Chapter 407

2006 -- S 3164

Enacted 07/07/06

A N A C T

IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 55 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1958, ENTITLED 'AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 55 OF THE GENERAL LAWS OF 1958 AUTHORIZING THE TOWNS OF CHARLESTOWN, RICHMOND AND HOPKINTON, TO JOIN A REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, INCORPORATING SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A REGIONAL SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS, WITHIN SAID

REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT' AS AMENDED"

Introduced By: Senator Kevin A. Breene

Date Introduced: June 13, 2006

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 15 of chapter 286 of the public laws of 1986 entitled "AN ACT IN

AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 55 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1958,

ENTITLED 'AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 55 OF THE

GENERAL LAWS OF 1958 AUTHORIZING THE TOWNS OF CHARLESTOWN,

RICHMOND AND HOPKINTON, TO JOIN A REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT,

INCORPORATING SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND PROVIDING FOR THE

ISSUANCE OF BONDS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A REGIONAL SCHOOL

SYSTEM FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS, WITHIN SAID

REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT'" as amended, is hereby

further amended as follows:

     Sec. 15. (1) It shall be the duty of the district superintendent, or chief administrative

officer to present to the regional school committee, at its regular meeting in the month of

November, a preliminary budget containing his estimates of the amount of money needed to

operate the regional high school for the ensuing year. The form of said budget shall conform to

the accounting system of the state department of education.

     (2) The regional school committee shall prepare and approve a budget which it believes

will efficiently operate the regional school district for the ensuing year not later than the fifth

(5th) day of February in each year.

     (3) At least twenty (20) days before the annual district meeting at which the budget is to

be adopted the regional school committee shall hold a public hearing on the budget at which any

citizen entitled to vote at the said district meeting may be heard. Notice of the date and place of

such meeting and hearing shall be given at least twelve (12) days in advance thereof by

publication at least once in a newspaper or journal circulation within the said district and

published in Rhode Island. Not later than February 28 in each year, and subsequent to the hearing

on the proposed budget, the district school committee shall adopt a final proposed budget. The

regional school district finance committee, established in accordance with the provisions of

section 12 hereof, may by and through its individual members or by appointed delegates attend

budget hearings and provide advice and assistance to the school committee on budget matters.

     (4) The final budget as adopted by the said school committee shall be submitted to the

annual school district meeting to be held on the first Tuesday in March of each year for a vote or

votes thereon, which said recommended budget may be lowered by a majority vote of said

meeting, but shall not be increased except when a notice of intent to do so, together with

specification of the amount and purpose of such increase signed by fifty (50) qualified electors of

the said district have been filed with the clerk of the said district at least seven (7) days before the

date of said annual meeting; and then in such case, said recommended budget may be increased

by majority vote of said meeting within the limits of the amount specified in the last mentioned

notice.

     (5) Operating costs shall include all costs of the said school district not included in the

construction costs paid out of the receipts and realizations of the sale of bonds or notes as

hereinbefore provided.

     (6) Operating expenses for each fiscal year or portion thereof shall be apportioned among

the member towns in proportion to the relationship of their respective pupil enrollment in the said

district school system on October 1 of the previous calendar year to the total pupil enrollment in

said school system on said date. In the event that enrollment in the said district school system has

not been accomplished on October 1 of any year, operating expenses for the ensuing year or

portion thereof shall be apportioned among the member towns in proportion to the ratio that the

total number of students enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve (12), inclusive, residing

in each of said towns and receiving education at such town's expense as of said October 1 bears to

the total number of such students in the entire district.

     (7) On or before March 15 in each year, the treasurer of the regional school district shall

determine the total cost of operating the school district for the next budget year, including therein

operating costs, operating expenses, and all other anticipated expenses, incurred in the operation

of the school district. This sum shall then be divided by the number of students enrolled in the

school district as of October 1 of the current school year and the resulting figure shall then be

determined as the annual pupil charge. The charge so determined shall not later than the fifteenth

(15th) day of March in each year be certified by said district treasurer to the respective treasurers

of each member town. Each member town shall then pay to the treasurer of the district a sum

equal to the number of pupils enrolled in the district from that town multiplied by the annual

pupil charge.

     (8) Construction costs of the regional school district shall be all costs of retirement of

principal or payment of interest of bonds or notes hereinbefore authorized or which may be by

special act authorized for future construction within the said district, or such costs as may be

financed by means other than the issue of bonds or notes for the purpose of construction or

renovation of buildings, land acquisition, or extraordinary repairs to buildings, and all other costs

and expenses of the district shall be operating costs. In each year subsequent to the passage of this

act, construction costs shall be borne by each member town in the same proportion as the

enrollment of students from that town bears to the total student enrollment of the district. The

district treasurer annually shall determine the share of each member town of construction costs by

dividing the construction costs for the current year of operation by the number of pupils enrolled

in the district on October 1 of the current school year. The district treasurer shall then certify to

the treasurer of the member towns the shares of each town of construction costs determined as

hereinbefore provided at the same time and in the same manner as operating costs are certified to

each town.

