1. In a city incorporated pursuant to this chapter, the city may be divided into wards by ordinance as follows:
(a) A city of population category one, into four or six wards.
(b) A city of population category two or three, into three or five wards.
2. The division of cities into wards must, during the incorporation thereof, be made by the board of county commissioners. The wards must as nearly as practicable be of equal population and in compact form.
3. Once established, the boundaries of wards must be changed by ordinance of the city council.
4. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 293.209, the boundaries of the wards:
(a) Must be changed whenever the population, as determined by the last preceding national decennial census conducted by the Bureau of the Census of the United States Department of Commerce, in any ward exceeds the population in any other ward by more than 5 percent.
(b) May be changed to include territory which has been annexed, or whenever the population in any ward exceeds the population in any other ward by more than 5 percent by any measure that is found to be reliable by the city council.
[14:125:1907; RL § 780; NCL § 1113] — (NRS A 1973, 34; 1987, 1304; 1993, 53; 1995, 2064; 2001, 627; 2005, 225)