ARTICLE 3. Operation and Maintenance Assessments [51320. - 51349.]

Cal. Water Code - WAT 3.

in effect

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51320. Section 51320.

When the work contemplated by the original or any supplemental reclamation plan is completed, the board may so report to the board of supervisors, and petition the board of supervisors to appoint valuation assessment commissioners.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51321. Section 51321.

The report and petition shall state that the work contemplated by the original or supplemental reclamation plan is completed, and that hereafter the district will only require funds for the maintenance, repair and operation of the reclamation works, or construction of works supplemental thereto or in replacement thereof.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51322. Section 51322.

Upon receipt of the report and petition the board of supervisors shall appoint three valuation assessment commissioners who shall qualify in the manner provided in Section 51230.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51323. Section 51323.

The commissioners shall view and fix upon the district land an assessment valuation per acre for each parcel which is in proportion to the benefits to be derived from the continuance in operation of the district reclamation works.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51324. Section 51324.

The commissioners shall prepare an operation and maintenance assessment roll in duplicate containing the following information in separate columns: (a) A description of each parcel assessed by legal subdivisions, swamp-land surveys, or other boundaries sufficient to identify the same. (b) The number of acres in each parcel. (c) The names of the owners of each parcel, if known, and if unknown, that fact. (d) The assessment valuation per acre of each parcel assessed. (e) The total assessment valuations of each parcel, exclusive of improvements situated thereon. (f) A blank column for rate to be fixed as shown hereinafter. (g) A blank column for amount of assessment to be computed as shown hereinafter.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51324.5. Section 51324.5.

In preparation of the operation and maintenance assessment roll, the commissioners may, as one of the means of determining the assessment valuation per acre of each parcel, establish a base value per acre for each parcel of land according to the land use category or type of land use category for the parcel as reflected on the records of the county assessor. The base value may be adjusted to reflect the benefits derived by the parcel from continuance in operation of the district reclamation works in accordance with the benefit formula adopted by the commissioners. If land use categories are utilized by the commissioners, they shall file, with the operation and maintenance assessment roll, a report describing the basis for identifying the categories or category types utilized in establishing the assessment valuation per acre and the basis for future adjustment of that valuation, pursuant to Section 51346.5, to reflect changes in the land use category or type of land use category shown for each parcel on the records of the county assessor.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51325. Section 51325.

No error in the name of the owner or supposed owner of any parcel assessed, and no error in any other particular, shall render the assessment thereof invalid.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51326. Section 51326.

The assessment valuations shall be used as a basis for levying assessments against the parcels described in the operation and maintenance assessment roll for the purpose of raising funds for the maintenance, repair and operation of the district reclamation works, the payment of incidental expenses thereof, and for the construction of reclamation works supplemental to, or in replacement of, those already possessed, when in the opinion of the board, such works are necessary for carrying out the original or any supplemental plan of the district.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51327. Section 51327.

The operation and maintenance assessment roll shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the board of supervisors in the same manner as a report made under an original, supplemental or additional plan of reclamation.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51328. Section 51328.

Operation and maintenance assessment rolls adopted by any district prior to September 19, 1939, may be used for any or all of the purposes provided for in this article.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51329. Section 51329.

Upon receipt of the operation and maintenance assessment roll the board of supervisors shall appoint a time when it will meet for the purpose of hearing objections thereto.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51330. Section 51330.

No objection to the assessment valuations shall be considered by the board of supervisors, or allowed in any other action or proceeding, unless the objection is made in writing to the board of supervisors before the date of the hearing.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51331. Section 51331.

Notice of the hearing shall be given in the same manner and for the same time as the notice of the hearing of objections to an original assessment.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51332. Section 51332.

At the hearing, the board of supervisors shall hear any evidence offered in support of the written objections and may modify or amend the assessment valuations.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51332.1. Section 51332.1.

The board of supervisors shall then make an order approving the assessment valuation or any modification thereof and shall endorse the order on the assessment roll. The endorsement shall be signed by the chairman of the board of supervisors and attested by the clerk thereof.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51332.2. Section 51332.2.

The decision of the board of supervisors in approving the assessment roll is final, and thereafter the endorsed assessment roll is conclusive evidence that the assessment valuations were determined and fixed according to law, except in an action commenced pursuant to Section 51333.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51333. Section 51333.

Within 30 days after an operation and maintenance assessment roll is approved by the board of supervisors, any person aggrieved by the decision may commence an action in the superior court of the principal county to have the assessment valuations corrected, modified or annulled.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51334. Section 51334.

If the action is not commenced within 30 days after approval of the operation and maintenance assessment roll, no action or defense shall thereafter be maintained attacking the legality of the assessment valuations therein.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51335. Section 51335.

When the board determines that it is necessary to raise any sum for a purpose specified in Section 51326 it shall, by order entered in its minutes, state the total amount necessary to be raised and fix a rate designating the number of cents to be levied on each one hundred dollars ($100) of assessment valuation shown on the operation and maintenance assessment roll.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51335.5. Section 51335.5.

