CHAPTER 1. CITIES AND TOWNS
VERNON'S CIVIL STATUTES
TITLE 28. CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES
CHAPTER 1. CITIES AND TOWNS
Art. 973c. EXCLUSION OF PROPERTY FROM CERTAIN WATER DISTRICTS.
Definitions
Sec. 1. As used in this Act:
(1) "Urban property" means land that has been subdivided into
town lots, or town lots and blocks, or small parcels of the same
general nature of town lots, or town blocks and lots, designed,
intended, or suitable for residential or other nonagricultural
purposes, as distinguished from farm acreage, including streets,
alleys, parkways, parks, and railroad property and rights-of-way
within that subdivided land and that is in a subdivision that is
within the corporate limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a
city that has subdivision approval jurisdiction under the
Municipal Annexation Act (Article 970a, Vernon's Texas Civil
Statutes), or Chapter 231, Acts of the 40th Legislature, Regular
Session, 1927 (Article 974a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), and
for which a plat or map of the subdivision has been filed and
recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county in which
the subdivision or any part of the subdivision is located.
(2) "District" means any district or authority created under
Article III, Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), or Article XVI, Section
59, of the Texas Constitution now existing or hereafter created
for the principal purpose of, or principally engaged in,
furnishing water for the irrigation of agricultural lands.
Exclusion of Urban Property
Sec. 2. Urban property located within the boundaries of a
district may be excluded from the district by the board of
directors in the manner and on the conditions provided by this
Act. Urban property may be excluded only after the following have
been paid to the district:
(1) all taxes, assessments, and other lawful charges of the
district accrued on the property to be excluded, together with
all lawful interest and penalties accrued on those taxes,
assessments, and charges; and
(2) the proportionate part of the outstanding bonded indebtedness
or indebtedness in connection with a loan from an authorized
agency of the United States for which the property proposed to be
excluded is liable, as determined under this Act; and
(3) agreement on a reasonable determined amount to be paid by the
city or other supplier of potable water to compensate the
district for loss of revenue occasioned by the said exclusion.
Application for Exclusion
Sec. 3. (a) The owner or owners of urban property included within
the boundaries of a district and subject to taxation by the
district, and on which all taxes, assessments, and other lawful
charges, and penalties and interest, that have accrued to the
district have been paid, may make written sworn application to
the district to exclude that property from the district.
(b) The application must:
(1) include a sworn acknowledgement by the owner or owners of the
property;
(2) describe the property to be excluded by identifying the lot
or block number of the subdivision and the name or designation of
the subdivision as shown on the recorded plat of the subdivision,
or by some other method of identification; and
(3) state that the property is used or intended to be used for
the purposes for which it was subdivided, and that the property
is not used or intended to be used, in whole or in part, for
agricultural purposes.
(c) A correct copy of the recorded map or plat of the subdivision
must accompany the application and must clearly delineate the
part of the subdivision, if less than the whole, to be excluded
from the district.
(d) The applicant shall also furnish to the district evidence
satisfactory to, or required by, the board of directors of the
applicant's ownership of the property proposed to be excluded,
and of the right of the applicant to have the property excluded
from the district.
Consideration of Application
Sec. 4. (a) As soon as practicable after the filing of the
application, the board of directors of the district shall
consider the application and inquire into all the facts relating
to the application considered by the board to be necessary to a
determination of whether a public hearing on the application
should be held.
(b) After consideration and investigation, if the board finds
that all taxes, assessments, and charges of the district on the
property, and interest and penalties on those amounts, due to the
district up to the date of the filing of the application, have
been paid, that the property described in the application is
owned by the applicant, is urban property, and is not used or
intended to be used for agricultural purposes but will require a
source of treated potable water from the city in which the
subdivision is located, and that the exclusion of the property
will not cut off the district or its facilities from ready and
convenient access to other land remaining in the district for
irrigation or other district purposes, the board shall pass an
order approving further consideration of the application. If the
board is unable to make any one of these findings, it shall adopt
a resolution rejecting the application, and the resolution of the
board rejecting the application is final and not subject to
review by any other body, tribunal, or authority.
