(1) Any district has the following powers:
(a) To have perpetual existence;
(b) To have and use a corporate seal;
(c) To sue and be sued and be a party to suits, actions, and proceedings;
(d) To enter into contracts and agreements affecting the affairs of the
district, including but not limited to contracts with the United States and the state
of Colorado and any of their agencies or instrumentalities;
(e) To borrow money and incur indebtedness and to issue bonds and other
evidence of the indebtedness; but no indebtedness shall be created in excess of the
revenue which may reasonably be expected to be available to the district for the
repayment thereof in the fiscal year in which the indebtedness is to be created
without first submitting, at an election held for that purpose, the proposition of
creating the indebtedness. Any election may be held separately or may be held
jointly or concurrently with any primary or general election held under the laws of
the state of Colorado. The resolution calling the election shall recite the objects
and purposes for which the indebtedness is proposed to be incurred, the amount of
principal of the indebtedness, the maximum net effective interest rate to be paid on
such indebtedness, and the terms of repayment. The resolution shall also designate
the date upon which such election shall be held and the form of the ballot. The
election shall be held and conducted as provided in articles 1 to 13 of title 1, C.R.S.
(f) To purchase, trade, exchange, acquire, buy, sell, and otherwise dispose of
and encumber real and personal property, water, water rights, water works and
plants, and any interest therein, including leases and easements;
(g) To refund any bonded indebtedness of the district without an election.
The terms and conditions of refunding bonds shall be substantially the same as
those of an original issue of bonds.
(h) In addition to all other means of providing revenue, as provided in this
part 4, to levy and collect ad valorem taxes on and against all taxable property
within the district. The board of directors, in each year, shall determine the amount
of money necessary to be raised by taxation, taking into consideration other
sources of revenue of the district, and shall fix a rate of levy which shall not exceed
six mills which, when levied upon every dollar of the valuation for assessment of
taxable property within the district and with other revenue, will raise the amount
required by the district annually to supply funds for the constructing, operating,
and maintaining of the works and equipment of the district and promptly to pay in
full, when due, all interest on and principal of bonds and other obligations of the
district, and in event of accruing defaults or deficiencies an additional levy may be
made. The board of directors, in accordance with the schedule prescribed by
section 39-5-128, C.R.S., shall certify to the board of county commissioners of each
county wherein the district has any territory the rate so fixed, with directions that,
at the time and in the manner required by law for levying taxes for other purposes,
such board of county commissioners shall levy such tax upon the valuation for
assessment of all taxable property within the district, in addition to such other
taxes as may be levied by such board of county commissioners.
(i) To hire and retain agents, employees, engineers, and attorneys;
(j) To have and exercise the power of eminent domain and, in the manner
provided by law for the condemnation of private property for public use, to take any
property necessary to exercise the powers granted in this part 4, either within or
without the district. In exercising the power of eminent domain, the procedure
established and prescribed in articles 1 to 7 of title 38, C.R.S., shall be followed.
(k) To construct and maintain works and establish and maintain facilities
within or without the district, across or along any public street or highway, or in,
upon, under, or over any vacant public lands, which public lands are the property of
the state of Colorado, or across any stream of water or watercourse; except that
the district shall promptly restore any such street or highway to its former state of
usefulness as nearly as may be, and shall not use the same in such manner as to
completely or unnecessarily impair the usefulness thereof;
(l) To fix and, from time to time, increase or decrease water rates and to
pledge such revenue for the payment of any indebtedness of the district;
(m) To sell developed water subject to conditions determined by the board
for domestic, municipal, irrigation, and industrial uses at a rate to be determined as
fair and reasonable in accordance with recognized and established principles of
rate determination;
(n) To appropriate revenues for the purpose of carrying on investigations and
searches for the determination of potential sources of water, surface and
subsurface;
(o) To invest any surplus money in the district treasury, including such money
in any sinking fund established for the purpose of retiring bonds, not required for
the immediate necessities of the district in securities meeting the investment
requirements established in part 6 of article 75 of title 24, C.R.S., and such
investment may be made by direct purchase of any such securities at the original
sale of the same or by the subsequent purchase of such securities. Any securities
thus purchased and held may, from time to time, be sold and the proceeds
reinvested in securities, as provided in this section. Sales of any securities thus
purchased and held shall, from time to time, be made in season so that the
proceeds may be applied to the purposes for which the money with which the
securities were originally purchased was placed in the treasury of the district.
(p) To manufacture and sell electrical power to public and private
corporations, as incidental to the foregoing purposes;
(q) To deposit moneys of the district not then needed in the conduct of
district affairs in any depository authorized in section 24-75-603, C.R.S. For the
purpose of making such deposits, the board of directors may appoint, by written
resolution, one or more persons to act as custodians of the moneys of the district.
Such persons shall give surety bonds in such amounts and form and for such
purposes as the board requires.