Maintenance of drainage projects
N.D. Cent. Code § 61-16.1-45
in effect61-16.1-45. Maintenance of drainage projects
1. If it is desired to provide for maintenance of an assessment drain in whole or in part by
means of special assessments, the levy in any year for the maintenance may not
exceed four dollars per acre [.40 hectare] on any agricultural lands benefited by the
drain. The district, at its own discretion, may utilize either of the following methods for
levying special assessments for the maintenance:
a. Agricultural lands that carried the highest assessment when the drain was
originally established, or received the most benefits under a reassessment of
benefits, may be assessed the maximum amount of four dollars per acre
[.40 hectare]. The assessment of other agricultural lands in the district must be
based upon the proportion that the assessment of benefits at the time of
construction or at the time of any reassessment of benefits bears to the
assessment of the benefits of the agricultural land assessed the full four dollars
per acre [.40 hectare]. Nonagricultural property must be assessed the sum in any
one year as the ratio of the benefits under the original assessments or any
reassessment bears to the assessment of agricultural lands bearing the highest
assessment.
b. Agricultural lands must be assessed uniformly throughout the entire assessed
area. Nonagricultural property must be assessed an amount not to exceed
two dollars for each five hundred dollars of taxable valuation of the
nonagricultural property.
2. In case the maximum levy or assessment on agricultural and nonagricultural property
for any year will not produce an amount sufficient to cover the cost of cleaning out and
repairing the drain, a water resource board may accumulate a fund in an amount not
exceeding the sum produced by the maximum permissible levy for six years.
3. If the cost of, or obligation for, the cleaning and repairing of any drain exceeds the total
amount that may be levied by the board in any six-year period, the board shall obtain
the approval of the majority of the landowners as determined by chapter 61-16.1
before obligating the district for the costs.
4. If a board holds an election to approve a project under subsection 3, an affected
landowner receiving a benefit from a project may not vote on the question of obligating
the district for the costs if the landowner has failed to pay the required assessment.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t61c16-1.pdf#nameddest=61-16p1-45Fetched: 10/16/2026