By Law Clerk Nicole Widdis
On May 6, 2009, Governor Gibbons signed into law Assembly Bill 226, changing the financial requirements of irrigation districts in Nevada. This law will go into effect July 1, 2009.
The existing law had limited the amount of money spent on a single purchase by a district on machinery or materials for constructing or repairing an irrigation system to no more than 5 cents per acre of land in the district. The new amendment will remove that cost limit. Also, the new law will allow irrigation districts to incur up to $500,000 in debt, rather than the $350,000 limit under the existing law.
Finally, under the existing law, assessments of $1.50 per acre could be collected and used for ordinary and current expenses of the district, for example salaries of officers. The new law will still allow for collection of such assessments. The new law will also allow for assessments by an irrigation district of not more than $5.00, per acre, for deposit into a capital fund for the construction, reconstruction or maintenance of the irrigation system.
However, the new law limits the total cumulative assessment for capital fund and ordinary expenses, at $5.00, per acre. Thus, the district will not be able to tax $6.50 per acre in order to contribute to a capital fund and pay ordinary expenses. The total assessments must not exceed $5.00 per acre.
Nevada Revised Statutes 539.255 and 539.480. Changes to become effective July 1, 2009.
