City undertaking drainage work on private property
MTAS was asked about the city undertaking drainage work on private property; includes discussion of public purpose doctrine, waters of the state, and natural flow rule.
Cities across the state have been notified by the county property assessor’s offices of an increased cost of property reappraisal this year and going forward. The argument for increasing these costs is that other functions of the property assessor’s office are utilized in the reappraisal program and must be maintained in order to remain in compliance with the reappraisal program. However, based upon the statutory language and legislative history, MTAS attorneys disagree with any opinion that general property assessor expenses unrelated to a reappraisal can be charged to a city. In fact, it is our legal opinion that the legislative intent is that “local cost of reappraisal” were to be “limited to the increased cost incurred by the requirements of this section and §§ 67-5-1602 – 67-5-1604.”