40:62-98. Objections to ordinance; filing
No water district or districts shall be created or established, or water systems constructed, or any contract entered into for the installation, construction, operation or maintenance of such systems or for a supply of water, in any municipality where before the final reading of the ordinance, objections thereto in writing are filed with the municipal clerk, by the owners of fifty-one per cent in value of the lands and real estate in the district proposed to be assessed for benefits.
The question as to whether the necessary fifty-one per cent have joined in such objections, shall be determined by the governing body which shall use for this purpose the last preceding valuation for the purpose of taxation.