1. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 704.664, a board of county commissioners may, by ordinance, impose an excise tax on the use of water in an amount sufficient to ensure the payment, wholly or in part, of obligations incurred by the county to acquire and construct a new facility for the treatment of water for public or private use, or both. The tax must be imposed on customers of suppliers of water that are capable of using the water treatment services provided by the facility to be financed with the proceeds of the tax.

2. An excise tax imposed pursuant to subsection 1 may be levied at different rates for different classes of customers or to take into account differences in the amount of water used or estimated to be used or the size of the connection.

3. The ordinance imposing the tax must provide the:

(a) Rate or rates of the tax;

(b) Procedure for collection of the tax;

(c) Duration of the tax; and

(d) Rate of interest that will be charged on late payments.

4. Late payments of the tax must bear interest at a rate not exceeding 2 percent per month, or fraction thereof. The tax due is a perpetual lien against the property served by the water on whose use the tax is imposed until the tax and any interest which may accrue thereon are paid. The county shall enforce the lien in the same manner as provided in NRS 361.5648 to 361.730, inclusive, for property taxes.

5. A county may:

(a) Acquire and construct a new facility for the treatment of water for public or private use, or both.

(b) Finance the project by the issuance of general obligation bonds, medium-term obligations or revenue bonds or other securities issued pursuant to chapter 350 of NRS, or by installment-purchase financing pursuant to that chapter.

(c) Enter into an agreement with a public utility which provides that:

(1) Water treatment services provided by the facility will be made available to the public utility; or

(2) The public utility will operate and maintain the facility,

or both. An agreement entered into pursuant to this paragraph may extend beyond the terms of office of the members of the board of county commissioners who voted upon it.

6. A county may pledge any money received from the proceeds of a tax imposed pursuant to this section for the payment of general or special obligations issued for a new facility for the treatment of water for public or private use, or both. Any money pledged by the county pursuant to this subsection may be treated as pledged revenues of the project for the purposes of subsection 3 of NRS 350.020.

7. As used in this section, “public utility” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 704.020 and does not include the persons excluded by NRS 704.021.

(Added to NRS by 1991, 1940; A 1993, 1036; 1995, 832, 1814; 2001, 2316; 2019, 754)