Sec. 16. (a) If property located within an improvement and maintenance district is owned and used by the state or any municipal corporation, the commission shall determine the amount that would be levied as an assessment for the property under section 14 of this chapter and provide this information to the governor or the executive of the municipal corporation. The state or the municipal corporation may choose to pay an amount equal to the assessment. The state or the municipal corporation shall indicate no later than forty-five (45) days after receiving this information in writing from the commission whether or not it will pay this amount. If it indicates in writing that it will pay this amount, it shall pay the amount. If it does not obligate itself to pay the amount, the department is responsible for payment of this amount. However, the department may charge the state or the municipal corporation:

(1) for expenses incurred in carrying out the improvement and maintenance project on or relative to land owned and used by the state or the municipal corporation; and

(2) a reasonable sum for allowing the introduction into the canal of any geothermal discharge water from properties owned and used by the state or the municipal corporation.

(b) If the department and the state or the municipal corporation do not agree on the amount that should be charged under subsection (a)(1) and (a)(2), the amount shall be determined by a three (3) person committee consisting of a representative of the governor or the executive of the municipal corporation (whichever is involved in the disagreement), a representative of the department, and a third person mutually agreed upon by those two (2) representatives.

(c) If the commission and the state or the municipal corporation agree, the state or the municipal corporation may provide specified services in part or all of the improvement and maintenance district as a substitute for paying part or all of the amount identified under subsection (a).

As added by P.L.194-1988, SEC.1.