Water Code, 1943

The Madera Irrigation District board may adopt a resolution to replace the district assessor or collector with county administration, and the resolution must state key details about assessment, collection, and who receives land sold for unpaid assessments.

Certified copies of the resolution must be served on specified county officials and filed with the State Board of Equalization.

The board of supervisors must adopt a resolution within 30 days after receiving the district’s resolution, and if the board of directors accepts the county’s terms, it must adopt an acceptance resolution that also shifts assessor/collector duties and states how unpaid-assessment lands will be handled.

A district’s acceptance of the county’s terms by board resolution creates a contract that takes effect on the last Friday of December after adoption and lasts four years.

The district must comply with specified Government Code provisions, and its statement and map or plat must show boundaries for any district area with a different tax rate.

The board of supervisors may require a contract term making district officers keep handling assessment collection and related enforcement duties after the contract starts.

When the contract ends, the district board must appoint an assessor, or an assessor and collector, to serve until a successor is elected at the next general district election.

After the contract ends, county officers must keep collecting district assessments and handle redemption or deeding of delinquent property until the assessments are collected or the property is redeemed or tax-defaulted.

County assessment rolls, as assessed and equalized or corrected, are the basis for levying district assessments unless a pre-November 8, 1967 resolution or written agreement with a landowner provides a different basis.

On request by the Madera Irrigation District, the county assessor must also assess certain parcels, and the district must reimburse the county for any extra cost.

Each year, the district’s board of directors must file with the county auditor a description of district boundaries for any area where the assessment rate differs from other areas.

Each year, by the third Monday in August, the county auditor must send the district directors a written statement of assessed land values.

If the district has not shifted collector duties to the county tax collector, the county assessor must give the district duplicate assessment-roll materials and a duplicate statement of assessed land values.

Within 15 days after receiving the statement of values and duplicate rolls, the district’s board of directors must levy an annual assessment on land in the district.

If the district has not transferred collector duties to the county tax collector, the secretary must calculate the annual district assessment amounts, enter them in the assessment roll, and deliver the completed roll to the collector before November 1.

After receiving the roll from the secretary, the collector must collect the assessment under the procedures in Chapters 4, 5, and 6.

If the district transfers collector duties to the county tax collector, the county auditor must give the directors a statement of assessed values.

District directors must levy an annual assessment on lands in the district, set the assessment rate, and send the rate statement to the county auditor each year before September 1.

The county auditor must compute and enter the district assessment in the assessment book for lands in the district, using the district board’s rates and the lands’ assessed value.

The assessment must be collected like county taxes and paid into the county treasury; the net amount must then be paid to the district by warrant of the county auditor.

County compensation for assessing or collecting a district’s assessments must be set by agreement.

Unpaid district assessments become delinquent when county taxes become delinquent, and the affected lands may be sold to the district or declared tax-defaulted.

Land sold for delinquent district assessments may be redeemed within five years after the sale.

The county auditor must apportion redemption money to the district as required by the referenced Revenue and Taxation Code provision.

After five years, unredeemed lands sold for delinquent district assessments must be deeded to the district, and certain tax-defaulted land becomes subject to the tax collector’s power of sale.

This chapter defines “public agency” as a city or district, other than an irrigation district, that is authorized to distribute water and lies partly or fully within an irrigation district’s exterior boundaries.

This section lets a district contract with a public agency for water-related assessment collection, payments in lieu of assessments, and water distribution terms.

Water supplied by a district to a public agency may be used on the lands covered by the contract for irrigation, municipal, domestic, or other agreed uses.

When the contract is executed and remains in force, the district is relieved from any further obligation to furnish water for use on the covered lands.

This section says the chapter does not authorize the sale or transfer of any water right, and the agreement in Section 26671 is not to be treated as a sale or transfer of a water right.

Use permitted by this chapter does not cause any water right owned by the district or a public agency to be acquired or lost.

This chapter overrides any other Water Code provisions that conflict with it.

The board may exempt an included parcel from district assessments, in whole or in part, if the land cannot be served with water when it is included.

The board must, as soon as practicable, adopt an order determining and establishing the water rights for the stream system after objections are heard or the objection period ends with none filed.

A notice of adoption of the order of determination and a copy of the order must be sent by registered mail to each claimant and each person whose rights are determined in the order.

The board may reconsider all or part of an order of determination, and affected parties may petition for reconsideration within 30 days after the Section 2701 notice is sent.

The department and board must take appropriate proceedings or actions before state agencies to prevent waste or unreasonable water use or diversion in the state.

After certain water-rights orders, a certified copy of the order and the related evidence and transcript must be filed with the clerk of the superior court.

After the certified order of determination, evidence, and transcript are filed, the board must get a court order setting a hearing date.

The court clerk must immediately give the board a certified copy of the order setting the hearing time.

The board must immediately mail a copy of the hearing order by registered mail to each known party in interest at their last known residence.

The board must publish the order at least once a week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in each county where the stream system is located.

The board must file proof of service with the clerk of the court.

Registered mail and publication count as full and sufficient notice to interested parties of the hearing date and purpose.

A party in interest who is aggrieved or dissatisfied with the order of determination may file a notice of exceptions with the court clerk at least 10 days before the hearing.

A notice of exceptions must briefly state the exceptions taken, the reasons for them, and the request for relief.

A copy of each notice of exception must be sent by registered mail at least 10 days before the hearing.

This section says the order of determination, claimants’ statements or claims, and exceptions to the order of determination are the pleadings.

The court may allow additional or amended pleadings if needed to reach a final determination of the proceeding.

If no exceptions are filed, the court must enter a decree affirming the order of determination on the hearing date, on motion of the board.

At the hearing, parties in interest who filed notices of exceptions must appear in person or through counsel, and the court must hear the matter or set another hearing time and keep the hearing open until all exceptions are resolved.