Chapter 326
2004 -- H 8616
Enacted 07/03/04
A N A C T
AUTHORIZING
THE TOWN OF JAMESTOWN TO FINANCE THE CONSTRUCTION,
EXTENSION
AND IMPROVEMENT OF A WATER WORKS SYSTEM, TO ISSUE NOT
MORE
THAN $6,200,000 BONDS AND NOTES THEREFOR AND TO IMPOSE
ADDITIONAL
WATER RATES UNDER CHAPTER 273 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS OF 1968,
AS
AMENDED, TO PAY THE PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST ON SUCH BONDS AND
NOTES
Introduced
By: Representative Bruce J. Long
Date
Introduced: June 08, 2004
It is
enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. The Town of Jamestown is hereby empowered, in addition to authority
previously
granted, to issue bonds to an amount not exceeding Six Million Two Hundred
Thousand
Dollars ($6,200,000.00) from time to time under its 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 years and the last
installment not later
than
thirty years after the date of the bonds. For each issue the amounts payable
annually for
principal
and interest combined either shall be as nearly equal from year to year as is
practicable
in
the opinion of the officers authorized to issue the bonds, or shall be arranged
in accordance
with
a schedule providing for a more rapid amortization of principal.
SECTION
2. The bonds shall be signed by the manual or facsimile signatures of the
finance
director of the town and the president of the Town Council and shall be issued
and sold in
such
amounts as the Town 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 the resolution of the Town Council
authorizing the
issue
or by separate resolution of the Town 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 finance director,
and such
proceeds
exclusive of premiums and accrued interest shall be expended for (a) the
construction,
extension
and improvement of a water works system which may include constructing,
installing
and reconstructing
reservoirs, water towers and other water storage facilities, water pipes and
mains,
water pumping stations, water treatment facilities and related equipment and
incidental
road
reconstruction, (b) in payment of the principal of or interest on temporary
notes issued under
Section
3 of this act or (c) in repayment of advances under Section 4 of this act. 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 projects shall be carried out and all
contracts made
therefor
on behalf of the Town by the Town Council, or as may be otherwise directed by
the
Town
Council. The proceeds of bonds or notes issued under this act, any applicable
federal or
state
assistance and the other monies referred to in Section 6 of this act shall be
deemed
appropriated
for the purposes of this act without further action than that required by this
act.
Without
limiting the generality of the foregoing, no further action of a special or
annual financial
town
meeting shall be required to make appropriations of bond and note proceeds, to
acquire
assets,
by eminent domain or otherwise, or enter into contracts financed by said bonds
or notes.
The
bond issue authorized by this act may be consolidated for the purposes of
issuance and sale
with
any other bond issue of the town 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 Town Council may by resolution authorize the issue from time to time
of
interest bearing or discounted notes in anticipation of the authorization or
issue 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
finance director.
Temporary
notes issued hereunder shall be signed by the finance director and by the
president of
the
Town Council and shall be payable within five 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 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 finance director, with the
approval of the
Town
Council, may, to the extent that bonds or notes may be issued hereunder, apply
funds in the
treasury
of the Town 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 finance
director,
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.
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 and any earnings or net profit realized from the
deposit or
investment
of funds hereunder shall, in the discretion of the finance director, be applied
to the
cost
of preparing, issuing and marketing bonds or notes hereunder to the extent not
otherwise
provided,
to the payment of the cost of the projects or to the cost of additional improvements
coming
within the description of the projects in Section 2 of this act, to the payment
of the
principal
of or interest on bonds or notes issued hereunder or to any one or more of the
foregoing.
The
cost of preparing, issuing and marketing bonds or notes hereunder may also, in
the discretion
of
the finance director, be met from bond or note proceeds excusive of accrued
interest or from
other
monies available therefor. Any balance of bond or note proceeds remaining after
payment
of
the cost of the projects and said additional improvements 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 finance
director
shall be governed by any instructions adopted by resolution of the Town
Council. The
finance
director 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
recipients
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 and (2) to comply with the
requirements of
federal
law, including without being limited to regulations and other requirements of
the
Securities
and Exchange Commission and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, imposed
directly
on the Town or on the underwriters of such bonds and notes.
SECTION
7. All bonds or notes issued under this act and the debts evidenced thereby
shall
be obligatory on the town 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 town for the
purpose of
ascertaining
its borrowing capacity. The Town Council, acting as the Board of Water and
Sewer
Commissioners,
may fix and revise from time to time water rates under Chapter 273 of the
public
laws
of 1968 to pay all or any part of the principal and interest coming due within
the year on
bonds
and notes issued hereunder. The town 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 provided by such sewer service charges or
otherwise. 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 town shall be subject to ad valorem taxation by the town 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 town 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 Town, acting by resolution of its Town 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 project costs under section 2.
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. Without limiting
the
generality
of the foregoing, bonds and notes may be issued under this act without any
action at
the
financial town meeting. 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. To the extent
of any
inconsistency
between this act and the Town Charter, this act shall prevail.
SECTION
11. The provisions of Chapters 12.8 and 15.1 of Title 46 as amended of the
General
Laws shall apply to the issuance of bonds and notes under this act. Without
limiting the
generality
of the foregoing, the Town Council is authorized to exercise the powers of the
Town
authorized
under such Chapters.
SECTION
12. The question of the approval of this act shall be submitted to the electors
of
the town at an election on a date to be determined by the Town Council which
occurs at least
thirty
days after the passage of this act. The question shall be submitted in
substantially the
following
form: “Shall an act, passed at the 2004 session of the General Assembly,
entitled ‘AN
ACT
AUTHORIZING THE TOWN OF JAMESTOWN TO FINANCE THE CONSTRUCTION,
EXTENSION
AND IMPROVEMENT OF A WATER WORKS SYSTEM, TO ISSUE NOT
MORE
THAN $6,200,000 BONDS AND NOTES THEREFOR AND TO IMPOSE
ADDITIONAL
WATER RATES UNDER CHAPTER 273 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS OF 1968,
AS
AMENDED, TO PAY THE PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST ON SUCH BONDS AND
NOTES’
be approved?” and the warning for the election shall contain the question to be
submitted.
The Town Board of Canvassers may combine any two or more voting districts for
the
election
and when so combined shall be treated as a voting district. If so combined, the
Town
Board
of Canvassers shall advertise the combination of districts in a newspaper of
general
circulation
in the Town. From the time the election is warned and until it is held, it
shall be the
duty
of the Town 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 Section 12 shall take effect upon passage. The remainder
of
this act shall take effect upon the approval of this act by a majority of those
voting on the
question
at the election prescribed by Section 12.
=======
LC03545
=======