(A) Whenever the City Council shall deem it advisable or necessary to build, reconstruct, purchase or otherwise acquire a sanitary sewer system or a sanitary or storm water sewer, or sewers or sewage disposal plant, or pumping stations or sewer outlets for the city, constructed or to be constructed in whole or in part inside or outside of the city, it may declare the advisability and necessity therefor in a proposed resolution as provided by laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-913, as amended or superseded. Notice of the time when any resolution shall be set for consideration before the City Council shall be given as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-914 and 17-915, as amended or superseded. At the hearing at which the resolution shall be set for consideration, the owners of the property which might become subject to assessment for the contemplated improvement may appear and make objections to the proposed improvement.
(B) Thereupon, the resolution may be amended and passed or passed as proposed; provided that, if a petition, opposing the resolution, signed by property owners representing a majority of the front footage which may become subject to assessment for the cost in any proposed lateral sewer district, be filed, as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-916, as amended or superseded, the resolution shall not be passed.
(C) Upon compliance with the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-913 through 17-916, as amended or superseded, the City Council may, by resolution, order the making, reconstruction, purchase or otherwise acquiring of the improvements. The vote upon any resolution shall be as required by Neb. RS 17-616, as amended or superseded.
(D) The City Council shall have the power to assess, to the extent of special benefits, the cost of the portions of the improvements as are local improvements, upon properties found specially benefitted thereby. After the completion of any work or purchase or otherwise acquiring the system, the City Engineer, or the engineer who has been employed by the city for the purpose, shall file with the City Clerk a certificate of acceptance, which acceptance shall be approved by the City Council by resolution. The City Council shall then require the engineer to make a complete statement of all the costs of any improvement and a plot of the property in the district and a schedule of the amount proposed to be assessed against each separate piece of property in the district, which shall be filed with the City Clerk, as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-919, as amended or superseded, and the City Council shall then order the City Clerk to give the notice in relation thereto as shall be required by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-919, as amended or superseded.
(E) Hearing on the proposed assessment shall be held by the City Council, sitting as the Board of Adjustment and Equalization, as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-920, as amended or superseded. At the meeting, the proposed assessment shall be adjusted and equalized as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-920 and 17-922, as amended or superseded.
(F) After the equalization of the special assessments, the same shall be levied and collected as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-921 and 17-923, as amended or superseded. All special assessments shall, when levied, constitute a sinking fund for the purpose of paying the cost of the improvements with allowable interest thereon, and shall be solely and strictly applied to the purpose to the extent required; but any excess thereof may, after fully discharging the purposes for which levied, be transferred by the City Council to other fund or funds as the City Council may deem advisable. The City Council, for the purpose of paying the cost of building, reconstructing, purchasing or otherwise acquiring a sanitary sewer system or a sanitary or storm water sewer, or sewers or sewage or sewage disposal plant; or pumping stations or sewer outlets for the city, as herein provided, shall, after the improvements have been completed and accepted, have the power to issue negotiable bonds, as provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-925, as amended or superseded.
(G) No bonds thus issued shall be sold for less than par of face value.
(H) All special assessments which may be levied upon property specially benefitted by the work or improvements shall, when completed, be set aside and constitute a sinking fund for the payment if the interest and principal of the bonds, and there shall be levied annually, upon all the taxable property in the city, a tax, which together with the sinking fund derived from special assessments, shall be sufficient to meet payments of interest and principal as the same become due. The tax shall be known as the sewer tax, shall be payable annually in money only and, except as otherwise provided by the laws of the state, including, but not limited to, Neb. RS 17-153, as amended or superseded, no money so obtained shall be used for any other purpose than the payment of the interest or debt for the payment of which they shall have been raised.
(Prior Code, § 3-802)
Statutory reference:
Related provisions, see Neb. RS 17-153 17-913 through17-917, 17-919 through 17-925