Effective 28 Aug 1945

243.230. County commission procedure after hearing. — 1. On the day set for the hearing of the statement described in section 243.220, the county commission shall hear and summarily determine the matter. If the county commission finds that the owners of a majority in acreage of said district have signed said statement, or have joined in the prayer of said statement by motion or otherwise, then the county commission shall find in favor of making the improvement and shall order the district engineer or county highway engineer to go upon said premises, investigate the same and report to the county commission what in his opinion it will cost to restore the said ditch, drain or levee to an efficient condition.

2. Upon the filing of the report by the district engineer or county engineer of the probable cost of such work, the county commission shall thereupon deduct from such estimated costs plus ten percent for emergencies, the amount of maintenance funds in the hands of the county treasurer or other person having custody of such funds, to the credit of said district, and such portions of the maintenance funds so deducted, if the county commission find in favor of making such improvement, shall thereafter stand appropriated and set aside for the doing of such work; and if the maintenance fund is not sufficient to pay such estimated costs plus ten percent for emergencies the county commission shall divide the residue of the estimated costs of any such work plus ten percent for emergencies pro rata according to the original assessments of benefits against the land and other property assessed for benefits in such drainage districts, and the county clerk shall place the same upon the tax books against the land and other property to be collected as other drainage taxes. The county commission may direct that the tax be paid in annual installments, not exceeding five.

3. If the county commission finds in favor of the work, it shall order the district engineer or county highway engineer to have the work done and superintend the same, and from time to time bring into the county commission a statement of the progress of the work, and the amount due thereon shall be paid by order of the county commission, on warrants to be drawn on the maintenance funds of the district benefitted; provided, however, if the county commission has purchased a dredge boat, tools, or other machinery as authorized by section 243.330 and such dredge boat, tools or other machinery are to be used in such contemplated work, before any payments for work done shall be made out of maintenance funds an estimate shall be made by the county commission of a reasonable rental value for the use of the dredge boats, tools and other machinery to be used by such district in such contemplated work, or an estimate of such amount as shall be reasonably necessary to take care of all repairs and depreciation on the dredge boat, tools and other machinery used in said work and occasioned thereby, both of which estimates to include the cost of removing said dredge boat, tools and other machinery after the completion of said work to a point to be designated by the county commission, and such amount first set apart and appropriated for such purpose and transferred into the general fund created by section 243.330 for the purchase of a dredge boat, tools and other machinery. The dredge boats, tools and other machinery provided for in this section may be used for said work, and the district engineer or county highway engineer shall keep a strict account of the cost of doing such work, including the repairs and depreciation of machinery and shall file his report of same with the county commission, where same shall be and become a permanent part of the record and files of such drainage district. Review may be had of an order of the county commission made in this section as is otherwise provided by law for review of orders of county commissions.

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(RSMo 1939 § 12436, A.L. 1945 p. 858)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 10846; 1919 § 4514; 1909 § 5614