Introduced Version
HOUSE BILL No. 1362
_____
DIGEST OF INTRODUCED BILL
Citations Affected: IC 36-9-27.
Synopsis: County drain maintenance funding. Requires a maintenance
report under the drainage law to include: (1) the estimated remaining
useful life of the drain; and (2) the total estimated cost of
reconstructing the drain at the end of the useful life of the drain.
Provides that in preparing the schedule of assessments, a drainage
board may base the amount annually assessed against each tract of land
for maintenance on the total estimated cost of reconstructing the drain
divided equally over the estimated remaining useful life of the drain,
if the useful life of the drain is 20 years or more. Provides that if a
drainage maintenance fund has a balance in excess of the amount
reasonably needed for maintenance work, the drainage board may use
the balance to reduce the annual maintenance assessments for the
drain. Provides that a person liable for the payment of a drainage
assessment may elect to pay the assessment in equal installments over
a period of not more than 20 years (rather than five years).
Effective: July 1, 2007.
Bell, GiaQuinta
January 16, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on Agriculture and Rural
Development.
Introduced
First Regular Session 115th General Assembly (2007)
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HOUSE BILL No. 1362
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning local
government.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:
SOURCE: IC 36-9-27-38; (07)IN1362.1.1. -->
SECTION 1. IC 36-9-27-38 IS AMENDED TO READ AS
FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2007]: Sec. 38. When the board
refers a regulated drain classified in need of periodic maintenance to
the county surveyor,
he the county surveyor shall prepare a
maintenance report that includes the following items:
(1) The estimated annual cost of periodically maintaining the
drain.
(2) The name and address of each owner of land that will be
affected by the proposed maintenance, and the legal description
of the land of each owner, as shown by the tax duplicate or record
of transfers of the county in which the land is located. However,
a public way owned by a county or by the state shall be described
by its name or number, and the right-of-way of a railroad may be
described as the right-of-way of the owner through section,
township, and range. If the name of an owner is not known, and
cannot be discovered through diligent inquiry, the report may
describe the land as belonging to the person who appears to be the
owner according to the last tax duplicate or record of transfers of
the county where the land is located.
(3) The nature of the maintenance work required and how
frequently the work should be performed.
(4) The estimated remaining useful life of the drain.
(5) The total estimated cost of reconstructing the drain at the
end of the useful life of the drain.
SOURCE: IC 36-9-27-39; (07)IN1362.1.2. -->
SECTION 2. IC 36-9-27-39 IS AMENDED TO READ AS
FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2007]: Sec. 39. When the board
receives a maintenance report under section 38 of this chapter, it shall
prepare a schedule of assessments that includes the following items:
(1) A description of each tract of land determined to be benefited,
and the name and address of the owner, as listed on the county
surveyor's report.
(2) The percentage of the estimated cost of periodically
maintaining the drain to be assessed against each tract of land.
The percentage shall be based upon the benefit accruing to each
tract of land from the maintenance, and must be at least one
hundred percent (100%) and as near to one hundred percent
(100%) as is practicable.
(3) The amount annually assessed against each tract of land for
maintenance.
The board may consider the factors listed in section 112 of this chapter
in preparing the schedule. In preparing the schedule of assessments,
the board may base the amount annually assessed against each
tract of land for maintenance under subdivision (3) on the total
estimated cost of reconstructing the drain divided equally over the
estimated remaining useful life of the drain, if the useful life of the
drain is twenty (20) years or more.
SOURCE: IC 36-9-27-45.5; (07)IN1362.1.3. -->
SECTION 3. IC 36-9-27-45.5 IS AMENDED TO READ AS
FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2007]: Sec. 45.5. (a) This section
applies when a county surveyor advises the drainage board that in the
county surveyor's opinion a maintenance fund has a balance in excess
of the amount reasonably needed in that fund for maintenance work in
the foreseeable future.
(b) The board may do any of the following:
(1) Transfer an amount up to a maximum of seventy-five percent
(75%) of the money in the maintenance fund to a reconstruction
fund that covers the same watershed as the maintenance fund
from which the money is transferred.
(2) Use the balance to reduce the annual assessments for
periodic maintenance of the drain.
SOURCE: IC 36-9-27-88; (07)IN1362.1.4. -->
SECTION 4. IC 36-9-27-88 IS AMENDED TO READ AS
FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2007]: Sec. 88. All final
assessments, other than annual assessments for periodic maintenance,
are due and may be paid upon the date of certification of the final
assessment to the county auditor, except that:
(1) the owners liable for the payment of the assessments may elect
to pay them in equal installments of at least fifty dollars ($50) per
year, plus interest on the deferred payments, over a period of not
more than five (5) twenty (20) years, with the yearly payments to
be made semiannually at the time general taxes are payable; and
(2) when the board designates land as urban land in its
certification of the list of assessments, the owners liable for the
payment of assessments on the urban land may elect to pay them
in equal installments of at least one hundred dollars ($100) per
year, plus interest on the deferred payments, over a period of not
more than twenty (20) years, with the yearly payments to be made
semiannually at the time general taxes are payable.
SOURCE: ; (07)IN1362.1.5. -->
SECTION 5. [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2007]
IC 36-9-27-38,
IC 36-9-27-39, and IC 36-9-27-88, all as amended by this act, apply
to maintenance reports prepared and maintenance assessments
made after June 30, 2007.