(A) Pursuant to Neb. RS 18-401, as amended or superseded, the City Council shall have the power and authority, whenever it deems it proper and necessary so to do, to create, by ordinance, a water main district, either within or without the corporate limits of the city, and to order and cause to be made extensions or enlargements of water mains through the district. Upon the passage of an ordinance creating a water main district, or ordering the extension or enlargement of a water main district, it shall be the duty of the City Council to cause a notice, addressed generally to the owners of the real estate within the water main district, to be published as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 18-403, as amended or superseded. If protests to the ordinance creating the water main district are not filed as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 18-404, as amended or superseded, sufficient to operate as a repeal or recession of the ordinance, then the power of the City Council shall be deemed complete and it shall be the duty of the City Council to proceed to contract for and in behalf of the city for the extension or enlargement of the water main so ordered, or to make the extension or enlargement with its own forces.
(B) If a petition is filed, signed by the owners of a majority of the front footage of real estate within a proposed district, which petition shall contain the consent of the real estate for the installation of water mains of sizes designated by the City Council and inserted in the petition, then the water main district shall be created; and the entire cost of laying the water main shall be assessed and collected as hereinafter provided.
(C) Upon the completion of an extension or enlargement of any water main in any district, the actual cost thereof shall be duly certified to the City Council, when done by utilizing the equipment and employees of the city, the average cost, based on the average cost per foot to the city, in the previous calendar year of installing water mains, shall be thus certified. Thereupon, it shall be the duty of the City Council to assess, to the extent of special benefit, the cost, not exceeding the actual cost or average cost, as the case may be, of installing the water main upon all real estate, in the district, as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 18-405, as amended or superseded. The cost of any extension or enlargement in excess of the actual or average cost of installing the water main, heretofore authorized to be addressed and levied against the real estate in the district, shall be paid out of the Water Fund of the city, if there be a fund; and if the city has no water fund, then the same shall be paid out of the General Fund; provided that, no real estate in the city shall be subject to more than one special tax assessment for the same extension or enlargement of water mains.
(D) The special assessments hereinabove provided for shall be collected and shall draw interest as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 18-406, as amended or superseded. After the levy of the special assessments and the extension of the same upon the tax record against the real estate in the water main district, the City Council shall have the power to issue, or cause to be issued, against the fund so created, special warrants payable out of the fund, which shall be delivered to the contractor in payment of the money due him or her under his or her contract for the extension or enlargement of the water main to cover the cost for which the assessments were levied.
(Prior Code, § 3-701)
Statutory reference:
Related provisions, see Neb. RS 18-401 through 18-409, 18-411