AB95

Assembly Bill No. 95–Committee on Government Affairs

CHAPTER........

AN ACT relating to local improvements; authorizing the creation of a local improvement

district for a street beautification project; requiring the governing body of a

municipality which creates an improvement district to establish a procedure for

hardship determinations; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. Chapter 271 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto

the provisions set forth as sections 2 and 3 of this act.

Sec. 2. "Street beautification project" means the beautification of

any street, including, without limitation, median strips, pedestrian malls,

covered walkways or areas, water distribution and irrigation systems,

retaining walls, landscaping, tree planting, shrubbery, foliage, fountains,

waterfalls, decorative structures, benches, information booths, restrooms,

signs and other structures, and the reconstruction and relocation of

existing municipally owned works, improvements or facilities on such

streets, whether or not performed in conjunction with a street project or

offstreet parking project, or both.

Sec. 3. 1. On or before June 30 of each year after the creation of a

district for a street beautification project, the governing body shall

prepare and approve an estimate of the costs required during the next

fiscal year and a proposed assessment roll assessing an amount not in

excess of those estimated costs against the benefited property. The basis

for the computation of the assessments must be the frontage or another

uniform and quantifiable basis.

2. A public hearing must be conducted on the estimate of costs for

the next year and the assessment roll. Notice of the hearing must be

given, and the hearing conducted, in the manner described in NRS

271.380 and 271.385. The proposed assessments must not exceed the

estimated amount specified in the original assessment plat unless a new

hearing, after published and mailed notice, is held in the manner

described in NRS 271.305, 271.306 and 271.310.

3. After the public hearing on the assessment roll, the governing

body shall, by resolution or ordinance, confirm the assessments as

specified in the roll or as modified.

4. The assessments must be due over a period of 1 year after the

effective date of the resolution or ordinance confirming the assessments.

The assessments may be made payable at one time or in two or more

installments over that period. Interest may not be charged on an

assessment or installment paid when due.

Sec. 4. NRS 271.030 is hereby amended to read as follows:

271.030 [~~Except where the context otherwise requires, the definitions~~

~~in NRS 271.035 to 271.250, inclusive, govern the construction of this~~

~~chapter.]~~ As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires,

the words and terms defined in NRS 271.035 to 271.250, inclusive, and

section 2 of this act, have the meanings ascribed to them in those

sections.

Sec. 5. NRS 271.265 is hereby amended to read as follows:

271.265 1. The governing body of a county, city or town, upon

behalf of the municipality and in its name, without any election, may from

time to time acquire, improve, equip, operate and maintain, within or

without the municipality, or both, within and without the municipality:

(a) A curb and gutter project;

(b) A drainage project;

(d) An overpass project;

(e) A park project;

(f) A sanitary sewer project;

(g) A security wall;

(h) A sidewalk project;

(i) A storm sewer project;

(j) A street project;

(k) A street beautification project;

(l) A transportation project;

[~~(l)]~~ (m) An underpass project;

[~~(m)]~~ (n) A water project; and

[~~(n)]~~ (o) Any combination of such projects.

2. In addition to the power specified in subsection 1, the governing

body of a city having a commission form of government as defined in NRS

267.010, upon behalf of the municipality and in its name, without any

election, may from time to time acquire, improve, equip, operate and

maintain, within or without the municipality, or both, within and without

the municipality:

(a) An electrical project;

(b) A telephone project;

(d) A combination of an electrical project or a telephone project with

any of the projects, or any combination thereof, specified in subsection 1;

(e) A combination of an electrical project and a telephone project with

any of the projects, or any combination thereof, specified in subsection 1.

3. In addition to the power specified in subsections 1 and 2, the

governing body of a municipality, on behalf of the municipality and in its

name, without an election, may finance an underground conversion project

with the approval of each service provider that owns the overhead service

facilities to be converted.

Sec. 6. NRS 271.280 is hereby amended to read as follows:

271.280 1. Whenever the governing body is of the opinion that the

interest of the municipality requires any project, the governing body, by

resolution, shall direct the engineer to prepare, or may, after he has

prepared, ratify:

(a) Preliminary plans showing:

(1) A typical section of the contemplated improvement.

(2) The type or types of material, approximate thickness and

wideness.

(3) A preliminary estimate of the cost of the project, including

incidental costs.

(b) An assessment plat showing:

(1) The area to be assessed.

(2) [~~The]~~ Except as otherwise provided in section 3 of this act, the

amount of maximum benefits estimated to be assessed against each tract in

the assessment area.

The governing body is not required to employ the services of an appraiser

to estimate or to assist the engineer in estimating the benefits to be derived

from the project.

2. The resolution or ratification may provide for one or more types of

construction, and the engineer shall separately estimate the cost of each

type of construction. The estimate may be made in a lump sum or by unit

prices, as the engineer determines is most desirable for the improvement

complete in place.

3. The resolution or document ratified must describe the project in

general terms.

4. The resolution or document ratified must state:

(a) What part or portion of the expense of the project is of special

benefit and therefore is to be paid by assessments.

(b) What part, if any, has been or is proposed to be defrayed with money

derived from other than the levy of assessments.

levied.

5. If the assessment is not to be made according to front feet, the

resolution or document ratified must:

(a) By apt description designate the improvement district, including the

tracts to be assessed.

(b) Describe definitely the location of the project.

by the project proportionately to the benefits received.

6. If the assessment is to be upon the abutting property upon a frontage

basis, it is sufficient for the resolution or document ratified so to state and

to define the location of the project to be made.

7. It is not necessary in any case to describe minutely in the resolution

or document ratified each particular tract to be assessed, but simply to

designate the property, improvement district or the location, so that the

various parts to be assessed can be ascertained and determined to be within

or without the proposed improvement district.

