Chapter 325
2004 -- H 8580
Enacted 07/03/04
A N A C T
AUTHORIZING
THE CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE, TO FINANCE THE ACQUISITION
OF
A SITE AND THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A MULTI-PURPOSE
COMMUNITY/RECREATION
COMPLEX IN LIEU OF CONVERTING MARTIN MIDDLE
SCHOOL
TO SUCH PURPOSE, AS WAS PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BY THE VOTERS OF
EAST
PROVIDENCE, AND TO ISSUE NOT MORE THAN $5,000,000 BONDS AND NOTES
THEREFOR
Introduced
By: Representatives Rose, Savage, Dennigan, Moura, and Coogan
Date
Introduced: June 01, 2004
It
is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. The city of East Providence is hereby empowered, in addition to authority
previously
granted, to issue bonds to an amount not exceeding five million dollars
($5,000,000)
from
time to time under this corporate name and seal or a facsimile of such 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.
SECTION
2. The bonds shall be signed by the manual or facsimile signature of the city
director
of finance and by the manual or facsimile signature of the mayor and shall be
issued and
sold
at not less than par and accrued interest in such amounts as the city council
may authorize by
a
bond ordinance or ordinances. Sections 4-27(2)(D) and (E) and 4-28 through 4-32
of the city
charter
shall not apply to such ordinance or ordinances or to bonds or notes issued
hereunder, and
it
shall not be necessary to include the form of notice as set forth in Section
4-27(4) of the city
charter
when such ordinance or ordinances are published as required therein. The bonds
shall be
sold
at public sale as required by Section 4-33 of the city charter, except that the
publication of
notices
required in such section may be omitted.
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 the
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. The proceeds derived from the sale of the bonds shall be
delivered to the
director
of finance, and such proceeds, exclusive of premium and accrued interest, shall
be
expended
(a) to finance the acquisition of a site and the design and construction of a
multi-
purpose
community/recreation complex in lieu of converting Martin Middle School to such
purpose,
as was previously approved by the voters of East Providence, or (b) in payment
of the
principal
of or interest on temporary notes issued under Section three, or (c) in
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 Section six 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.
SECTION
3. The city council may by resolution authorize the issue from time to time of
interest
bearing or discounted notes in anticipation of the issue of bonds under section
two 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
director of
finance.
Temporary notes issued hereunder shall be signed by the director of finance and
by 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
issue
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.
SECTION
4. Pending any authorization or issue of bonds hereunder or pending or in lieu
of
any authorization or issue of notes hereunder, the director of finance, 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 the 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 director
of
finance 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 Untied
States
of America or by any agency or instrumentality thereof or as any be provided in
any other
applicable
law of the state of Rhode Island.
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 premium
arising from the
sale
of bonds or notes hereunder and any earnings or net profit realized from the
deposit or
investment
of funds hereunder shall, in the discretion of the director of finance, be
applied to the
cost
of preparing, issuing and marketing bonds or notes hereunder, to the payment of
the cost of
the
project, to the payment of the principal of or interest on bonds or notes
issued hereunder or
shall
be added to and dealt with as part of the revenues of the city from property
taxes to the
extent
permitted by applicable federal law. The cost of preparing, issuing and
marketing bonds or
notes
hereunder may also, in the discretion of the director of finance, 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. In exercising any
discretion under
this
section, the director of finance shall be governed by any instructions adopted
by resolution of
the
city council. The director of finance is authorized to take any action deemed
by him or her
necessary
to assure that interest on the bonds or notes issued hereunder remains
excludable from
gross
income of the holders thereof for federal income tax purposes including,
without limitation,
paying
to the federal government any rebate of earnings derived from the deposit or
investment of
the
proceeds of such bonds or notes that may be required therefor.
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.
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 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, 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 or assistance
which may be
available
for the purposes of this act, and any such expenditures may be in addition to
other
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 a cost of the project under Section two.
SECTION
10. Bonds and notes may be issued under this act without obtaining the
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. For the purposes of this act, the city may acquire land or other real
property,
or any interest, estate or right therein, by eminent domain in the manner
prescribed by
chapter
1 of title 24 of the general laws as it may be amended from time to time,
provided that no
property
or interest, estate or right therein belonging to the state or any political
subdivision shall
be
acquired without its consent and that no property or interest, estate or right
therein belonging
to
or used by a public utility shall be acquired without the consent of the
division of public
utilities
and carriers. Any damages which may be agreed upon or determined under this
act,
including
any interest and other applicable charges, shall constitute a general
obligation of the
city,
but such obligation shall not at any time be included in the debt of the city
for the purpose of
ascertaining
its borrowing capacity.
SECTION
12. The question of the approval of this act shall be submitted to the electors
of
the city at the general election to be held in November 2004. The question
shall be submitted
in
substantially the following form: “Shall and Act, passed at the 2004 session of
the general
assembly,
entitled ‘AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE TO
FINANCE
THE ACQUISITION OF A SITE AND THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF
A
MULTI-PURPOSE COMMUNITY/RECREATION COMPLEX IN LIEU OF CONVERTING
MARTIN
MIDDLE SCHOOL TO SUCH PURPOSE, AS WAS PREVIOUSLY APPROVED
BY
THE VOTERS OF EAST PROVIDENCE, AND TO ISSUE NOT MORE THAN $5,000,000
BONDS
AND NOTES THEREFOR’ be approved?” and the warning for the election shall
contain
the question to be submitted. From the time the election is warned and until it
is held, it
shall
be the duty of the city clerk to keep a copy of the act available at his or her
office for public
inspection,
but the validity of the election shall not be affected by this requirement.
SECTION
13. This section and the foregoing section shall take effect upon the passage
of
this
act. The remainder of this act shall take effect upon the approval of this act
by a majority of
those
voting on the question of the election prescribed by the foregoing section.
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LC03512
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