48-575. Improvement districts for enhanced municipal services

A. In addition to the purposes for which an improvement district may be formed under the provisions of section 48-572, an improvement district may be formed within a designated area to provide public service within the district at a higher level or greater degree than provided in the remainder of the community, including such services as public safety, fire protection, refuse collection, street or sidewalk cleaning or landscape maintenance in public areas, planning, promotion, transportation and public parking.

B. The powers and duties of the governing body of the municipality and the procedure to be followed shall be as provided in this article for other types of special improvement districts.

C. If a petition for the formation of an improvement district under the provisions of this section is presented to the governing body purporting to be signed by all of the real property owners in the proposed district, exclusive of mortgagees and other lienholders, the governing body, after verifying such ownership and making a finding of such fact, shall adopt a resolution of intention to order the improvement pursuant to the provisions of section 48-576 and shall have immediate jurisdiction to adopt the resolution ordering the improvement pursuant to the provisions of section 48-581, without the necessity of the publication and posting of the resolution of intention provided for in section 48-578.

D. The engineer shall make duplicate diagrams of the property contained within the improvement district. The diagram shall show each separate lot numbered consecutively, the area in square feet of each lot, and the area in square feet of any building or buildings located on each lot. Prior to making any assessment upon the district, the diagram shall be approved by the governing body.

E. The governing body shall make annual statements and estimates of the expenses of the district, and shall assess the total sum upon the several lots, each respectively in proportion to the benefits to be received by each lot. When the assessments have been completed, the governing body shall fix a time when it will hear and pass upon the assessments and the prior proceedings relating thereto which shall not be less than twenty days from the date of the notice. Notice of hearing shall be given in the manner provided by section 48-590, subsection E. Any person owning real property affected by the assessment who has any objection to the legality of the assessment, or to any of the previous proceedings connected therewith, may prior to the time fixed for the hearing file a written notice briefly specifying the grounds of the objection. At the time fixed for the hearing or at any time not later than ten days thereafter to which the hearing may be postponed, the governing body shall hear and pass upon the objections. The decision of the governing body shall be final and conclusive upon all persons entitled to object as to all errors, informalities and irregularities which the governing body might have remedied or avoided any time during the progress of the proceedings.

F. The assessments for the annual expenses shall be collectible in the manner and by the officers provided by law for the collection and enforcement of general taxes the municipality is authorized to levy. All statutes providing for the levy and collection of county and city taxes, including the collection of delinquent taxes and sale of property for nonpayment of taxes, shall be applicable to the district assessments provided for under this section.

G. An improvement district formed under the provisions of this section shall not be authorized to issue improvement bonds.

H. No improvement district formed under the provisions of this section shall be authorized to engage in any activity other than as provided in subsection A of this section. If the municipality is willing to participate in the cost of the district, the governing body may, by resolution, summarily order such participation.

I. The formation of an improvement district under the provisions of this section shall not prevent the subsequent establishment of improvement districts for any other purpose authorized by law.

J. If, in the opinion of the governing body, any territory of a district formed under this section is not benefited by being a part of the district, the governing body may, by resolution, exempt such territory from assessment under this chapter, or if any portion of the territory of a district formed under this section is no longer benefited by being a part of the district, the governing body may, by resolution, summarily delete from the district formed under this section any such area and may form a new district from the balance of the original district formed under this section.

K. Any real property that is within the boundaries of the district, that is utilized for residential purposes and that is not specifically benefited by the public services at a higher level or greater degree shall be exempt from assessment pursuant to this section for that year. Existing improved real property utilized for residential purposes with four units or less per building at the time of formation of the district is presumed to not be specifically benefited by a public service at a higher level or greater degree.

L. Within ten days after adoption of the resolution of intention to order the improvement, the municipality shall record the resolution in the office of the county recorder in the county in which the district is located in such a way as to give notice of formation of the district to all property owners within the district.

M. If, in the opinion of the governing body of the municipality, territory adjacent to a district formed under this section would benefit from being a part of the district, the governing body, by resolution, may include the territory in the district formed under this section if all of the following conditions are met:

1. Including the territory in the district will not adversely affect the district.

2. Notice of the proposed inclusion of the territory in the district has been published in five consecutive issues of a daily newspaper or two consecutive issues of a weekly or semiweekly newspaper of general circulation published in the municipality and a public hearing has been held to consider the inclusion of the territory in the district.

3. Notice, including an accurate map of the territory proposed for inclusion in the district, has been sent by first class mail at least ten days before the hearing prescribed in paragraph 2 to each owner of property listed on the tax roll within the district and in territory that is now or would be subject to taxation by the district in the event of inclusion of the territory.

N. Within ten days after the governing body of the municipality adopts a resolution pursuant to subsection M of this section, the municipality shall record the resolution in the office of the county recorder in the county in which the district is located to give notice of the inclusion of the territory in the district to all property owners in the district. If, before the governing body of the municipality adopts the resolution pursuant to subsection M of this section, a majority of the property owners, by area, of either the original district formed under this section or the territory proposed to be included in the district files with the governing body of the municipality written objections to the proposed inclusion of the territory, the territory shall not be included in the district.

O. An improvement district to provide enhanced municipal services may continue to exist in an area that is no longer in a designated area as defined in section 48-571, if at the time of district formation all of the following apply:

1. The area contained in the improvement district has been in a designated area for five or more years.

2. Not more than ten per cent of the frontage of the property fronting on the proposed improvement, or if the cost of the improvement is to be made chargeable on a district, not more than ten per cent of the frontage of the property contained within the limits of the improvement district, is owned by the same person.

3. Not more than one-third of the property owners by frontage of the area contained in the improvement district files with the governing body of the municipality written objections to the improvement district.

4. The municipality otherwise complies with the provisions of this article for the process of forming the improvement district.