     (8A) The amount of construction costs certified by the treasurer of said school district to

the town treasurers of the member towns shall for the purpose of section 45-12-11 of the general

laws, be deemed an indebtedness of the town or interest thereon for which a member town may

assess its ratable property in any one (1) year in excess of three and one-half percent (3 1/2%) of

its ratable value.

     (9) The treasurer of each member town shall forward monthly to the regional school

district the proportioned operating and construction cost for that fiscal year; provided that for the

1997-1998 fiscal year the following paragraph shall apply:

     The sums payable annually to the regional district by member town as a share of the

regional district's operating costs for the fiscal year, determined pursuant to subsection (7) above,

and its share of construction costs for the fiscal year, determined pursuant to subsection (8)

above, shall be paid in installments as follows: five percent (5%) in each of the months of July

and August and nine percent (9%) in each of the remaining ten (10) months of the fiscal year.

Each member town shall cause its treasurer to deposit each such installment in cash or other

immediately available funds to the regional district's account in bank designated by the regional

district treasurer which has a place of business in the state of Rhode Island on the third business

day of the month between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. In the event of late payment of

any such installment, including payment on the due date later than 2:00 P.M., simple interest shall

accrue daily and be payable on such past due sum from the date of default to the date of payment

of such sum. at a per annum rate of one-fourth of one percent (1/4%) above the average seven (7)

day compounded yield of taxable money market funds as published weekly by IBC/Donoghue's

Money Fund Report, such interest being intended to compensate the regional district for loss of

use of the funds that should have been paid to it rather than as a penalty. For the purpose of

calculating such rate of interest, said average money market fund yield published by

IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report on or during the six (6) days immediately preceding the

date of default shall be applied, except that if such default continues until the date of the next

weekly publication of such average money market fund yield by IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund

Report the latter yield shall be applied commencing on such date, and the same procedure for

calculating the rate of interest shall be followed thereafter on a weekly basis until the default

ends. In the event that such IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report (including a successor to such

report with a different name) shall cease to be published, the The per annum rate of interest

charged shall be one-half of one percent (1/2%) above the three (3) month U.S. treasury bill rate

as published on the date of default or, if not published on that date, as published on the next

preceding business day. However, if the default continues beyond seven (7) days, the three (3)

month U.S. treasury bill rate in effect on the eighth (8th) day of default shall be applied

commencing on such date in calculating the rate of interest, and the same procedure for

calculating the interest rate shall be followed thereafter on a weekly basis until the default ends.

     (10) The regional school district fiscal year shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30.

     (11) The superintendent of schools of said district shall certify to the commissioner of

education on or before July 15 of each year such information as may be needful for the operation

of this agreement and conformity to the laws of this state in such form and upon such blanks as

the commissioner of education shall require.

     (12) The electors in each of said member towns qualified to vote upon a proposition to

impose a tax or for the expenditure of money shall in their respective towns, in annual or special

financial town meetings legally assembled, appropriate and raise sufficient monies for their

respective towns to meet the requirements of the costs of construction and operation of said

regional school as determined by the said district annual meeting and proportioned to the said

member towns as provided in subsections (7) and (8) of this section.

     SECTION 2. The question of the approval of this Act shall be submitted to the electors of

the towns of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton qualified to vote on any proposition to

impose a tax or for the expenditure of money at the general election in 2006. The question shall

be submitted in substantially the following form:

     "Shall the act passed by the general assembly at its January 2006 session entitled "AN

ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 286 OF THE PUBLIC

LAWS, 1986, ENTITLED 'AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO

CHAPTER 55 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1958, ENTITLED 'AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE

TOWNS OF CHARLESTOWN, RICHMOND AND HOPKINTON, TO JOIN A REGIONAL

SCHOOL DISTRICT INCORPORATING SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND

PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A

REGIONAL SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS,

WITHIN SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT,' AS

AMENDED" be approved?"

     The warning for said election shall contain the question to be submitted. From the date

the election is warned until it is held, it shall be the duty of the town clerks of the respective

towns of Hopkinton, Charlestown and Richmond to keep a copy of the act available at their

offices for public inspection, but any failure of any clerk to perform this duty shall not affect the

validity of the election.

     SECTION 3. This section and section 2 of this act shall take effect upon passage of this

act; and the remainder of this act shall take effect upon the approval of this act by a majority in

each town of those voting on the question at the election prescribed by section 2 hereof.

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LC03240

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