Ind. Code § 36-9-25-14 – Special taxing districts; incorporation of territory upon request; sewer service agreements

(a) As to each municipality to which this chapter applies:
1. (1) all the territory included within the corporate boundaries of the municipality; and
2. (2) any territory, town, addition, platted subdivision, or unplatted land lying outside the corporate boundaries of the municipality that has been taken into the district in accordance with a prior statute, the sewage or drainage of which discharges into or through the sewage system of the municipality;
  constitutes a special taxing district for the purpose of providing for the sanitary disposal of the sewage of the district in a manner that protects the public health and prevents the undue pollution of watercourses of the district.
(b) Upon request by:
1. (1) a resolution adopted by the legislative body of another municipality in the same county; or
2. (2) a petition of the majority of the resident freeholders in a platted subdivision or of the owners of unplatted land outside the boundaries of a municipality, if the platted subdivision or unplatted land is in the same county;
  the board may adopt a resolution incorporating all or any part of the area of the municipality, platted subdivision, or unplatted land into the district.
(c) A request under subsection (b) must be signed and certified as correct by the secretary of the legislative body, resident freeholders, or landowners. The original shall be preserved in the records of the board. The resolution of the board incorporating an area in the district must be in writing and must contain an accurate description of the area incorporated into the district. A certified copy of the resolution, signed by the president and secretary of the board, together with a map showing the boundaries of the district and the location of additional areas, shall be delivered to the auditor of the county within which the district is located. It shall be properly indexed and kept in the permanent records of the offices of the auditor.
(d) In addition, upon request by ten (10) or more interested resident freeholders in a platted or unplatted territory, the board may define the limits of an area within the county and including the property of the freeholders that is to be considered for inclusion into the district. Notice of the defining of the area by the board, and notice of the location and limits of the area, shall be given by publication in accordance with IC 5-3-1 . Upon request by a majority of the resident freeholders of the area, the area may be incorporated into the district in the manner provided in this section. The resolution of the board incorporating the area into the district and a map of the area shall be made and filed in the same manner.
(e) In addition, a person owning or occupying real property outside the district may enter into a sewer service agreement with the board for connection to the sewage works of the district. If the agreement provides for connection at a later time, the date or the event upon which the service commences shall be stated in the agreement. The agreement may impose any conditions for connection that the board determines. The agreement must also provide the amount of service charge to be charged for connection if the persons are not covered under section 11 of this chapter, with the amount to be fixed by the board in its discretion and without a hearing.
(f) All sewer service agreements made under subsection (e) or (after June 30, 2013) a signed memorandum of the sewer service agreement shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county where the property is located. The agreements run with the property described and are binding upon the persons owning or occupying the property, their personal representatives, heirs, devisees, grantees, successors, and assigns. Each agreement that is recorded, or each agreement of which a signed memorandum is recorded, and that provides for the property being served to be placed on the tax rolls shall be certified by the board to the auditor of the county where the property is located. The certification must state the date the property is to be placed on the tax rolls, and upon receipt of the certification together with a copy of the agreement, the auditor shall immediately place the property certified upon the rolls of property subject to the levy and collection of taxes for the district. An agreement may provide for the collection of a service charge for the period services are rendered before the levy and collection of the tax.
(g) Except as provided in subsections (j) and (l), sewer service agreements made under subsection (e) must contain a waiver provision that persons (other than municipalities) who own or occupy property agree for themselves, their executors, administrators, heirs, devisees, grantees, successors, and assigns that they will:
1. (1) neither object to nor file a remonstrance against the proposed annexation of the property by a municipality within the boundaries of the district;
2. (2) not appeal from an order or a judgment annexing the property to a municipality; and
3. (3) not file a complaint or an action against annexation proceedings.
(h) This subsection does not affect any rights or liabilities accrued or proceedings begun before July 1, 2013. Those rights, liabilities, and proceedings continue and shall be imposed and enforced under prior law as if this subsection had not been enacted. For contracts executed after June 30, 2013, a waiver of the right to remonstrate under subsection (g) that is not void under subsection (m), (n), or (o) is binding as to an executor, administrator, heir, devisee, grantee, successor, or assign of a party to a sewer service agreement under subsection (g) only if the executor, administrator, heir, devisee, grantee, successor, or assign:
1. (1) has actual notice of the waiver; or
2. (2) has constructive notice of the waiver because the sewer service agreement or a signed memorandum of the sewer service agreement stating the waiver has been recorded in the chain of title of the property.
(i) This section does not affect any sewer service agreements entered into before March 13, 1953. However, this section applies to a remonstrance waiver regardless of when the waiver was executed.
(j) Subsection (g) does not apply to a landowner if all of the following conditions apply:
1. (1) The landowner is required to connect to a sewer service because a person other than the landowner has polluted or contaminated the area.
2. (2) The costs of extension of service or connection to the sewer service are paid by a person other than the landowner or the municipality.
(k) This subsection applies to any deed recorded after June 30, 2015. This subsection applies only to property that is subject to a remonstrance waiver. A municipality shall provide written notice to any successor in title to property within a reasonable time after the deed is recorded, that a waiver of the right of remonstrance has been granted with respect to the property.
(l) The board may waive the waiver provision described in subsection (g) in a sewer service agreement made under subsection (e) if the sewer service agreement involves a connection to the district's sewage works under IC 36-9-22.5 .
(m) A remonstrance waiver executed before July 1, 2003, is void. This subsection does not invalidate an annexation that was effective on or before July 1, 2019.
(n) A remonstrance waiver executed after June 30, 2003, and before July 1, 2019, is subject to the following:
1. (1) The waiver is void unless the waiver was recorded:
  1. (A) before January 1, 2020; and
  2. (B) with the county recorder of the county where the property subject to the waiver is located.
2. (2) A waiver that is not void under subdivision (1) expires not later than fifteen (15) years after the date the waiver is executed.
  This subsection does not invalidate an annexation that was effective on or before July 1, 2019.
(o) A remonstrance waiver executed after June 30, 2019, is subject to the following:
1. (1) The waiver is void unless the waiver is recorded:
  1. (A) not later than thirty (30) business days after the date the waiver was executed; and
  2. (B) with the county recorder of the county where the property subject to the waiver is located.
2. (2) A waiver that is not void under subdivision (1) expires not later than fifteen (15) years after the date the waiver is executed.
  This subsection does not invalidate an annexation that was effective on or before July 1, 2019.
  [Pre-Local Government Recodification Citations: subsections (a), (b), (c), (d) formerly 19-2-14-7 part; subsections (e), (f), (g) formerly 19-2-20-7.]
  As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.98. Amended by Acts 1981, P.L.45, SEC.66; P.L.172-1995, SEC.6; P.L.243-2013, SEC.4; P.L.228-2015, SEC.24; P.L.150-2019, SEC.3; P.L.257-2019, SEC.166; P.L.156-2020, SEC.149.