(c) If the board approves further consideration of the
application, it shall proceed to determine the proportionate
amount of the bonded or contractual indebtedness for which the
property to be excluded is liable as provided by Subsection (d)
of this section.
(d) If the district has outstanding bonded indebtedness, the
board shall obtain from the chief appraiser a certified copy of
the appraised value of all the property to be excluded for the
five years immediately preceding the year in which the
application is filed, as shown by the tax rolls of the district,
and the appraised value of all taxable property in the district
according to the most recent tax rolls of the district. The part
of the total outstanding bonded indebtedness of the district to
be paid by the applicant as a condition precedent to the
exclusion of the property is that proportion of the indebtedness,
including unpaid interest computed to the date of the order, that
the appraised value of the property to be excluded bears to the
appraised value of all taxable property in the district according
to the most recent tax rolls. If the district has contractual or
other indebtedness being repaid on the benefit tax basis, the
board shall obtain from the appropriate records the manner in
which the tax is assessed, and from those records the district
shall calculate the part of the total outstanding indebtedness of
the district remaining to be paid attributable to the property to
be excluded. The order of the board approving further
consideration of the application also shall state the amounts
required to be paid by Section 2 of this Act as a condition of
the exclusion of the property.
Further Proceedings on Application
Sec. 5. The order of the board approving further consideration of
the application has no force or effect, and no further proceeding
may be held on the application unless the applicant, within 20
days after adoption of the order or within a period of up to 30
days after adoption of the order as ordered by the board,
deposits with the district the amounts due under Section 2 of
this Act.
Notice and Hearing
Sec. 6. (a) If the deposit is made within the time provided by
Section 5 of this Act, the board shall set the application for
public hearing to be held at the regular office of the district
not less than 15 nor more than 30 days after the date of the
hearing order.
(b) The board shall have notice of the hearing posted in a
conspicuous place in the office of the district and at the
courthouse of the county in which the property proposed to be
excluded is situated.
Resolution Excluding Urban Property
Sec. 7. (a) If, as a result of such hearing, the board of
directors determines and finds that the owners of a majority in
acreage of the urban property do not desire irrigation of that
property, or that the urban property is not used or intended to
be used for agricultural purposes, the board of directors shall
adopt a resolution setting forth that determination and those
findings and shall exclude the urban property or the part of the
urban property to which the determination and findings are made.
If any canals, ditches, pipelines, pumps, or other facilities of
the district are located on land excluded in the resolution, the
exclusion does not affect or interfere with any rights that the
district might have to maintain and continue operation of the
facilities as located for the purpose of servicing land remaining
in the district.
(b) A copy of the resolution excluding urban property from the
district certified to and acknowledged by the secretary of the
board of directors shall be recorded by the district in the deed
records in the county in which the excluded property is located
as evidence of the exclusion.
(c) On the passage of the resolution the property excluded does
not constitute a part of the district, the owner of the property
has no further liability to the district or for any bonded or
other indebtedness of the district, and is not subject to further
taxation by the district.
(d) If the board determines from the hearing that for any reason
the application should not be granted, it shall adopt a
resolution rejecting the application, and the deposit made by the
applicant is subject to withdrawal by the applicant or on the
board's order.
Water Rights
Sec. 8. After the district excludes land from its boundaries that
lies within the corporate boundaries or extraterritorial
jurisdiction of any city, the city or other municipal supplier
who proposes to serve the land with a potable water supply may
petition the district to convert the proportionate water rights
previously allocated for the land from irrigation use rights to
municipal use rights for the use and benefit of the city or other
municipal supplier. The district shall compute the proportionate
water rights available and shall proceed with appropriate
administrative proceedings to convert the irrigation use rights
to municipal use rights. However, the city or other municipal
supplier shall deposit with the district the amount that the
district estimates will be its reasonable expenses and attorney's
fees incurred in those administrative proceedings before the
district is obligated to initiate the administrative proceedings.
