14-120-112. Districts created or organized under special or general law, prior acts — Organization, operation under Acts 1909, No. 279.

14-120-112. Districts created or organized under special or general law, prior acts — Organization, operation under Acts 1909, No. 279. (a) Any levee district embracing lands lying wholly within one (1) county, whether created by special act or organized under the general law, and any drainage district created by special act or organized under the provisions of Crawford & Moses' Digest, §§ 3569-3606 [repealed], may become a district duly organized and existing under the provisions of Acts 1909, No. 279, by proceeding in the manner set forth in this section. (b)(1) The directors or commissioners of the district may petition the county court for an order changing the district to a district operating under Acts 1909, No. 279. (2) Thereupon the county court shall give notice of the application by two (2) weeks' publication in some newspaper published and having a bona fide circulation in the county and of a time when the petition will be heard. (c) All owners of real property within the district shall have the right to appear and contest the petition or to support the petition. (d) The county court shall hear the evidence. (e)(1) If it appears to the court that a majority in acreage or value of the landowners within the district have petitioned the court to make the change, the court shall either grant the petition or deny the petition, as it deems most advantageous to the property owners of the district. If the court grants the petition, the district shall have all the rights and powers and be subject to all obligations provided by the terms of Acts 1909, No. 279, as amended, and of this section. (2) However, if a majority of the landowners of the district, or the owners of a majority in value or a majority in acreage of such lands, petition for the change, the county court must make an order declaring that the district shall henceforth be governed by the terms of Acts 1909, No. 279, as amended; and such duty may be enforced by mandamus. (f)(1) Where districts have been levying their taxes through their boards of directors or commissioners, the boards shall continue to levy the taxes of the district. (2) When they have duly adopted a resolution levying taxes, the secretary of the board shall deliver to the county clerk a list of the lands in the district, with a statement of the taxes levied against each tract, and it shall then be the duty of the county clerk to enter such taxes upon the tax books of the county, to the end that they may be collected along with the state and county taxes. (3) In case of any delinquency in the payment of such taxes, they shall be enforced in the method provided by §§ 14-121-426 — 14-121-432. (g)(1) When any districts described in subsection (a) of this section have been collecting their taxes upon an ad valorem plan, based upon the assessment for state and county taxes, it is ascertained and declared that the benefits which will accrue to the lands within their boundaries from the protection of the lands against overflow or their reclamation from surface water, or both, will always be in proportion to their assessment for state and county purposes. (2) Where the taxes of the district have in the past been levied by the county court, it shall be the duty of the county court, upon the petition of the commissioners or directors of the district, or of any creditor thereof, to levy upon the lands, upon the ad valorem basis, taxes sufficient to pay the debts of such district and to carry out the plans of improvement made by the commissioners or directors thereof. To that end the commissioners or directors shall file with the county clerk their plans of improvement with an estimate of the cost thereof. (h)(1) The commissioners or directors of the district shall continue to be commissioners or directors of such districts when operating under this section. (2) If there are more than three (3) of such commissioners or directors, they shall continue to function with all the powers and responsibilities of commissioners acting under Acts 1909, No. 279, as amended. However, as commissioners or directors die, resign, or become incompetent, their places shall not be filled until the board is reduced to a membership of three (3), after which all vacancies shall be filled by the county court or by the county judge in vacation. (i) The purpose of this section is to enable levee districts embracing lands lying wholly within one (1) county, which have been created by special acts or organized under the general law and drainage districts created by special acts or organized under the provisions of the acts which appear as Crawford & Moses' Digest, §§ 3569-3606 [repealed], to become districts duly organized and existing under the provisions of Acts 1909, No. 279, as amended.