2006 Utah Code - 17A-2-818 — Powers of incorporated districts -- Preferential right of city to purchase water.

     17A-2-818.   Powers of incorporated districts -- Preferential right of city to purchase water.
     (1) (a) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may:
     (i) have perpetual succession;
     (ii) sue and be sued in all actions and proceedings and in all courts and tribunals of competent jurisdiction;
     (iii) adopt a corporate seal and alter it;
     (iv) take by grant, purchase, bequest, devise, or lease, and hold, enjoy, lease, sell, encumber, alienate, or otherwise dispose of, water, waterworks, water rights, and sources of water supply, and any real and personal property of any kind within or without the district and within and without Utah necessary or convenient to the full exercise of its powers;
     (v) acquire, construct, or operate, control, and use works, facilities, and means necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers, both within and without the district and within and without Utah; and
     (vi) perform any and all things necessary or convenient to the full exercise of the powers granted under this section.
     (b) (i) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may have and exercise the power of eminent domain and, in the manner provided by law for the condemnation of private property for public use, take any property necessary to the exercise of the powers granted under this section.
     (ii) In any proceeding relative to the exercise of the power of eminent domain, the district has the same rights, powers, and privileges as a municipal corporation.
     (2) (a) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may:
     (i) 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, that are now, or may become, the property of the state, other than school and institutional trust lands as defined in Section 53C-1-103; and
     (ii) construct works and establish and maintain facilities across any stream of water or watercourse if the district promptly restores the street or highway to its former state of usefulness as nearly as may be and does not use the street or highway in a manner that completely or unnecessarily impairs the usefulness of it.
     (b) (i) In the use of streets, the district is subject to the reasonable rules and regulations concerning excavations and the refilling of excavations, the relaying of pavements and the protection of the public during periods of construction of the county or municipality in which the streets are located.
     (ii) The county or municipality may not require the district to pay any license or permit fees, or file any bonds.
     (iii) The county or municipality may require the district to pay reasonable inspection fees.
     (3) (a) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may borrow money, incur indebtedness, and issue bonds and other obligations.
     (b) A district may not issue bonds that pledge the full faith and credit of the district for payment if those bonds, in the aggregate, exceed 10% of the fair market value, as defined under Section 59-2-102, of the taxable property in the district as computed from the last equalized assessment roll for county purposes before the issuance of the bonds.

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     (c) For purposes of this Subsection (3), the district shall include the fair market value of all tax equivalent property, as defined under Section 59-3-102, as a part of the fair market value of taxable property in the district.
     (4) Contracts and agreements with the United States of America, and with any water users' association or any other public, cooperative, or private entity from which the district procures water, and bonds payable solely from revenues of the district other than from the proceeds of ad valorem taxes, are not within the limitation established by Subsection (3).
     (5) (a) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may fix and determine the funds required for district purposes of every nature and apportion and charge the same against the area of each city within the district by following the procedures and requirements of this Subsection (5).
     (b) As to the costs of all water, water rights, reservoirs, canals, conduits, and other works for which the district as a whole receives the benefit, and because of which the district is indebted or because of which the district has made payment without any previous apportionment and charge having been made, and the charges made against the district because of its ownership of stock in any water users' association, in the same proportion as the water and water rights set apart or allotted to each area bear to the total water and water rights owned or held by the district.
     (c) As to that portion of these funds required for operation, maintenance, and the cost of construction of distributing systems, the district shall equitably apportion these costs and determine and base them on the benefits and the relative cost of service provided by the district to each respective area.
     (6) (a) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may:
     (i) levy and collect taxes for the purposes of carrying on the operations and paying the obligations of the district; and
     (ii) in any year, levy a tax sufficient to cover in full any deficit that may have resulted from tax delinquencies for any preceding year.
     (b) (i) Taxes levied under this Subsection (6) for administering the district and maintaining and operating its properties may not exceed .0005 per dollar of taxable value of taxable property in the district.
     (ii) Taxes levied to pay principal of and interest on the bonds of the district, to pay indebtedness and interest owed to the United States of America, or to pay assessments or other amounts due any water users' association or other public cooperative, or private entity from which the district procures water are not subject to the limitation established by Subsection (5)(b).
     (c) (i) The district shall:
     (A) levy taxes for the payment of principal of and interest on the bonds of the district as separate and special levies for that specific purpose; and
     (B) apply the proceeds from them solely to the payment of this principal and interest.
     (ii) As separate and special levies, these levies are not subject to any priorities in favor of obligations of the district in existence at the time the bonds were issued.
     (d) (i) The district may not levy any of the taxes authorized by this Subsection (6) unless it has conducted, at its regular place of business, a public hearing on the purposes and necessities of the taxation.
     (ii) The board of trustees of the district shall publish notice of the public hearing at least seven days prior to the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county or

