48-910. Domestic water and domestic wastewater services; authority to set fees; liens; foreclosure

A. The board of directors of a domestic water improvement district, a domestic wastewater improvement district or a county improvement district that provides or is established for the purpose of providing water or wastewater services shall have the authority to set fees for the district following a public hearing. Fees may include any of the following:

1. User fees that are proportionate shares of the cost of operation, maintenance and replacement of a water delivery system, a water disposal system or a wastewater treatment and disposal system or any combination of those systems, including a system for the treatment and use of effluent, and may include the cost of administrators, surveyors, sanitation experts, engineers, legal counsel and other persons as are reasonably necessary for the operation, maintenance and replacement of the systems. The fees may also include any contractual amounts required to meet covenants relating to bonds or other obligations of the district secured by a pledge of, or promise to pay from, the district's fees.

2. Hookup fees for connection to the district water or wastewater system, not including the cost of the actual physical connection.

3. Lateral fees for the cost of constructing a water or wastewater lateral from the property line of the user to the middle of the easement or right-of-way in which the water system or wastewater system is located.

4. For a domestic wastewater improvement district or a county improvement district that provides or is established for the purpose of providing wastewater systems or services, either of the following:

(a) A capacity fee based on the cost of developing the wastewater collection, treatment and disposal facilities that are required to treat the flows into the system from a particular wastewater connection.

(b) An availability fee that is charged on all property in the district that is not connected to the existing wastewater treatment system but that is adjacent to a wastewater line and that is based on the cost of having the wastewater line and treatment facility capacity to accommodate that property if it is developed. An availability fee is limited to fifty per cent of the user fee.

B. Notice announcing the hearing shall be posted in not less than three places within the district for not less than ten days before the date of the hearing and shall be published twice in a newspaper of general circulation within the district. The newspaper publications shall be not less than one week apart, and the first publication shall be not less than ten days before the date of the hearing. The district may also mail notice of the hearing to all district customers. The notice may be included in the district's regular billings and shall be mailed at least ten days before the date of the hearing.

C. The board of supervisors shall be notified by mail of the hearing not less than ten days before the date of the hearing. The board of supervisors may be represented at the hearing and may advise the board of directors.

D. At the hearing all interested district property owners and customers may appear and be heard on any matter relating to the establishment of the proposed fees. Any person wishing to object to the establishment of the proposed fees, before the date set for the hearing, may file objections with the chairman or the clerk of the board of directors.

E. A domestic water improvement district, domestic wastewater improvement district or a county improvement district that provides or is established for the purpose of providing water or wastewater systems or services may file a lien on property for the nonpayment of user fees for services provided to the property if the fees are delinquent for more than ninety days. At least thirty days before filing the lien, the district shall provide written notice to the owner of the property and shall include notice of an opportunity for a hearing before a designated officer of the district. The notice of lien shall be personally served on the property owner or mailed by certified mail to the property owner's last known address or to the address to which the most recent property tax assessment was mailed. If the property owner does not reside on the property, the notice shall be mailed by certified mail to the owner's last known address.

F. The unpaid user fees are a lien on the property from the date of recording in the office of the county recorder in the county in which the property is located until the fees and all costs are paid. The lien is subject and inferior to the lien for general taxes and to all prior recorded mortgages and encumbrances of record. A sale of the property to satisfy a lien assessed pursuant to this section shall be made on a judgment of foreclosure and order of sale. A domestic water or domestic wastewater improvement district or a county improvement district that provides or is established for the purpose of providing water or wastewater systems or services may bring an action to foreclose the lien in the superior court in the county in which the property is located any time after recording. Failure to foreclose the lien does not affect its validity. The recorded unpaid user fees are prima facie evidence of the truth of all matters recited in the recording and of the regularity of all proceedings before the recording.

G. Unpaid user fees pursuant to this section accrue interest at the rate prescribed by section 44-1201.

H. The district shall add all costs incurred by the district, including interest, attorney fees and costs in filing and enforcing the lien, to the unpaid user fees, and the costs are a liability of the property owner payable from the proceeds of the sale.

I. A prior assessment of unpaid user fees pursuant to this section does not bar a subsequent assessment pursuant to this section, and any number of liens on the same parcel of property may be enforced in the same action.

J. A district shall not file a lien for unpaid user fees against a residential property that is occupied by a lessee and at which the lessee is responsible for payment of the user fees. The district shall determine the status of leased residential property before filing the lien.