Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 48 > Chapter 4 - Municipal Improvement Districts

• Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• assessment roll: means a special assessment made under the provisions of this article. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Block: means any parcel of ground, whether regular or irregular, which is bounded by streets, or by one or more streets and by one or more boundary lines of the city or town. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• city: includes incorporated cities and towns. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• city: includes counties, incorporated cities and towns and other corporations organized for municipal purposes. See Arizona Laws 48-501
• Clerk: includes any person or official who performs the duties of clerk of the city or town. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Clerk: includes any person or official who performs the duties of clerk of the municipality or county or any person appointed by the district board to be the district clerk pursuant to section 48-711. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contractor: includes the contractor's personal representative or assignee. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• council: includes any body or board in which is vested by law the legislative power of a municipality. See Arizona Laws 48-501
• County: means a county that forms a community facilities district pursuant to this article in an unincorporated area or in an incorporated area with the municipality's consent. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Debt service: means the principal of, interest on and premium, if any, on the bonds, when due, whether at maturity or prior redemption and fees and costs of registrars, trustees, paying agents or other agents necessary to handle the bonds and the costs of credit enhancement or liquidity support. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delinquency: means delinquency in the payment of an assessment made under the provisions of this article. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Designated area: means an area of the municipality which is either designated pursuant to section 36-1479 as a slum or blighted area or designated as a pocket of poverty or a neighborhood strategy area by the United States department of housing and urban development, pursuant to title I of the housing and community development act of 1977 as amended (42 United States Code §§ 5301 through 5320) and the department of housing and urban development act (42 United States Code § 3535(d)). See Arizona Laws 48-571
• District: means a tax levying community facilities district formed pursuant to this article by a municipality or formed pursuant to this article by a county in an unincorporated area or in an incorporated area with the municipality's consent. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• District board: means the board of directors of the district. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Document: means information that is both of the following:

  (a) Inscribed on a tangible medium or stored in an electronic or other medium, and retrievable in perceivable form. See Arizona Laws 11-487.01

• Engineer: includes any person who, under whatever official name, is the civil engineer or surveyor of the city or town, and where there is no elected or appointed official, then the engineer is the person who may be appointed or employed by the council to perform the duties required of an engineer under the provisions of this article. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Enhanced municipal services: means public service provided by a county or municipality within the district at a higher level or to a greater degree than provided in the remainder of the county or municipality, including such services as public safety, fire protection, street or sidewalk cleaning or landscape maintenance in public areas. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Entity: means any of the following:

  (a) A corporation. See Arizona Laws 48-701

• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fixed Rate: Having a "fixed" rate means that the APR doesn't change based on fluctuations of some external rate (such as the "Prime Rate"). In other words, a fixed rate is a rate that is not a variable rate. A fixed APR can change over time, in several circumstances:
  • You are late making a payment or commit some other default, triggering an increase to a penalty rate
  • The bank changes the terms of your account and you do not reject the change.
  • The rate expires (if the rate was fixed for only a certain period of time).
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• General obligation bond: means a bond that is issued pursuant to section 48-719 and that is secured by a pledge of ad valorem taxes levied by the district. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• General plan: means the general plan described in section 48-702, subsection D, as the plan may be amended. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• governing body: includes and means the body or board which by law is constituted the legislative department of an incorporated city or town. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Governing body: means the body or board that by law is constituted as the legislative department of the municipality or county. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Grantee: includes every person to whom an estate or interest in real property passes, in or by a deed. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• improvement: includes any or all of the improvements mentioned and authorized to be made in this and article 1 of this chapter and the construction, reconstruction and repair of all or any portion of the improvements, and all labor, services, incidental expenses and material necessary or incidental to the construction, reconstruction or repair. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Improvement: includes all the improvements mentioned in this article, and the term or terms "street opening or widening" and "opening or widening" include all improvements mentioned in this article. See Arizona Laws 48-501
• Improvement bond: means a bond issue under the provisions of this article. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lighting plants: includes electric light plants, electric power plants, gas plants, distribution systems, poles, parts, pipes, conduits, wires, tanks, reservoirs, generators for gas or electricity, transmission lines, towers, lamps, transformers of every character, machinery, apparatus, equipment and all appliances and structures necessary or incidental to the construction, installation or operation of a complete municipal electric light, power and gas plant and distribution system, placed on the streets improved, though extended beyond. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Lot: includes any portion, piece, parcel or subdivision of land, and includes property owned or controlled by any person as a railroad right-of-way. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Mayor: includes the chairman or president of the governing body. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Month: means a calendar month unless otherwise expressed. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Municipality: means an incorporated city or town. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Net premium: means the difference between the par amount of the general obligation bond issue and the general obligation bond issue price that is determined pursuant to United States department of the treasury regulations. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes an affirmation or declaration. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Owner: means the person in whom, on the day the action or proceeding is commenced, appears the legal title to the lot by deed recorded in the recorder's office, or the person in possession of the lot under claim of title, or exercising acts of ownership over the lot for the person, or as the personal representative of the owner. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Owner: means the person or entity that, on the day the action, election or proceeding is begun or held, appears to be the owner of real property as shown on the property tax assessment roll. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity. See Arizona Laws 11-487.01
• Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences of debt. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Population: means the population according to the most recent United States decennial census. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Process: means a citation, writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Public infrastructure: means all improvements listed in this paragraph that will result in a beneficial use principally to land within the geographical limits of the district and may include a district's share of any improvements listed in this paragraph if the district board determines such share is proportionate to the beneficial use of such improvements to land within the geographical limits of the district, improvements within or outside the geographical limits of the district, necessary or incidental work, whether newly constructed, renovated or existing, and all necessary or desirable appurtenances. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Public infrastructure purpose: means :

  (a) Planning, design, engineering, construction, acquisition or installation of public infrastructure. See Arizona Laws 48-701

• Railroad: includes street railroad and interurban railroad. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Revenue bonds: means those bonds that are issued pursuant to section 48-720 and that are secured by a pledge of revenues of the district or revenues collected by the county or municipality and returned to the district. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Sewers: includes tunnels, excavations, ditches, drains, conduits, channels, outlets, outfalls, cesspools, manholes, catch basins, flush tanks, septic tanks, connecting sewers of every character, machinery, apparatus, equipment and all appliances and structures necessary or incidental to the construction, installation or operation of a complete sewer system, for either sanitary or drainage purposes. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Street: includes avenues, alleys, highways, lanes, crossings, intersections, courts, places and grounds now open or dedicated or hereafter opened or dedicated to public use, and public ways. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Street superintendent: includes any officer or board who, by law, has charge of streets or the improvement thereof in a city or town. See Arizona Laws 48-501
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• superintendent: includes any person who, under whatever official name, is charged with the care or supervision of the streets of the city or town. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Treasurer: includes any person who, under whatever official name, is the custodian of the funds of the city or town. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Treasurer: includes any person or official who performs the duties of treasurer of the municipality or county or any person appointed by the district board as the district treasurer pursuant to section 48-711. See Arizona Laws 48-701
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Waterworks: includes pipes, hydrants, reservoirs, wells, pumps, pumping plants, conduits, settling basins, filtering plants of every character, machinery, apparatus, equipment and all appliances and structures necessary or incidental to the construction, installation or operation of a complete municipal waterworks system, for fire protection, or for domestic irrigation, mechanical or power purposes, placed on the streets improved, though extended beyond. See Arizona Laws 48-571
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ: means an order or precept in writing issued in the name of the state or by a court or judicial officer. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215