counties in which the district is located.
     (e) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may:
     (i) enter into contracts, employ and retain personal services, and employ laborers;
     (ii) create, establish, and maintain and elect, appoint, and employ necessary and convenient:
     (A) officers, attorneys, and agents convenient for the transaction of the business of the district;
     (B) officers and positions as necessary; and
     (C) employees.
     (7) (a) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may:
     (i) join with one or more other corporations, public or private, for the purpose of carrying out any of its powers;
     (ii) contract with any other corporation or corporations for the purposes of financing acquisitions, constructions, and operations;
     (iii) in the contract, obligate itself severally or jointly with the other corporations; and
     (iv) secure, guarantee, or become surety for the payment of any indebtedness, or the performance of any contract or other obligation that may be, or has been, incurred or entered into by any corporation in which the district has acquired shares of stock by subscription or otherwise.
     (b) The contracts may provide for:
     (i) contributions to be made by each party to them;
     (ii) the division and apportionment of the expenses of the acquisitions and operations;
     (iii) the division and apportionment of the benefits, the services, and the products from them; and
     (iv) an agency to effect the acquisitions and carry on these operations.
     (c) The contracts shall provide the powers and the methods of procedure for the agency the method by which the agency may contract.
     (d) The contract may contain further covenants and agreements as necessary and convenient to accomplish its purposes.
     (8) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may:
     (a) acquire water and water rights within or without Utah;
     (b) develop, store, and transport water;
     (c) subscribe for, purchase, and acquire stock in canal companies, water companies, and water users' associations;
     (d) provide, sell, lease, and deliver water within or outside of the district for municipal and domestic purposes, irrigation, power, milling, manufacturing, mining, and metallurgical and any and all other beneficial uses;
     (e) fix the rates;
     (f) acquire, construct, operate, and maintain any works, facilities, improvements, and property that are necessary or convenient; and
     (g) in the doing of all of these things:
     (i) obligate itself jointly with other persons and corporations, public and private; and
     (ii) execute and perform these obligations according to their tenor.
     (9) (a) Any district incorporated as provided in this part may invest any surplus money in the district treasury, including any money in any sinking fund established for the purpose of providing for the payment of the principal or interest of any bonded contract or other

indebtedness or for any other purpose, not required for immediate necessities of the district, by following the procedures and requirements of Title 51, Chapter 7, State Money Management Act.
     (b) The district shall ensure that the sales of any bonds or treasury notes purchased and held are made in season so that the proceeds may be applied to the purposes for which the money, with which the bonds or treasury notes were originally purchased, was placed in the treasury of the district.
     (c) The treasurer and controller, with the approval of the attorney, shall perform the functions and duties authorized by this Subsection (9) under rules adopted by the board of trustees of the district.
     (10) Each city, the area of which is a part or all of any district incorporated under this part, has a preferential right to purchase from the district, at rates determined by the board of trustees of the district, for distribution by the city, or any public utility empowered by the city for the purpose, for domestic, municipal, and other beneficial uses within the city, a portion of the water served by the district which shall bear the same ratio to all of the water supply of the district as the total accumulation of amounts levied as taxes by the district against the property of the city which is within the area of the district shall bear to the total of all taxes levied by the district against the property in all of the cities in the areas of which are within the area of the district.

Amended by Chapter 39, 2005 General Session