§ 24-609 — Topographical survey; classification and basis for assessment of benefits; maps and profile; engineer

The board of supervisors of any drainage district organized as aforesaid shall from time to time cause topographical surveys to be made of the district by an engineer licensed under the laws of this state. Such engineer shall make a complete topographical survey of said district and submit the same to the board of supervisors with maps and profiles of said survey and a full and complete plan of draining, reclaiming, and protecting the lands in the said district from the overflow of or damage by water, or floods; and also the physical characteristics and location of any right-of-way, roadbed, bridge or bridges and other property or improvements in said district belonging to or under the control of any railroad company; and shall also report the location of any and all public highways, which may be crossed by the right-of-way of any ditch, levee or other improvement planned for said district.
The said engineer shall also make an estimate of the cost of the entire drainage works and improvements required in said district to protect and reclaim said lands and property, showing the several items of the same. The said engineer shall go over and inspect and examine the lands in said district, the railroad rights-of-way, roadbeds, bridges, culverts, depot grounds, grades and all other railroad, telephone and telegraph property in said district; and shall also inspect and examine all other improvements, streets, highways and bridges belonging to any county, municipal or other corporation and which may be affected by the proposed drainage and reclamation works and improvements, and shall also examine the streams, watercourses, ditches, ponds, lakes and bayous within the district or which may be partly within and partly without said district. Such engineer shall assess, as hereinafter directed and according to the rules hereinafter prescribed the amount of the benefits which will accrue to each tract or parcel of land and corporate property above named by virtue of the works and improvements of said drainage district.
Each tract or parcel of land, rights-of-way, and railroad bed, bridges, culverts and depot grounds within the district shall bear its share of the entire cost and expenses incurred by said district in making said works and improvements in proportion to the benefits assessed whether such improvements be made on the tract or parcel of land, rights-of-way, or railroad roadbed or not. The engineer, in estimating the benefits to lands, streets, highways, railroad property, rights-of-way, railroad roadbeds, not traversed by such works and improvements, shall not consider what benefits will be derived by said lands after other ditches, improvements, or drainage plan shall be constructed, but only the benefits which will be derived by the construction of the aforesaid works and improvements as they afford drainage or an outlet for drainage, or protection from overflow or damage by water. No assessment shall be made of benefits to any lands upon any other principle than that of benefits derived, but all assessments shall be made upon the basis of benefits derived and secured by reason of the construction of said improvements and works affording drainage, for giving an outlet for drainage, protection from overflow, and damage from water. The benefits of public streets and highways, railroad property, rights-of-way and roadbed shall be assessed according to the increased efficiency and value added thereto by reason of and the protection derived from the aforesaid drainage works and improvements. Said engineer shall also classify said lots, tracts, lands, and other property according to the benefits that each may receive from said drainage improvement. The lots, tracts and lands receiving the greatest percentage of benefits shall be classified at 100, those receiving a less percentage of benefits at such less number as its benefit may determine.
The property of public and private corporations may be classified in a list by themselves, each according to the relation its total benefits bear to the total benefit in the district. The maps herein provided for shall be drawn upon a scale sufficiently large to represent all of the meanderings of the proposed improvements, and shall show the boundary lines of each lot, or tract of land, and each street, road, or railroad to be benefited thereby, the name of the owner of each lot, or tract of land, as it then appeared on the deed records, the authority or company having in charge or controlling each public or corporate street, road, or railroad, the distance in feet through each tract or parcel of land, the acreage thereof and such other matters as the surveyor or engineer deems material. The profile shall show the surface, the grade lines, gradients, fixed and working sections and said report shall be filed with the board of supervisors of said district within sixty (60) days after making said survey unless such period of time is extended by the board, provided that in any drainage district in which a topographical survey has already been made the board may employ an engineer to do only such work as they may deem necessary.

Legislative History

L. 1911, ch. 168, § 9; L. 1911, H.J.R. No. 15, p. 277; R.S. 1923, 24-609; L. 1977, ch. 126, § 1; July 1.