1. As soon as any district has been incorporated and established as provided in sections 243.020 to 243.070, the county commission shall, by order entered of record, levy a uniform tax of not more than fifty cents per acre upon each acre of land and other property within the district, to be used for the purpose of paying expenses incurred or to be incurred in organizing said district, making surveys of the same and assessing benefits and damages and paying the other expenses necessary to be incurred before said commission shall be empowered to levy taxes or issue bonds and thereby provide funds to pay the total cost of the improvements of the district. Said tax shall be due and payable as soon as assessed and shall become delinquent if not paid by December thirty-first of the year in which it has been levied. It shall become a lien on the land and other property against which it is levied and shall be collected in the same manner as the annual installment of the drainage tax.

2. In case the sum received from such tax exceeds the total cost of items for which the same has been levied, the surplus shall be placed in the general fund of the district and used to pay cost of construction; provided, that if the report of the viewers assessing benefits and damages to the property, as confirmed by the county commission, shows that any tract or tracts of land, on which such uniform tax has been paid, will not be benefitted by the improvement, the county commission shall issue a warrant on the district fund in favor of such landowner or landowners to the amount of the uniform tax already paid.