41-3-721. Petition for creation; conditions affecting inclusion of city or city and county.

(a) Before any water conservancy district shall be established under this act, a petition shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the court vested with jurisdiction, in a county in which all or part of the lands embraced in such proposed water conservancy district are situated, signed by not fewer than twenty-five percent (25%) of the owners or entrymen on having not less than twenty-five percent (25%) of the irrigated lands or lands susceptible of irrigation under the works proposed for construction, to be included in the district, but not embraced within the incorporated limits of a city or town; and each tract (or tracts), of land shall be listed opposite the name of the signer, each such tract (or tracts), together with the improvements thereon, to have an assessed valuation of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00); and be also signed by not fewer than five percent (5%) of the owners owning not less than five percent (5%) of nonirrigated land and/or lands embraced in the incorporated limits of a city or town, all situated in the proposed district; and each tract (or tracts) of land shall be listed opposite the name of the signer, each such tract (or tracts), together with improvements thereon, to have an assessed valuation of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00).

(b) In the event a petitioner shall sign such petition both as owner of irrigated or irrigable and nonirrigated land or lands situated within a municipality, his name shall be counted only as an owner of irrigated or irrigable lands. A signing petitioner shall not be permitted, after filing a petition, to withdraw his name therefrom.

(c) No city, or city and county, of the first class as now, or hereafter defined, by the laws of the state of Wyoming, shall be included within such district unless by and with the written consent of the chief executive officer of such city, or city and county, with the approval of the legislative body of such municipality, and such consent may specify that the rate of taxation on the assessed valuation of property within said city, or city and county, under W.S. 41-3-771 shall not exceed a maximum rate which may be less than the rates set out in W.S. 41-3-771, and in such case the district shall not have power to levy assessment on the property in said city, or city and county, at a greater rate than that specified in said consent.

(d) The petition shall set forth:

(i) The proposed name of said district;

(ii) That property within the proposed district will be benefited by the accomplishment of the purposes enumerated in W.S. 41-3-720;

(iii) A general description of the purpose of the contemplated improvement, and of the territory to be included in the proposed district. Said description need not be given by metes and bounds or by legal subdivision, but it shall be sufficient to enable a property owner to ascertain whether his property is within the territory proposed to be organized as a district. Said territory need not be contiguous, provided it is so situated that the organization of a single district of the territory described is calculated to promote one (1) or more of the purposes enumerated in W.S. 41-3-720;

(iv) The assessed value of all irrigated land within the boundaries of the proposed district;

(v) A general designation of divisions of the district and the number of directors of the district proposed for each subdivision;

(vi) Said petition shall pray for the organization of the district by the name proposed.

(e) No petition with the requisite signatures shall be declared null and void on account of alleged defects, but the court may at any time permit the petition to be amended to conform to the facts by correcting any errors in the description of the territory, or in any other particular. However, similar petitions or duplicate copies of the same petition for the organization of the same district may be filed and shall together be regarded as one (1) petition. All such petitions filed prior to the hearing on the first petition filed, shall be considered by the court the same as though filed with the first petition placed on file.

(f) In determining whether the requisite number of landowners have signed the petition, the court shall be governed by the names as they appear upon the assessment records which shall be prima facie evidence of such ownership.