Ch. 80)

Assessments

189.

division, by metes or bounds or other description sufficient to identify it, giving an estimate of the number of acres, locality and improvements thereon.

Third-City and town lots, naming the city or town and the number and block according to the system of numbering in such city or town and the improvements thereon.

Fourth-The cash value of real estate other than city or town lots.

Fifth The cash value of improvements on such real

estate.

Sixth-The cash value of city and town lots.

Seventh-The cash value of improvements on real estate, assessed to persons other than the owners of such real estate. Eighth-The full value of all leasehold estates of persons leasing state lands.

Ninth-The cash value of improvements on state lands, held under lease.

Tenth-The full value of all property assessed.

Eleventh-The total value of all property after the equalization of the board of directors.

Twelfth-Such other things as the board of directors may require from them:

Provided, that city and town lots within any irrigation district, which are occupied and used exclusively for other than agricultural purposes, shall not be assessed or taxed by such irrigation district during the time such lots are so occupied and used:

Provided, however, the assessment of any property in the name of the wrong person shall in no way invalidate the assessment thereof.

3478 Sec. 110. Payment under protest.-When any person. against whose property said assessments have been made shall pay such assessment under protest as provided by the general revenue law of this state, the board of directors of any irrigation district organized under the provisions of this article may pass

upon and make orders disposing of moneys paid under protest to the county treasurer in the county or counties in which said lands are situated in the same form and manner as provided by law, and such proceedings shall be had as in such section provided insofar as the same applies: Provided, however, no taxes or assessments shall be ordered refunded unless the person complaining shall file in the office of the secretary of such district a copy of his tax receipt, showing the same paid under protest, together with a sworn affidavit in writing showing one of the following reasons why such tax or assessments should be refunded:

First-That the land upon which such tax or assessment was levied is not within the boundaries of the district for which the lands were taxed, or assessed.

Second-That the title to the lands are in the State of Ne

braska.

Third That the lands could not be benefited by irrigation either by reason of sub-irrigation, or by reason of being city and town lots and occupied and used exclusively for other than agricultural or grazing purposes, or that the lands are nonsusceptible of irrigation from the canal of the district: Provided, that where unentered and unpatented lands, the title to which is in the United States, are included in any irrigation district pursuant to the provisions of the act of congress, entitled "An Act to promote the reclamation of arid lands," approved August 11, 1916, and acts amendatory thereto, shall not be subject to the provisions of this section, but shall be subject to taxation as provided by such acts of congress.

Sec. 2. Repeal. That said original Sections 3457, 3472 and 3478, Revised Statutes for 1913 are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3. Emergency. Whereas, an emergency exists, this act shall be in force from and after its approval.

Approved, April 6, 1917.

AN ACT to amend Section 3458 of the Revised Statutes of 1913 and to provide for increasing the number of directors in districts comprising more than 30,000 acres and to divide said districts into a corresponding number of divisions, and to repeal said original section and to declare an emergency.

Be it Enacted by the People of the State of Nebraska:

Section 1. Amendment.That Section 3458 Revised Statutes of Nebraska for 1913 be amended to read as follows:

3458 Sec. 90. Irrigation- district-how formed.-A petition shall be filed with the county board, signed by a majority of the said electors of the proposed district who shall own or hold leasehold estates in a majority of the whole number of acres belonging to or held by the electors of the proposed district, which petition shall set forth and particularly describe the boundaries of said district and shall pray that the same be organized under the provisions of this article. The petitioners must accompany the petition with a map of the proposed district. Said map shall show the location of the proposed canal or the works by the means of which it is intended to irrigate the proposed district, and of all the canals situated within the boundaries of the proposed district: Provided, canals that only pass through said lands, and which do not in fact irrigate any of the same, need not be shown. If the water supply be from natural streams, the flow of said stream or streams shall be stated in cubic feet per second.

If the water supply for the district is to be gathered by storage reservoirs, the map shall show the location of the proposed reservoirs and shall give their capacity in acre feet.

The map shall be drawn to a scale of two inches to the mile. Cross sections of the proposed canal, and all canals existing within the boundaries of the proposed district and shown on the map, and of all proposed dams and embankments, shall be given in sufficient number to show the contemplated mode of construction, and the capacity shall be given in cubic feet per second of the proposed and said existing canals. Such cross sections shall be drawn to a scale of ten feet to the inch, and said map and

cross sections shall be certified to by a competent irrigation engineer. The petitioners must accompany the petition with a good and sufficient bond, to be approved by the county board, in double the amount of the probable cost of organizing such district, conditioned that the bondsmen will pay all costs in case said organization shall not be effected. Such petition shall be published for at least two weeks before the time at which the same is to be presented, in some newspaper printed and published in the county where the petition is presented, together with a notice stating the time of the meeting at which same will be presented. A copy of such petition and all maps and other papers filed with the same shall be filed in the office of the state board of irrigation for at least four weeks before the date set for such hearing. It shall be the duty of the secretary of the state board of irrigation to examine such petition, maps and other papers, and, if he deem it necessary, to further examine the proposed district, the works proposed to be purchased, or the location of the works to be constructed and he shall prepare a report upon the matter in such form as he deems advisable, and submit the same to the county board at the meeting set for the hearing of said petition. At the time set for said hearing the board may amend such plan of irrigation as they may find advisable, and when they shall have determined to proceed with the matter, the board may adjourn such hearing from time to time, not exceeding four weeks in all, and on the final hearing may make such changes in the proposed boundaries as they may find to be proper, and shall establish and define the boundaries: Provided, the board shall not modify the boundaries so as to exempt from the operation of this article any territory within the boundaries of the district proposed by the petitioners, which is susceptible of irrigation by the same system of works applicable to the other lands in such proposed district; nor shall any land which will not, in the judgment of said board, be benefited by irrigation by said system be included in such district: Provided any person whose lands are susceptible of irrigation from the same source, shall, upon application of the owner to the board, be entitled to have such lands included in such district. The board shall also make an order dividing the district into three divisions as nearly equal in size as may be practicable, which shall be numbered, first, second and third, and one director shall be elected for each division.

Ch. 81)

Election

193

Provided that in districts comprising over thirty thousand acres the electors thereof may determine by a majority vote to increase the number of directors in any multiple of three up to nine. Whereupon said district may be divided into as many divisions as there are directors agreed upon and one-third of the number of directors so elected shall retire each year and the order of their retirement may be agreed upon by the directors of said district, and successors shall be elected in the manner now provided for the election of directors in other districts; said election for the increased number of directors to be called, upon a petition signed by twenty per cent of the electors of said district presented to the then board of directors.

The board shall then give notice of an election to be held in such proposed district, for the purpose of determining whether or not the same shall be organized under the provisions of this article. Such notice shall describe the boundaries as established, and shall designate a name for such proposed district, and said notice shall be published for at least three weeks prior to such election in a newspaper in the county; and if any portion of such proposed district lies within another county, or counties, then said notice shall be published in a newspaper published within each of said counties. Such notice shall require the electors to cast ballots which shall contain the words, "Irrigation district-yes," or "Irrigation district-no," or words equivalent thereto; and also the names of persons to be voted for to fill various elective offices hereinafter prescribed. No person shall be entitled to vote at any election held under the provisions of this article unless he shall be a qualified elector.

Sec. 2. Repeal. That Section 3458 of the Revised Statutes of Nebraska for 1913, be, and the same is hereby repealed.

Sec. 3. Emergency. Whereas an emergency exists, this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval.

Approved, April 2, 1917.