Section 9-9-29 Filing of Exceptions to Report; Hearing Upon Exceptions and Report; Approval and Confirmation of Report; Dismissal of Proceedings and Dissolution of District; Transmittance of Copies of Court Decree and Report of Viewers; Filing Fee.
AI-assisted research summary: Certain district stakeholders may file exceptions before the hearing date, the court must hear them, and then either approve the report if costs stay within the 90% test or dismiss the proceedings if they do not.
On or before the day set for the hearing of the final report of the board of viewers, the water management district or any owner of land or other property in said district or any person having an interest in any lands or other property within said district may file exceptions to said report or to any assessment for either benefits or damages. All exceptions shall be heard by the court and determined in a summary manner so as to carry out liberally the purposes and needs of the district. If it appears to the satisfaction of the court, after having heard and determined all of said exceptions, that the estimated cost of constructing the improvements contemplated in the plan of water management or, in the case of a Public Law 566 watershed project, that portion of the costs that must be borne by the “local organization,” together with the damages assessed, is not greater than 90 percent of the benefits assessed against the land and other property in said district, then the court shall approve and confirm the report of the board of viewers as so modified and amended. If, however, the court finds that the local cost of construction, together with the damages assessed, exceeds 90 percent of the benefits assessed, the court shall dismiss the proceedings at the cost of the landowners in said district and render its decree, decreeing the incorporation of the district to be dissolved as soon as all costs incurred, which shall include court costs and all obligations and expenses incurred in behalf of the district by the board of water management commissioners, shall have been paid; and, if the uniform tax levy under the provision of Section 9-9-11 shall be found insufficient to pay all such costs, the board of water management commissioners shall make such additional uniform tax levies as will be necessary to pay such deficiency; provided, that any fund remaining after such costs and expenses have been paid shall be prorated among the landowners in the same ratio as it was collected. The court of probate of the county in which the water management district is organized shall transmit a certified copy of the court decree and copy of the board of viewers’ report, as confirmed or amended by the court, to the board of water management commissioners of the district, and if the district embraces lands in more than one county then the secretary of the board of water management commissioners shall thereupon make and transmit a certified copy of the said decree and that part of the said report affecting land in each county to the court of probate of each county, except the county in which the district is organized, having lands in the district assessed with benefits where the same shall become a permanent record, and each such court of probate shall receive a fee of $1.00 for receiving, filing and preserving the same.