8. The engineer shall forthwith prepare and file with the clerk:

(a) The preliminary plans; and

(b) The assessment plat.

9. Upon the filing of the plans and plat, they must be examined by the

governing body. If the plans and plat are found to be satisfactory, the

governing body shall make a provisional order by resolution to the effect

that the project will be acquired or improved, or both acquired and

improved.

Sec. 7. NRS 271.306 is hereby amended to read as follows:

271.306 1. Regardless of the basis used for apportioning

assessments, the amount apportioned to a wedge or V or any other

irregularly shaped tract must be in proportion to the special benefits thereby

derived.

2. [~~If,]~~ Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, if, within the

time specified in the notice, complaints, protests and objections in writing,

that is, all written remonstrances, against acquiring or improving the project

proposed by initiation of the governing body are filed with the clerk, signed

by the owners of tracts constituting a majority of the frontage, of the area,

of the zone, or of the other basis for the computation of assessments, as the

case may be, of the tracts to be assessed in the improvement district or in

the assessment unit if the improvement district is divided into assessment

units, the project therein must not be acquired or improved unless:

(a) The municipality pays one-half or more of the total cost of the

project, other than a park project, with money derived from other than the

levy of assessments; or

(b) The project constitutes not more than 2,640 feet, including

intersections, remaining unimproved in any street, including an alley,

between improvements already made to either side of the same street or

between improvements already made to intersecting streets. In this case the

governing body may on its own motion cause the intervening and

unimproved part of the street to be improved. Such improvements will not

be stayed or defeated or prevented by written complaints, protests and

objections thereto, unless the governing body in its sole discretion, deems

such written complaints, protests and objections proper to cause the

improvement to be stayed or prevented.

3. Written remonstrances by the owners of tracts constituting 50

percent of the basis for the computation of assessments suffice to

preclude the acquisition or improvement of a street beautification

project.

Sec. 8. NRS 271.357 is hereby amended to read as follows:

271.357 1. The governing body of each municipality which creates

an improvement district [~~may]~~ shall establish a procedure to allow a person

whose property will be included within the boundaries of the district to

apply for a hardship determination.

2. The procedure must include the referral of applications to an

appropriate social services agency within the local government for

evaluation. The agency shall consider each application on the basis of

ability to pay the assessments attributable to the applicant’s property and

render a recommendation of approval or disapproval to the governing

body.

3. The procedure must include a requirement for renewal of the

hardship determination as often as the governing body deems necessary. An

application for the renewal of a hardship determination must be treated in a

manner that is similar to the evaluation and approval required for an initial

determination.

Sec. 9. NRS 271.485 is hereby amended to read as follows:

271.485 1. Any bonds issued pursuant to this chapter may be sold in

such a manner as may be approved by the governing body to defray the cost

of the project, including all proper incidental expenses. The governing

body may issue a single issue of bonds to defray the costs of projects in two

or more improvement districts if the principal amount of those bonds does

not exceed the total uncollected assessments levied in each improvement

district.

2. Bonds must be sold in the manner prescribed in NRS 350.105 to

350.195, inclusive:

(a) For not less than the principal amount thereof and accrued interest

thereon; or

(b) At the option of the governing body, below par at a discount not

exceeding 9 percent of the principal amount and except as otherwise

provided in NRS 271.487 and 271.730, at a price which will not result in

an effective interest rate which exceeds by more than 3 percent the Index of

Twenty Bonds which was most recently published before the bids are

received or a negotiated offer is accepted if the maximum or any lesser

amount of discount permitted by the governing body has been capitalized

as a cost of the project.

3. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 271.487 and 271.730, the rate

of interest of the bonds must not at any time exceed the rate of interest, or

lower or lowest rate if more than one, borne by the special assessments, but

any rate of interest of the bonds may be the same as or less than any rate of

interest of the assessment, subject to the limitation provided in subsection

2, as the governing body may determine.

4. The governing body may employ legal, fiscal, engineering and other

expert services in connection with any project authorized by this chapter

and the authorization, issuance and sale of bonds.
5. Any accrued interest and any premium must be applied to the

payment of the interest on or the principal of the bonds, or both interest and

principal.

6. Any unexpended balance of the proceeds of the bond remaining

after the completion of the project for which the bonds were issued must be

paid immediately into the fund created for the payment of the principal of

the bonds and must be used therefor, subject to the provisions as to the

times and methods for their payment as stated in the bonds and the

proceedings authorizing their issuance.

7. The validity of the bonds must not be dependent on nor affected by

the validity or regularity of any proceedings relating to the acquisition or

improvement of the project for which the bonds are issued.

8. A purchaser of the bonds is not responsible for the application of the

proceeds of the bonds by the municipality or any of its officers, agents and

employees.

9. The governing body may enter into a contract to sell special

assessment bonds at any time but, if the governing body so contracts before

it awards a construction contract or otherwise contracts for acquiring or

improving the project, the governing body may terminate the contract to

sell the bonds, if:

(a) Before awarding the construction contract or otherwise contracting

for the acquisition or improvement of the project, it determines not to

acquire or improve the project; and

(b) It has not elected to proceed pursuant to subsection 2 or 3 of NRS

271.330, but has elected to proceed pursuant to subsection 1 of that section.

10. If the governing body ceases to have jurisdiction to proceed,

because the requisite proportion of owners of [~~more than one-half of]~~ the

frontage to be assessed, or of [~~such]~~ the area, zone or other [~~assessment~~

~~basis,]~~ basis of assessment, file written complaints, protests and objections

to the project, as provided in NRS 271.306, or for any other reason, any

contract to sell special assessment bonds is terminated and becomes

inoperative.