thereof. Thecounty board may designate more than one project and levy a tax pursuant tothis section for each such project, concurrently or consecutively, as thecase may be, if the aggregate levy in each year and the duration of each levywill not exceed the limitations specified in this subsection. Each levy fora project which is authorized by this subdivision may be imposed for suchduration specified by the county board notwithstanding the contemporaneousexistence or subsequent imposition of any other levy or levies for anotherproject or projects imposed pursuant to this subdivision and notwithstandingthe subsequent issuance by the county of bonded indebtedness payable fromits general fund levy. SourceLaws 1879, § 25, p. 361; Laws 1887, c. 27, § 1, p. 352; Laws 1889, c. 10, § 1, p. 83; Laws 1909, c. 20, § 1, p. 210; R.S.1913, § 954; Laws 1915, c. 18, § 1, p. 75; Laws 1919, c. 66, § 1, p. 175; Laws 1919, c. 67, § 1, p. 178; Laws 1921, c. 144, § 1, p. 615; C.S.1922, § 854; C.S.1929, § 26-108; Laws 1935, c. 107, § 7, p. 345; Laws 1939, c. 28, § 8, p. 148; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 26-108; R.S.1943, § 23-120; Laws 1951, c. 46, § 1, p. 162; Laws 1953, c. 287, § 38, p. 952; Laws 1967, c. 119, § 1, p. 380; Laws 1969, c. 147, § 1, p. 704; Laws 1971, LB 999, § 1; Laws 1975, LB 97, § 5; Laws 1979, LB 187, § 94; Laws 1984, LB 683, § 1; Laws 1986, LB 811, § 9; Laws 1988, LB 853, § 1; Laws 1992, LB 719A, § 94; Laws 1995, LB 286, § 1; Laws 1996, LB 1114, § 37; Laws 1999, LB 272, § 4; Laws 2009, LB294, § 1.Annotations1. Courthouse2. Jails3. Courtrooms4. Miscellaneous1. CourthouseTaxes levied for improvement fund could be used to build courthouse. Satterfield v. Britton, 163 Neb. 161, 78 N.W.2d 817 (1956).Levy for all purposes, including levy for courthouse, cannot exceed constitutional limits. State ex rel. Shelley v. Board of County Commissioners of Frontier County, 156 Neb. 583, 57 N.W.2d 129 (1953).Manner of submission of question of voting courthouse bonds was incorporated by reference as a part of county fair act. Richardson v. Kildow, 116 Neb. 648, 218 N.W. 429 (1928).Special provision for submitting to voters proposition for bonds for county courthouse controls rather than general provisions; majority vote is sufficient. State ex rel. Polk County v. Marsh, 106 Neb. 760, 184 N.W. 901 (1921).Request is invalidated by unauthorized condition designating courthouse site, where power to select same is vested in county board. Mylet v. Platte County, 103 Neb. 105, 170 N.W. 615 (1919).2. JailsIt is one of the duties of the county board to provide a jail and keep it in repair. These duties do not devolve upon a sheriff. O'Dell v. Goodsell, 152 Neb. 290, 41 N.W.2d 123 (1950).County board may lawfully direct a jail fund to be transferred to a special building fund, to be expended in construction of addition to courthouse, including a jail in such addition which will cost an amount equal to or greater than the amount of the jail fund in the treasury. Otoe County v. Kelly, 130 Neb. 869, 266 N.W. 765 (1936).Board cannot build jail without vote of people authorizing same. State ex rel. Grady v. Lincoln County, 18 Neb. 283, 25 N.W. 91 (1885).3. CourtroomsCompensation courtroom provided by county is not the office of the compensation court, and leaving papers with an employee at such courtroom does not constitute a filing thereof. Dolner v. Peter Kiewit & Sons Co., 143 Neb. 384, 9 N.W.2d 483 (1943).Provisions for housing municipal courts are covered by another statute. State ex rel. City of Omaha v. Board of County Commissioners of Douglas County, 109 Neb. 35, 189 N.W. 639 (1922).County board is given the power to provide the necessary offices for use of county. Roberts v. Thompson, 82 Neb. 458, 118 N.W. 106 (1908).4. MiscellaneousLB 1003, Eighty-second Legislature, First Session (sections 23-2601 to 23-2612), does not amend this section and therefor does not violate Article III, section 14, Constitution of Nebraska. Dwyer v. Omaha-Douglas Public Building Commission, 188 Neb. 30, 195 N.W.2d 236 (1972).