Chapter
04-020
2004 -- H 8495
Enacted 05/26/04
A N A C T
AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF
WOONSOCKET TO FINANCE THE CLOSURE OF THE DAVISON AVENUE LANDFILL AND THE
DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC
RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
THEREON BY THE ISSUANCE OF NOT MORE THAN $5,000,000 BONDS AND/OR NOTES THEREFOR
Introduced By:
Representatives T Brien, Laroche, and Picard
Date
Introduced: May 05, 2004
It is enacted by the General
Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. In order to fund the city of Woonsocket's obligations under a Consent
Agreement between the city and the
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
entered into as of July 23, 2002,
the city is hereby empowered, in addition to authority previously
granted, to issue general
obligation bonds and notes to an amount not exceeding five million
dollars ($5,000,000) from time to
time under its corporate name and seal. The bonds of each
issue may be issued in the form of
serial bonds or term bonds or a combination thereof and shall
be payable either by maturity of
principal in the case of serial bonds or by mandatory serial
redemption in the case of term
bonds, in annual installments of principal, the first installment to
be not later than five (5) years
and the last installment not later than thirty (30) years after the date
of the bonds. All such bonds of a
particular issue may be issued in the form of zero coupon
bonds, capital appreciation bonds,
serial bonds or term bonds or a combination thereof. Annual
installments of principal may be
provided for by maturity of principal in the case of serial bonds
or by mandatory serial redemption
in the case of term bonds. The amount of principal
appreciation each year on any
bonds, after the date of original issuance, shall not be considered to
be principal indebtedness for the
purposes of any constitutional or statutory debt limit or any
other limitation. The appreciation
of principal after the date of original issue shall be considered
interest. Only the original
principal amount shall be counted in determining the principal amount
so issued and any interest
component shall be disregarded.
SECTION
2. The bonds shall be signed by the manual or facsimile signatures of the city
treasurer and the mayor and shall
be issued and sold in such amounts as the city council may
authorize by resolution. The
manner of sale, denominations, maturities, interest rates and other
terms, conditions and details of
any bonds or notes issued under this act may be fixed by
proceedings of the city council
authorizing the issue or by separate resolution of the city council,
or, to the extent provisions for
these matters are not so made, they may be fixed by the officers
authorized to sign the bonds or
notes. Interest coupons (if any) shall bear the manual or facsimile
signature of the city treasurer.
The proceeds derived from the sale of the bonds shall be delivered
to the city treasurer, and such
proceeds, exclusive of premiums and accrued interest, shall be
expended: a) to finance the
closure of the Davison Avenue Landfill and the development of
public recreational facilities
thereon (the "Project"), b) for payment of the principal of or
interest
on temporary notes issued under
section three, or c) for payment of costs in connection with the
issuance of the bonds or notes, or
d) to finance capitalized interest on the Project or e) for
repayment of advances under
section four. No purchaser of any bonds or notes under this act
shall be in any way responsible
for the proper application of the proceeds derived from the sale
thereof. The proceeds of bonds or
notes issued under this act, any applicable federal or state
assistance and the other moneys
referred to in sections six and nine, shall be deemed appropriated
for the purposes of this act
without further action than that required by this act. The bond issue
authorized by this act may be
consolidated for the purposes of issuance and sale with any other
bond issue of the city heretofore
or hereafter authorized, provided that, notwithstanding any such
consolidation, the proceeds from
the sale of the bonds authorized by this act shall be expended for
the purposes set forth above. The
city treasurer and the mayor, on behalf of the city, are hereby
authorized to execute such
instruments, documents or other papers as either of them deem
necessary or desirable to carry
out the intent of this act and are also authorized to take all actions
and execute all documents or
agreements necessary to comply with federal tax and securities
laws, which documents or
agreements may have a term coextensive with the maturity of the
bonds authorized hereby.
