Terms Used In Iowa Code 468.39

  • commissioners: shall mean the persons appointed and qualified to classify lands, fix percentages of benefits, apportion and assess costs and expenses in any levee or drainage district, unless otherwise specifically indicated by law. See Iowa Code 468.3
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • district: means a district defined by a county and one or more cities within the county pursuant to an agreement entered into by the county and cities in accordance with chapter 28E and this part with respect to drainage improvements which the county and cities determine benefit the property located in the cities and the designated unincorporated area of the county. See Iowa Code 468.585
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
 At the time of appointing said commissioners, the board shall fix the time within which said assessment, classification, and apportionment shall be made, which may be extended for good cause shown. Within twenty days after their appointment, they shall begin to inspect and classify all the lands within said district, or any change, extension, enlargement, or relocation thereof in tracts of forty acres or less according to the legal or recognized subdivisions, in a graduated scale of benefits to be numbered according to the benefit to be received by each of such tracts from such improvement, and pursue said work continuously until completed and, when completed, shall make a full, accurate, and detailed report thereof and file the same with the auditor. The lands receiving the greatest benefit shall be marked on a scale of one hundred, and those benefited in a less degree with such percentage of one hundred as the benefits received bear in proportion thereto. They shall also make an equitable apportionment of the costs, expenses, fees, and damages computed on the basis of the percentages fixed.