(1) The board shall incur no debt or liability in excess of the express provisions of this title. It may without an election and levy therefor pay the necessary costs and expenses of organizing and may make surveys, do engineering work, and conduct a general investigation to determine the feasibility of the proposed irrigation project, and may incur an indebtedness therefor prior to levy, which indebtedness on account of surveys, engineering and investigations shall not exceed fifty cents an acre, and shall be assessable against the lands within the district. In cases of emergency, making it necessary to incur indebtedness in order to continue the operation of the irrigation system or any part thereof, the board by resolution may incur such indebtedness not exceeding the amount actually necessary to meet the requirements of the emergency. It may incur indebtedness necessary to carry on the ordinary administrative affairs of the district and if the district acquires an irrigation system before making its first regular annual levy, the board may incur such indebtedness necessary to pay the ordinary expenses of operation and maintenance until the regular annual levy is made.

The board may issue warrants for the payment of any indebtedness incurred under this section, which shall bear interest at a rate or rates determined by the board, and it shall include in its next annual levy for the payment of the expenses of operation and maintenance, the amount of all warrants issued by virtue hereof.

The board may issue as a general obligation of the district coupon or registered warrants in denominations not in excess of five hundred dollars, bearing interest as determined by the board. Such warrants may be registered as provided in RCW 39.46.030. Such warrants shall mature in not more than five years and may be used, or the proceeds thereof, in the purchase of grounds and buildings, machinery, vehicles, tools or other equipment for use in operation, maintenance, betterment, reconstruction or local improvement work, and for creating a revolving fund for carrying on such work as in this title provided. The proceeds of the warrants shall be paid to the district treasurer who shall place them in an appropriate fund and pay them out upon warrants of the district. The maximum indebtedness hereby authorized shall not exceed one dollar per acre of the total irrigable area within the district. No warrant shall be sold for less than par. They shall state on their face that they are a general obligation of the district, the purposes for which they are used, and that they are payable on or before maturity. They shall be retired by assessments levied in accordance with the provisions of this title at the time other assessments are levied.

The board may accumulate by assessment a fund to be designated as the “capital fund” to be used for the purposes for which the above warrants may be used. The total of such fund shall not exceed one dollar per acre of the total irrigable area in the district and shall be accumulated in not less than five annual installments. The fund shall not be permanently depleted or reduced but shall be replaced from year to year by assessments on any lands of the district benefited by the use thereof. The reasonable value of all grounds, buildings, machinery, vehicles, tools or other equipment on hand, purchased with such fund, and the revolving fund, if any, derived from such fund, shall be a part of the capital fund.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, such warrants may be issued and sold in accordance with chapter 39.46 RCW.

Liberal construction—Severability—1983 c 167: See RCW 39.46.010 and note following.