SECTION
3. The city council may by resolution authorize the issuance from time to time
of interest bearing or discounted
notes in anticipation of the issuance of bonds or in anticipation
of the receipt of federal or state
aid for the purposes of this act. The amount of original notes
issued in anticipation of bonds
may not exceed the amount of bonds which may be issued under
this act and the amount of
original notes issued in anticipation of federal or state aid may not
exceed the amount of available
federal or state aid as estimated by the city treasurer. Temporary
notes issued hereunder shall be
signed by the manual or facsimile signatures of the city treasurer
and the mayor and shall be payable
within five (5) years from their respective dates, but the
principal of and interest on notes
issued for a shorter period may be renewed or paid from time to
time by the issuance of other
notes hereunder, provided the period from the date of an original
note to the maturity of any note
issued to renew or pay the same debt or the interest thereon shall
not exceed five (5) years. Any
temporary notes in anticipation of bonds issued under this section
may be refunded prior to the
maturity of the notes by the issuance of additional temporary notes,
provided that no such refunding
shall result in any amount of such temporary notes outstanding at
any one time in excess of two
hundred percent (200%) of the amount of bonds which may be
issued under this act, and
provided further that if the issuance of any such refunding notes results
in any amount of such temporary
notes outstanding at any one time in excess of the amount of
bonds which may be issued under
this act, the proceeds of such refunding notes shall be deposited
in a separate fund established
with the bank which is paying agent for the notes being refunded.
Pending their use to pay the notes
being refunded, moneys in the fund shall be invested for the
benefit of the city by the paying
agent at the direction of the city treasurer in any investment
permitted under section five. The
moneys in the fund and any investments held as a part of the
fund shall be held in trust and
shall be applied by the paying agent solely to the payment or
prepayment of the principal of and
interest on the notes being refunded. Upon payment of all
principal of and interest on the
notes, any excess moneys in the fund shall be distributed to the
city. The city may pay the
principal of and interest on notes in full from other than the issuance
of refunding notes prior to the
issuance of bonds pursuant to section 1 hereof. In such case, the
city's authority to issue bonds or
notes in anticipation of bonds under this act shall continue
provided that 1) the city council
passes a resolution evidencing the city's intent to pay off the
notes and 2) that the period from
the date of an original note to the maturity date any other note
shall not exceed five (5) years.
SECTION
4. Pending any authorization or issue of bonds hereunder or pending or in lieu
of any authorization or issue of
notes hereunder, the city treasurer, with the approval of the city
council, may, to the extent that
bonds or notes may be issued hereunder, apply funds in the
treasury of the city to the
purposes specified in section two, such advances to be repaid without
interest from the proceeds of
bonds or notes subsequently issued or from the proceeds of
applicable federal or state
assistance or from other available funds.
SECTION
5. Any proceeds of bonds or notes issued hereunder or of any applicable
federal or state assistance,
pending their expenditure, may be deposited or invested by the city
treasurer in demand deposits, time
deposits or savings deposits in banks which are members of
the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation or in obligations issued or guaranteed by the United
States of America or by any agency
or instrumentality thereof or as may be provided in any other
applicable law of the state of
Rhode Island or resolution of the city council or pursuant to an
investment policy of the city.
SECTION
6. Any accrued interest received upon the sale of bonds or notes hereunder
shall be applied to the payment of
the first interest due thereon. Any premiums arising from the
sale of bonds or notes hereunder
shall, in the discretion of the city treasurer, be applied to the cost
of preparing, issuing and
marketing bonds or notes hereunder to the extent not otherwise
provided, to the payment of
project costs, to the payment of the principal of or interest on bonds
or notes issued hereunder or to
any one (1) or more of the foregoing. The cost of preparing,
issuing and marketing bonds or
notes hereunder may also, in the discretion of the city treasurer,
be met from bond or note proceeds
exclusive of premium and accrued interest or from other
moneys available therefor. Any
balance of bond or note proceeds remaining after payment of the
cost of the project and the cost
of preparing, issuing and marketing bonds or notes hereunder shall
be applied to the payment of the
principal of or interest on bonds or notes issued hereunder. To
the extent permitted by applicable
federal laws, any earnings or net profit realized from the
deposit or investment of funds
hereunder may upon receipt be added to and dealt with as part of
the revenues of the city from
property taxes. In exercising any discretion under this section, the
city treasurer shall be governed
by any instructions adopted by resolution of the city council.