On approval of the conversion by the Texas Water Commission, the
water shall be delivered to the city or other municipal supplier
by the district in the manner those entities may agree to under
the Water Code.
Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 707, Sec. 1, eff. June 14, 1985.
Art. 974d-41. VALIDATION OF GOVERNMENTAL ACTS AND PROCEEDINGS OF
MUNICIPALITIES OF MORE THAN 1.5 MILLION.
Application
Sec. 1. This article applies to any municipality having a
population of 1.5 million or more.
Proceedings Validated
Sec. 2. The governmental acts and proceedings of a municipality
relating to a bond election that was held before December 1,
1991, and at which the ballot proposition was approved by more
than 60 percent of the voters voting on the proposition are
validated as of the dates they occurred. The validation includes
the preparation and wording of the ballot proposition, any action
taken by the municipality in calling and holding the bond
election, and any other action taken by the municipality before
the effective date of this article in connection with the
issuance of any bonds approved in the bond election. The acts and
proceedings may not be held invalid because they were not
performed in accordance with law. A municipality may take any
further action or conduct any further proceeding necessary to
complete the issuance of the bonds approved at the bond election,
and, when issued, the bonds are valid and binding obligations of
the municipality in accordance with the terms of the bonds.
Effect on Litigation
Sec. 3. This article does not apply to any matter that on the
effective date of this article has been held invalid by a final
judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction.
Recommendation
Sec. 4. The legislature recommends to the governing body of a
municipality that it adopt the aggregate goals for the
municipality's contracting with minority and women enterprises
set forth in the June 1992, report of Texas Southern University
as specified for the categories of construction, procurement, and
professional services. A cause of action may not be maintained to
enforce this section or to recover damages based on the failure
of the municipality to follow the recommendation of this section.
Conditions Affecting Expenditure of Bond Proceeds
Sec. 5. (a) Expenditures of the bond proceeds by the municipality
shall:
(1) be made in accordance with the covenants of all ordinances
enacted by the municipality before the bond election approving
the bonds;
(2) benefit the residents of the municipality so that the
benefits or expenditures, if feasible, reflect the demographic
makeup of the municipality; and
(3) to the extent the proceeds are designated for housing in the
municipality's bond proposition, be made for construction and
rehabilitation of housing and all matters incidental to housing
construction and rehabilitation on-site.
(b) This section applies cumulatively to the entire bond
authorization, rather than to individual bond issues or contracts
for the expenditure of the proceeds, and the municipality's
governing body is responsible for making decisions on individual
bond issues and contracts.
Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 6, Sec. 2, eff. March 8, 1993.
Art. 974d-45. MUNICIPAL VALIDATION FOR VOLUNTARY ANNEXATION BY A
GENERAL-LAW MUNICIPALITY
Sec. 1. An annexation or attempted annexation by a general-law
municipality that occurred after May 1, 2004, and before January
1, 2005, and that was initiated by means of a petition signed by
all property owners within the annexed area, is validated as of
the date it occurred.
Sec. 2. This article does not apply to:
(1) an annexation or attempted annexation that, under a statute
of this state, was a misdemeanor or felony at the time the act or
proceeding occurred;
(2) an incorporation or attempted incorporation of a
municipality within the incorporated boundaries or
extraterritorial jurisdiction of another municipality that
occurred without the consent of the other municipality in
violation of Chapter 42 or 43, Local Government Code;
(3) an ordinance that, at the time it was passed, was preempted
by a statute of this state or the United States, including
Section 1.06 or 109.57, Alcoholic Beverage Code; or
(4) a matter that on the effective date of this article:
(A) is involved in litigation if the litigation ultimately
results in the matter being held invalid by a final judgment of a
court; or
(B) has been held invalid by a final judgment of a court.
Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch.
762, Sec. 1, eff. June 17, 2005.