Chapter 5. Levying And Assessing Taxes For District Purposes of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 4. >> Part 5. >> Chapter 5.

(a) The county assessor, in making the annual assessment of property in each and every year after the organization of the district, shall assess any parcel of real property with 25 or more citrus trees on it and enter as a separate item, on the assessment roll for each such parcel of real propety included in the district, the value, as improvements on the parcel, of all citrus trees which are growing on it.
  (b) For the purpose of this part, the county assessor shall assess all citrus acreage at a uniform value per acre. The assessment shall be upon an acreage basis and the number of acres shall be determined conclusively, except as otherwise provided in this section, by the assessor counting the trees and dividing the total number by the number of trees per acre of average planting. The county assessor in counting the citrus trees shall not, however, count any more than 200 trees on any one acre of land, and for any citrus acreage which has from 70 to 100 trees per acre the number of acres to be determined by the county assessor shall be the actual acreage of the parcel.
  (c) Upon completing the assessment roll of the county in each year, the assessor shall separately compute and certify, to the board of supervisors, the total assessed value, as shown by the assessment roll, of all the citrus trees in the district.

Whenever acreage within the district is planted with citrus trees in such a fashion as to qualify as citrus acreage, the acreage is subject to assessment as provided in this part.

Whenever any citrus trees have been removed from any parcel of land included in the district, the owner of the parcel of land may file with the board an affidavit particularly describing the parcel of land, and setting forth the fact of the removal therefrom of the trees. Thereupon, the board shall cause an investigation of the parcel of land to be made and, if the board finds the allegations of the affidavit are true, the board shall immediately certify this fact to the county assessor and the amount of citrus acreage removed shall not be assessed on the next assessment roll.

(a) The board shall, on or before the first Monday in July of each year, file with the board of supervisors the final budget which sets forth all estimated expenditures of the district for the fiscal year commencing on the first day of July. A copy of the budget shall also at the same time be filed with the auditor of the county.
  (b) The board of supervisors shall annually, at the time of levying other county taxes, levy an assessment upon all the citrus trees planted or growing in the district, regardless of age, as assessed by the assessor pursuant to this part. The rate shall be such as will produce, after due allowance for delinquency, the amount determined as necessary to be raised on the secured roll. If a fraction of a cent occurs on a valuation of one hundred dollars ($100), it shall be taken as a full cent.

The assessment authorized to be assessed and levied is hereby declared to be in the nature of a special assessment, and the Legislature hereby finds that the owners of all citrus trees will be benefited by the district to the same extent and in the same manner regardless of the age of the trees. The assessments authorized by this chapter to be assessed and levied on the trees shall be assessed and levied on all citrus trees regardless of their age.

The tax so levied shall be computed and entered upon the assessment roll by the county auditor, and if the supervisors fail to levy the tax as required, the auditor shall do so. The tax shall be collected at the same time, and in the same manner as, and together with and not separate from, general county taxes, and when collected shall be paid into the county treasury for the use of the district.

The general provisions of the laws of this state, prescribing the manner of levying and collecting county taxes and the duties of the several county officers with respect to levying and collecting county taxes, are, so far as they are applicable and not in conflict with the specific provisions of this part, hereby adopted and made a part of this part. The several county officers thus referred to shall be liable upon their several official bonds for the faithful discharge of the duties imposed upon them by this part.

The county treasury shall be the repository of all the moneys of the district. The county treasurer shall receive and receipt for all such moneys, and place the same to the credit of the district. He shall be responsible upon his official bond for the safekeeping and disbursement, in the manner provided in this part, of all moneys of the district so held by him.

If a consolidated district includes parts of two or more counties, the repository of all money of the district shall be the county treasury of the county in which is located the largest area of the district. Money collected for the use of the district in any other county in which a part of the district is located shall be transferred by the county treasurer upon warrant of the county auditor of the county in which the money was collected to the county treasurer of the county serving as repository for the district, in the same manner as prescribed for the disbursement of money held for a local district. Money derived from any county in which the district is located may be expended in any part of the district for the purposes authorized by this part, notwithstanding any other provision of law limiting the expenditure of any such money to a specific area or county.

The county treasurer shall pay out money of the district only upon warrants of the county auditor drawn upon the order of the board of directors of the district signed by the chairman or vice chairman and attested by the secretary or assistant secretary. The county treasurer, with the approval of the board of supervisors, shall pay out the money of the district upon one master warrant of the county auditor drawn upon the order of the board of directors of the district and signed by the chairman or vice chairman and attested to by the secretary or assistant secretary, to meet the district's expenses, including salaries, at such intervals as is approved by the board of supervisors. The county treasurer shall report in writing on the first day of July, October, January, and March of each year, to the board the amount of money he then holds for the districts, the amount of receipts since his last report, and the amounts paid out. Each such report shall be verified and filed with the secretary of the district to whom it is addressed.