17-201 Village, defined; incorporation; restriction on territory; condition.
17-201. Village, defined; incorporation; restriction on territory; condition.Any town or village containing not less than one hundred nor more than eight hundred inhabitants incorporated as a city, town, or village under the laws of this state and any city of the second class that has adopted village government as provided by law shall be a village and shall have the rights, powers, and immunities hereinafter granted, and none other, except that all county seat towns shall have the powers and immunities as hereinafter granted. The population of a village shall consist of the people residing within the territorial boundaries of such village and the residents of any territory duly and properly annexed to such village.Whenever a majority of the taxable inhabitants of any town or village, not incorporated under any laws of this state, shall present a petition to the county board of the county in which the petitioners reside, praying that they may be incorporated as a village and designating the name they wish to assume and the metes and bounds of the proposed village, and such county board or majority of the members thereof shall be satisfied that a majority of the taxable inhabitants of the proposed village have signed such petition and that inhabitants to the number of one hundred or more are actual residents of the territory described in the petition, the board shall declare the proposed village incorporated, enter the order of incorporation upon its records, and designate the metes and bounds thereof. Thereafter the village shall be governed by the provisions of law applicable to the government of villages. The county board shall, at the time of the incorporation of the village, appoint five persons, having the qualifications provided in section 17-203, as trustees, who shall hold their offices and perform all the duties required of them by law until the election and qualification of their successors at the time and in the manner provided in section 17-202, except that the county board shall not declare a proposed village incorporated or enter an order of incorporation if any portion of the territory of such proposed village is within five miles of a Nebraska incorporated village or city of any class. SourceLaws 1879, § 40, p. 202; Laws 1881, c. 22, § 1, p. 165; Laws 1913, c. 137, § 1, p. 335; R.S.1913, § 5051; C.S.1922, § 4223; C.S.1929, § 17-201; R.S.1943, § 17-201; Laws 1961, c. 48, § 1, p. 188; Laws 1969, c. 91, § 1, p. 454; Laws 1971, LB 62, § 2; Laws 1993, LB 726, § 7.Annotations1. Requirements2. Incorporation3. Miscellaneous1. RequirementsPetitioners must be actual and permanent residents of area embraced in petition to be considered inhabitants. State ex rel. Little v. Board of County Commissioners of Cherry County, 182 Neb. 419, 155 N.W.2d 351 (1967).To warrant board to incorporate territory into a village, there must be requisite population. Remote territory, or purely agricultural land not connected or not adapted to municipal purposes, may not be included. State ex rel. Pond v. Clark, 75 Neb. 620, 106 N.W. 971 (1906); State ex rel. Loy v. Mote, 48 Neb. 683, 67 N.W. 810 (1896).An order incorporating a village is void, though the petition therefor is purported to be signed by a majority of the taxable inhabitants, when in fact such signatures were not signed thereon but were fraudulently attached. State ex rel. Summers v. Uridil, 37 Neb. 371, 55 N.W. 1072 (1893).First general election provided for in this section is the village election. State ex rel. Mayor of David City v. Palmer, 10 Neb. 203, 4 N.W. 965 (1880).2. IncorporationA sanitary and improvement district is a public corporate entity within the boundaries of which a village may not be incorporated pursuant to this section. State ex rel. Lanman v. Board of Cty. Commissioners, 277 Neb. 492, 763 N.W.2d 392 (2009).Incorporation as a village is not permissible if the area of the proposed village has previously been incorporated under any Nebraska statute. State ex rel. Lanman v. Board of Cty. Commissioners, 277 Neb. 492, 763 N.W.2d 392 (2009).The duty imposed upon the county board by this section is ministerial in nature. Little v. Board of County Commissioners of Cherry County, 179 Neb. 655, 140 N.W.2d 1 (1966).The incorporation of a village by the county board upon petition of a majority of the taxable inhabitants is not an unlawful delegation of legislative power or a taking of property without due process of law. Kriz v. Klingensmith, 176 Neb. 205, 125 N.W.2d 674 (1964).3. MiscellaneousThe terms of sections 17-201 to 17-228 refer to villages only. Gibson v. Troupe, 96 Neb. 770, 148 N.W. 944 (1914).By acceptance of powers of taxation and government, cities of second class and villages assume the duties, responsibilities and liabilities flowing therefrom, and there is no substantial difference between such municipalities and municipalities of any other class. Goodrich v. University Place, 80 Neb. 774, 115 N.W. 538 (1908).The power of including lands within city's boundaries is legislative rather than judicial in character, and owner may not restrain collection of city taxes on the ground there was no authority to include such land. Sage v. City of Plattsmouth, 48 Neb. 558, 67 N.W. 455 (1896); South Platte Land Co. v. Buffalo County, 15 Neb. 605, 19 N.W. 711 (1884).This section was not intended to clothe large rural districts with municipal powers, nor to subject such lands to special taxation for municipal purposes. State ex rel. Hammond v. Dimond, 44 Neb. 154, 62 N.W. 498 (1895).It is the duty of village board to divide the village into wards and call an election for electing officers as a city of the second class when the population is sufficient. State ex rel. Hostetter v. Holden, 19 Neb. 249, 27 N.W. 120 (1886).