81-7-305. Duty of county commissioners -- petition of sheep owners -- license fees. (1) In conducting a predatory animal control program, the board of county commissioners shall give preference to recommendations for such program and its incidents as made by organized associations of sheep growers in the county. Upon petition of the resident owners of at least 51% of the sheep in the county, as shown by the assessment rolls of the last preceding assessment, which petition shall be filed with the board of county commissioners on or before the first Monday in December in any year, such board shall establish the predatory animal control program and cause said licenses to be secured and issued and the fees collected for the following year in such amount as will defray the cost of administering the program so established. The license fee determined and set by the board shall remain in full force and effect from year to year without change, unless there is filed with the board a petition subscribed by the resident owners of at least 51% of the sheep in the county, as shown by the assessment rolls of the last assessment preceding the filing of the petition, for termination of the program and repeal of the license fee, in which event the program shall by order of the board of county commissioners be disestablished and the license fee shall not be further levied.
     (2) If the resident owners of at least 51% of the sheep in the county either petition for an increase in the license fee or petition for a decrease in the license fee then in force, the board of county commissioners shall upon receipt of any such petition fix a new license fee to continue from year to year and the program shall thereupon continue within the limits of the aggregate amount of the license fee as collected from year to year.

     History: En. Sec. 4, Ch. 206, L. 1943; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 24, L. 1949; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 87, L. 1957; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 87, L. 1965; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 261, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 46-2104; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 9, L. 1981.