Chapter
05-034
2005 -- H 6163
Enacted 06/08/05
A N A C T
AUTHORIZING THE TOWN OF NORTH SMITHFIELD
TO FINANCE THE ACQUISITION OF LAND FOR A NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL AND IT’S FACILITIES AND THE
CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPPING OF A NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL AND IT'S FACILITIES IN THE
TOWN BY THE ISSUANCE OF NOT MORE THAN $30,000,000 BONDS AND/OR NOTES THEREFOR
Introduced By:
Representative Raymond C. Church
Date
Introduced: March 03, 2005
It is enacted by the General
Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. The Town of North Smithfield is hereby empowered, in addition to
authority previously granted, to
issue bonds to an amount not exceeding thirty million dollars
($30,000,000) 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
three (3) 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. 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 town
director of finance 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
proceedings 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 director of finance, and such proceeds,
exclusive of premiums and accrued interest,
shall be expended as follows: (a) for the purpose of
financing the acquisition of land
for a new middle school and its
facilities and the construction
and equipping of a new middle
school and its
facilities in the town (the "Project"), (b) in payment
of the principal of or interest on
temporary notes issued under section three, (c) in repayment of
advances under section four, (d)
in payment of the costs of issuance associated with the issuance
of bonds or notes hereunder and/or
(e) in payment of capitalized interest during construction of
the Project. 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 Project shall be carried
out and all contracts made
therefor by the town council and the school committee on behalf of the
town, provided that no project
shall be commenced without the approval of the school committee.
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. This 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 issuance from time to
time of interest bearing or
discounted notes in anticipation of the 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 director of finance.
Temporary notes issued hereunder
shall be signed by the manual or facsimile signatures of the
director of finance and the president
of the town council 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. The town 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 town's authority to issue bonds
or notes in anticipation of bonds
under this act shall continue provided that: (1) the town council
passes a resolution evidencing the
town's intent to pay off the notes and (2) that the period from
the date of an original note to
the maturity date of any other note 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 town by
the paying agent at the direction
of the director of finance 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 town.
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
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 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 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 town council or pursuant to an
investment policy of the town.
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 director of finance, 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 costs 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. 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 town
from property taxes. In exercising any discretion under this
section, the director of finance shall
be governed by any instructions adopted by resolution of the
town council.
SECTION
7. All bonds and 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 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 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 of 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 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. The question of the approval of this act shall be submitted to the electors
of the town at a general or
special election to be held on a date as shall be designated by the town
council or in lieu thereof by the
town administrator. The question shall be submitted in
substantially the following form:
"Shall an act, passed at the 2005 session of the general
assembly, entitled 'An Act
Authorizing The Town Of North Smithfield to Finance the Acquisition
of Land for a New Middle School
and It's Facilities and the Construction and Equipping of a New
Middle School and It's Facilities
in the Town by the Issuance of Not More Than $30,000,000
Bonds and/or Notes Therefor' be
approved?" and the warning for the election shall contain the
question to be submitted.
Notwithstanding anything contained in R.I.G.L. Section 17-19-7 to the
contrary, the North Smithfield
Board of Canvassers may certify the question to the Secretary of
State not later than March 25,
2005. 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. To the extent
of any inconsistency between this
act and the town charter, this act shall prevail.
SECTION
12. 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 at
the election prescribed by the foregoing section.
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LC02583
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