2005 Idaho Code - 67-4907 — HEARINGS ON PETITIONS -- ELECTION FOR ORGANIZATION AND OFFICERS

                                  TITLE  67
                      STATE GOVERNMENT AND STATE AFFAIRS
                                  CHAPTER 49
                             AUDITORIUM DISTRICTS
    67-4907.  HEARINGS ON PETITIONS -- ELECTION FOR ORGANIZATION AND OFFICERS.
On the day fixed for such hearing or at an adjournment thereof the court
shall, if the petition proposes a property tax, ascertain from the tax rolls
of the county or counties in which the district is located or into which it
extends, the total number of taxpayers within the proposed district, who pay a
general tax on real property owned by him or her within the district.
    If the court finds that no petition has been signed and presented in
conformity with this chapter, or that the material facts are not as set forth
in the petition filed, it shall dismiss said proceedings and adjudge the costs
against the signers of the petition in such proportion as it shall deem just
and equitable. No appeal or writ of error shall lie from an order dismissing
said proceedings; but nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the filing
of a subsequent petition or petitions for similar improvements or for a
similar district, and the right so to renew such proceedings is hereby
expressly granted and authorized.
    Any time after the filing of the petition for the organization of a
district and before the day fixed for the hearing thereon, the owner or owners
of any real property within the proposed district may file a petition with the
district court stating reasons why said property should not be included
therein, why his land or any part thereof will not be benefited directly  or
indirectly by the proposed district, or should not be embraced in said
district and made liable to taxation therefor, and praying that said property
be excluded therefrom. Such petition shall be duly verified and shall describe
the property sought to be excluded. The court shall conduct a hearing on said
petition and shall hear all objections to the inclusion in the district of any
lands described in said petition. In case any owner of real estate included in
said proposed district shall satisfy the court that his real estate, or any
part thereof, has been wrongfully included therein or will not be benefited
thereby then the court shall exclude such real estate as will not be
benefited.
    Upon said hearing, if it shall appear that a petition for the organization
of a district has been signed and presented as hereinabove provided, in
conformity with this chapter, and that the allegations of the petition are
true, the court shall, by order duly entered of record, direct that the
question of the organization of the district shall be submitted to the
qualified electors of the district at an election to be held, subject to the
provisions of section 34-106, Idaho Code, for that purpose, and such order
shall appoint three (3) qualified electors of the district as judges of said
election. The clerk of the court having jurisdiction shall give published
notice of the time and place of an election to be held in the district.
    Such election shall be held and conducted in the same manner as general
elections in this state.
    At any time after the filing of the petition herein referred to and before
the day fixed for hearing, nominees for the board of directors of the district
may be nominated by the filing of a petition designating the name or names of
the nominee or nominees, signed by at least five (5) qualified electors of the
district. If upon the hearing as herein provided the court shall order an
election for the creation of the district, the court shall also ascertain the
names of persons nominated by the board of directors, and shall order that the
names of persons whom the court finds to have been properly nominated shall be
listed upon a ballot submitted to the electors at such election. In the event
the court makes its order providing for such election, it shall prescribe the
form of the question and ballot relating to the election of the directors,
provided that all matters may be contained upon one (1) ballot to be submitted
to the voters.
    At such election the voters shall vote for or against the organization of
the district, and for five (5) qualified electors, who shall constitute the
board of directors of the district, if organized, one (1) director to act
until the first biennial election, two (2) until the second, and two (2) until
the third biennial election.
    The judges of election shall certify the returns of the election to the
district court having jurisdiction. If a majority of the votes cast at said
election are in favor of the organization, the district court shall declare
the district organized and give it a corporate name by which, in all
proceedings, it shall thereafter be known, and designated the first board of
directors elected, and thereupon the district shall be a governmental
subdivision of the state of Idaho and a body corporate with all the powers of
a public or quasi-municipal corporation except that districts formed prior to
January 1, 1987, or districts with twenty-five thousand (25,000) or more
population shall have no power to levy and collect property taxes.
    If an order be entered establishing the district, such order shall be
deemed final and no appeal or writ of error shall lie therefrom, and the entry
of such order shall finally and conclusively establish the regular
organization of the said district against all persons except the state of
Idaho, in an action in the nature of a writ of quo warranto, commenced by the
attorney general within thirty (30) days after said decree declaring such
district organized as herein provided, and not otherwise. The organization of
said district shall not be directly or collaterally questioned in any suit,
action or proceeding except as herein expressly authorized.