SECTION
7. All bonds and notes issued under this act and the debts evidenced thereby
shall be obligatory on the city in
the same manner and to the same extent as other debts lawfully
contracted by it and shall be
excepted from the operation of section 45-12-2 of the general laws
and the provisions of the city
charter. No such obligation shall at any time be included in the debt
of the city for the purpose of
ascertaining its borrowing capacity. The city shall annually
appropriate a sum sufficient to
pay the principal and interest coming due within the year on bonds
and notes issued hereunder to the
extent that moneys therefor are not otherwise provided. If such
sum is not appropriated, it shall
nevertheless be added to the annual tax levy. In order to provide
such sum in each year and
notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, all taxable
property in the city shall be
subject to ad valorem taxation by the city without limitation as to rate
or amount.
SECTION
8. Any bonds or notes issued under the provisions of this act, and coupons, if
any, if properly executed by
officers of the city in office on the date of execution, shall be valid
and binding according to their
terms notwithstanding that before the delivery thereof and payment
therefor any or all of such
officers shall for any reason have ceased to hold office.
SECTION
9. The city, acting by resolution of its city council, is authorized to apply
for,
contract for and expend any
federal or state advances or other grants of assistance which may be
available for the purposes of this
act, and any such expenditures may be in addition to the moneys
provided in this act. To the
extent of any inconsistency between any law of this state and any
applicable federal law or
regulation, the latter shall prevail. Federal and state advances, with
interest where applicable, whether
contracted for prior to or after the effective date of this act,
may be repaid as project costs
under section two.
SECTION
10. Bonds and notes may be issued under this act without obtaining approval
of any governmental agency or the
taking of any proceedings or the happening of any conditions
except as specifically required by
this act for such issue. In carrying out any project financed in
whole or in part under this act,
including where applicable the condemnation of any land or
interest in land, and in the levy and
collection of assessments or other charges permitted by law
on account of any such project,
all action shall be taken which is necessary to meet constitutional
requirements whether or not such
action is otherwise required by statute, but the validity of bonds
and notes issued hereunder shall
in no way depend upon the validity or occurrence of such action.
SECTION
11. All or any portion of the authority to issue bonds and notes under this act
may be extinguished by ordinance
of the city council, without further action by the general
assembly, seven (7) years after
the effective date of this act.
SECTION
12. The city treasurer and the mayor, on behalf of the city, are hereby
authorized to execute such
instruments, documents or other papers as either of them deem
necessary or desirable to carry
out the intent of this act and are also authorized to take all actions
and execute all documents or
agreements necessary to comply with federal tax and securities
laws, which documents or
agreements may have a term coextensive with the maturity of the
bonds authorized hereby, including
Rule 15c2-12 of the Securities and Exchange Commission
(the "Rule") and to
execute and deliver a continuing disclosure agreement or certificate in
connection with the bonds or notes
in the form as shall be deemed advisable by such officers in
order to comply with the Rule.
SECTION
13. In order to fund the city's obligations under the Consent Agreement
between the city and the Rhode
Island Department of Environmental Management entered into as
of July 23, 2002, this act shall
take effect upon passage without voter approval notwithstanding
Article 8, Section 1 of the
Woonsocket City Charter in conformity with the reserved powers of
the General Assembly pursuant to
Article XIII, Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of
Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations.
SECTION
14. To the extent of any inconsistency between this act and the Woonsocket
City Charter, this act shall
prevail. The provisions of this act are severable, and if any of its
provisions are held
unconstitutional or invalid for any reason by any court of competent
jurisdiction, the decision of the
court shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions.
SECTION
15. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC03346
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