§ 17-201 — Village, defined; incorporation; restriction on territory; condition; village board of trustees

Nebraska § 17-201

• Jurisdiction: Nebraska
• Ch. 17: Cities of the Second Class and Villages

Text

(1) Any municipality containing not less than one hundred nor more than eight hundred inhabitants as determined by the most recent federal decennial census or the most recent revised certified count by the United States Bureau of the Census incorporated as a village under the laws of this state, any village that votes to retain village government as provided in section 17-312 , and any city of the second class that has adopted village government as provided by sections 17-306 to 17-309 shall be a village and shall have the rights, powers, and immunities granted by law to villages. 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.
(2) Whenever a majority of the inhabitants of any village, not incorporated under any laws of this state, present a petition to the county board of the county in which the petitioners reside, requesting that they may be incorporated as a village and designating the name they wish to assume, whether the village board of trustees will have three or five members, and the metes and bounds of the proposed village, and a majority of the members of such county board are satisfied that a majority of the 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 county board shall declare the proposed village incorporated, enter the order of incorporation upon its records, and designate the metes and bounds of such village. 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 three or five persons pursuant to the number of members of the village board designated in the petition, having the qualifications provided in section 17-203 , as the village board of 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 another incorporated municipality.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 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; Laws 2014, LB702, § 2; Laws 2017, LB113, § 13; Laws 2017, LB133, § 62; Laws 2025, LB289, § 1. Effective Date: September 3, 2025 Annotations: 1. Requirements 2. Incorporation 3. Miscellaneous 1. Requirements Petitioners 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. Incorporation A 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. Miscellaneous The 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).