In the event the assessment for any parcel of land separately assessed, based upon the rate fixed pursuant to Section 51335, is less than twenty-five dollars ($25), a minimum assessment may be set by the board at an amount determined by the board to be adequate to defray the cost of collecting each minimum assessment, but which shall not exceed twenty-five dollars ($25) for each separately assessed parcel of land.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51336. Section 51336.

Incidental expenses, as used in this article and in Section 52560 include, among other things, the difference in amount between the par value of refunding bonds and the amount less than par for which the bonds are sold, and also the amount necessary to be made available for the payment of interest upon the refunding bonds directed to be sold from the date of sale thereof to the date of maturity of the bonds to be refunded out of the proceeds of the sale. Amounts assessed for incidental expenses for the difference in amount between the par value of the refunding bonds and the amount less than par for which they are sold, with any interest thereon shall be assessed against the several parcels of district land in the same proportion as the original assessment, or any subsequent reapportionments thereof which secure the payment of the refunding bonds sold for less than par value.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51337. Section 51337.

In lieu of completing the operation and maintenance assessment roll, the board may, following each levy of assessment, cause a supplement to be prepared and filed with the county treasurer setting forth the rate and total assessment as determined by the board, and when so filed it shall be deemed a part of the original operation and maintenance assessment roll to the same extent and purpose as if said rate and total assessment had actually been inserted in said original operation and maintenance assessment roll.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51338. Section 51338.

The board, by order entered upon its minutes and endorsed on or made a part of the operation and maintenance assessment roll or supplement, may direct that the payment of the assessment be made in one installment or in more than one annual or semiannual installment over a period not to exceed five years.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51339. Section 51339.

If the board orders payment of the total assessment inserted in column (g) in installments over a period of years, the due date and the amount of each installment shall be endorsed by, or under the direction of, the board, on the operation and maintenance assessment roll or supplement.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51340. Section 51340.

When the operation and maintenance assessment roll or supplement has been completed by inserting the rate and assessment in columns (f) and (g), and an order has been entered providing for the payment of all or any part thereof, it shall be filed forthwith in the office of the county treasurer.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51341. Section 51341.

An assessment levy is a lien upon the parcels against which it is levied from the date the completed operation and maintenance assessment roll or supplement is filed in the office of the county treasurer until paid, and bears interest until paid from a date 60 days after the date of such filing.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51342. Section 51342.

The rate of interest on unpaid operation and maintenance assessments is 1 1 2 percent per month commencing from the date of delinquency unless the board, by resolution, adopts a lesser rate and files a certified copy of the resolution with the county treasurer for insertion in the operation and maintenance assessment roll.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51343. Section 51343.

Additional operation and maintenance assessment levies may be made by the board, as required, so long as the operation and maintenance assessment roll remains in effect.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51344. Section 51344.

The operation and maintenance assessment roll shall be returned to and held by the board except during such periods as it is filed in the office of the county treasurer during the period of assessment or installment collections or while any warrants of the district payable from such assessment levy are outstanding and unpaid, except warrants for the payment of which money has been deposited in the maintenance fund.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51345. Section 51345.

The operation and maintenance assessment roll referred to in Sections 51337 to 51344, inclusive, shall be the original operation and maintenance assessment roll or a copy thereof, certified by the secretary of the board as correctly setting forth the subject matter of the original roll, together with all reapportioned assessment valuations of all subdivisions of any original assessment parcel.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51346. Section 51346.

The operation and maintenance assessment roll shall be used for the purposes specified in Section 51326 until the board, or landowners representing at least 15 percent of the district lands, petition the board of supervisors for an order directing the valuation assessment commissioners who made the original operation and maintenance assessment roll or new valuation assessment commissioners, to be named in the order, to prepare a new operation and maintenance assessment roll.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51346.5. Section 51346.5.

If the valuation assessment commissioners have utilized land use categories as a basis for the assessment valuation pursuant to Section 51324.5, the board may, without petitioning for the preparation of a new roll under Section 51346, adjust, not more often than annually, the assessment valuations for each parcel of land or subdivided parcel of land within district boundaries to reflect changes in the land use category or type of land use category shown for that parcel on the records of the county assessor, in order to conform to the category currently shown on the records of the county assessor for the respective parcel, in conformity with the report of the commissioners. Any such adjustment to the assessment valuation shall be accomplished by the preparation and filing of a supplement to the operation and maintenance assessment roll to be filed in accordance with Section 51337 upon which shall be endorsed the statement “Adjusted to reflect changes in land use as of (date).”

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51347. Section 51347.

Valuation assessment commissioners appointed to prepare a new operation and maintenance assessment roll shall have the same qualifications and take the same oath as the original assessment commissioners.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51348. Section 51348.

The new operation and maintenance assessment roll when prepared by the valuation assessment commissioners shall be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors, and shall be subject to the same provisions as an original operation and maintenance assessment roll.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 51349. Section 51349.

No bonds shall be issued nor funds for the payment of the principal or interest of any bonded indebtedness of the district raised on the basis of operation and maintenance assessments.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026