TITLE 42

IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE — WATER RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION

CHAPTER 32

WATER AND SEWER DISTRICTS

42-3212.  General powers of board. For and on behalf of the district the board shall have the following powers:

(a)  To have perpetual existence;

(b)  To have and use a corporate seal;

(c)  To sue and be sued, and be a party to suits, actions and proceedings;

(d)  Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, to enter into contracts and agreements, cooperative and otherwise, affecting the affairs of the district, including contracts with the United States of America and any of its agencies or instrumentalities, and contracts with corporations, public or private, municipalities, or governmental subdivisions, and to cooperate with any one (1) or more of them in building, erecting or constructing works, canals, pipelines, sewage treatment plants, and other facilities within or without the district. Except in cases in which a district will receive aid from a governmental agency, procurement of goods or services shall be in accordance with the provisions of chapter 28, title 67, Idaho Code;

(e)  To borrow money and incur indebtedness and evidence the same by certificate, notes or debentures, and to issue bonds, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter;

(f)  To acquire, dispose of and encumber real and personal property, water, water rights, water and sewage systems and plants, and any interest therein, including leases and easements within or without said district;

(g)  To refund any bonded indebtedness of the district without an election; provided, however, that the obligations of the district shall not be increased by any refund of bonded indebtedness. Otherwise, the terms and conditions of refunding bonds shall be substantially the same as those of an original issue of bonds;

(h)  To have the management, control and supervision of all the business and affairs of the district, and the construction, installation, operation and maintenance of district improvements therein or therefor;

(i)  To hire and retain agents, employees, engineers and attorneys;

(j)  To have and exercise the power of eminent domain in the manner provided by law for the condemnation of private property for public use to take any property necessary to the exercise of the powers herein granted, both within and without the district;

(k)  To construct and maintain works and establish and maintain facilities across or along any public street or highway, and in, upon, or over any vacant public lands, which public lands are now, or may become, the property of the state of Idaho, and to construct works and establish and maintain facilities across any stream of water or watercourse, and to maintain access to facilities and works by the removal of snow from roads and lands; provided, however, that the district shall promptly restore any such street or highway to its former state of usefulness as nearly as may be, and shall not use the same in such manner as to completely or unnecessarily impair the usefulness thereof;

(l)  To fix and from time to time to increase or decrease water and sewer rates, tolls or charges for services or facilities furnished by the district, and to pledge such revenue for the payment of any indebtedness of the district. The board shall fix rates, tolls and charges and the time or times for the payment thereof. All such rates, tolls and charges not paid within thirty (30) days after the date fixed for the payment thereof shall become delinquent; the board shall certify all such delinquent rates, tolls and charges to the tax collector of the county by the district, not later than the first day of August and shall be, by said tax collector, placed upon the tax roll and collected in the same manner and subject to the same penalties as other district taxes; provided, however, that special assessments certified to the tax collector which are placed on property qualifying for a hardship exemption may be returned to the taxing district from which they originated if the special assessments are not paid within three (3) years. The date of priority of such lien shall be the date upon which such charge becomes delinquent. The board shall shut off or discontinue service for delinquencies in the payment of such rates, tolls or charges, or in the payment of taxes levied pursuant to this chapter, and prescribe and enforce rules and regulations for the connection with and the disconnection from properties of the facilities of the district. For health and sanitary purposes the board shall have the power to compel the owners of inhabited property within a sewer district to connect their property with the sewer system of such district, and upon a failure so to connect within sixty (60) days after written notice by the board so to do the board may cause such connection to be made and a lien to be filed against the property for the expense incurred in making such connection, provided, however, that no owner shall be compelled to connect his property with such system unless a service line is brought, by the district, to a point within two hundred (200) feet of his dwelling place;

(m)  To adopt and amend bylaws not in conflict with the constitution and laws of the state for carrying on the business, objects and affairs of the board and of the district;

(n)  To have and exercise all rights and powers necessary or incidental to or implied from the specific powers granted herein. Such specific powers shall not be considered as a limitation upon any power necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes and intent of this chapter.

History:

[42-3212, added 1947, ch. 152, sec. 12, p. 364; am. 1961, ch. 135, sec. 1, p. 195; am. 1980, ch. 13, sec. 1, p. 26; am. 1991, ch. 41, sec. 1, p. 80; am. 2003, ch. 272, sec. 1, p. 726; am. 2005, ch. 213, sec. 11, p. 646.]