Introduced By: Senators Algiere and Walsh
Date Introduced : April 7, 1998
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. {ADD Bonds for sewers and sewerage system improvement. ADD} -- The town of Westerly is hereby empowered and authorized, in addition to authority previously granted, to issue bonds to an amount not exceeding two hundred fifty-five thousand dollars ($255,000) 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 twenty (20) years after the date of the bonds. The bonds shall be signed by the town director of finance and by the town manager and shall be issued and sold in such amounts as the town council may authorize. The manner of sale, denominations, maturities, principal amounts, 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.
SECTION 2. {ADD Proceeds of the bonds. ADD} -- 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:
(a) for the construction and expansion of sewers and sewerage systems, including but not limited to lift stations and pumping stations and the acquisitions, by purchase of condemnation, of land and interests therein necessary in connection with the construction thereof in the Pickering Drive and Butterfly Drive areas of the town of Westerly;
(b) in payment of the principal or of interest on temporary notes issued under section 3, or
(c) in repayment of advances under section 4.
The particular facilities to be provided in each portion of the town described above shall be determined in accordance with priorities determined by the town council. 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 6 shall be deemed appropriated for the purposes of this act without further action than that required by this act.
SECTION 3. {ADD Temporary notes. ADD} -- The town council may be resolution authorize the issue 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 purpose of this act.
The amount or 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 as estimated by the director of finance. Temporary notes issued hereunder shall be signed by the director of finance and the town manager 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 form 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. {ADD Advances from general fund. ADD} -- 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 approval of the town council, may, to the extend that bonds or notes may be issued hereunder apply funds in the general fund of the town to the purposes specified in Section 2, such advances to be repaid with interest from the proceeds of bonds or notes subsequently issued or from the proceeds of applicable federal of state assistance or from other available funds.
SECTION 5. {ADD Investment of money. ADD} -- 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.
SECTION 6. {ADD Expenditures. ADD} -- 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 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 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 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 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. {ADD Security for bonds and notes. ADD} -- 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. {ADD Validity of bonds or notes. ADD} -- 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. {ADD Federal or state advances or grant. ADD} -- 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 the moneys provided in this act. To the extent of any inconsistency between any law of this state and any 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. {ADD Conditions precedent to issuance. ADD} -- 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, which shall be authorized hereby and carried out in the manner described by chapter 1 of title 24 of the general laws as it may be amended from time to time, 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. {ADD Assessments. -- ADD}The department of public works of the town, shall, to the extent described below, assess fifty percent (50%) of the costs as determined by the town council of any project or projects financed under this act upon the owners of the estates which abut that portion of any street or highway in or along which any sewer constituting any portion of such project or projects may be located or which otherwise specially benefit from such project or projects. The remaining fifty percent (50%) of the costs shall be paid from bond proceeds derived from bonds or notes issued pursuant to authority granted in this act. Any such property owned by the state of Rhode Island shall be subject to assessments and charges under this act in the same manner and to the same extent as any other such property. Such assessment may be made separately for each project separately identified by the town council or for several projects taken together at the department may deem equitable, with the approval of the town council. The total actual cost to be assessed, including administrative and engineering costs, shall be that which is determined by the department to provide particular rather than general benefit.
Such assessments shall be just and equitable and shall be based upon frontage or area within a specified reasonable distance from the street or highway. The department of public works shall not make any particular assessment in excess of the benefit conferred and may make reasonable adjustments or deferments of such assessments against estates having a frontage upon more than one street or against estates which for any reason are unable to derive the normal benefits from the system.
A copy of such assessments shall be recorded with the collector of taxes as a public record. From the date of delivery to the collector of taxes the assessments and interest accruing thereon shall constitute a lien upon the respective estates on a parity with the lien for town taxes until paid in full. The collector of taxes of the town shall have the same rights to enforce such liens against the estates and to collect such assessments and interest form the owners as he has in the case of town taxes.
Each assessment under this act shall be payable within sixty (60) days form the day of the recording of the assessment with the collector of taxes, provided, however, if the owner of any estate liable to such assessment, within sixty (60) days after notice of a sewer assessment thereon, shall notify the town council in writing to apportion the same, said town council shall apportion such assessment in not less than ten (10) nor more than twenty (20) equal annual installments. The town council may, for time to time, determine the number of annual installments in which assessments thereafter made under this act shall be paid, but in the absence of any such determination the number of such installments shall be ten (10). The unpaid balance of each assessment shall bear interest from the date a copy of the assessment was delivered to the collector of taxes until the assessment is paid in full. The rate of interest shall be determined by the department of finance prior to or forthwith after the delivery of the copy of the assessment to the collector taxes. Such rate with respect to a particular project or projects shall, to the nearest higher on tenth of one percent, be equal to the actual rate of interest paid by the town with respect of funds borrowed by it to finance such project or projects. The annual payment of each assessment, with the appropriate amount of interest then payable, shall become due commencing with the date on which the regular town taxes are due and payable which next follows the date on which a copy of the assessment was delivered to the collector of taxes; provided that the whole assessment against any owner or estate may be paid without interest at any time prior to the due date of the first installment thereof; and provided further that the whole unpaid balance of any such assessment together with the interest accrued thereon to the date of full payment may be paid at any time and shall become due and payable immediately upon any conveyance or transfer, including transfer by descent or devise, of the property assessed to a different owner. In addition, upon failure to pay any installment when due, the whole unpaid balance of any assessment together with the interest accrued thereon to the date of full payment shall immediately become due and payable.
SECTION 12. {ADD Sewer service charges. ADD} -- The town council may fix and revise from time to time a schedule of sewer service charges for the sewer facilities and services furnished under this act for the purpose of paying the cost of maintaining, repairing and operating such facilities, and any other expenses not otherwise provided for which may arise under this act, to the extent that monies for the foregoing purposes are not otherwise provided.
Such charges shall be just and equitable and may be based upon the quantity of water used or units assessed or the number and size of sewer connections made or the number and kind of plumbing fixtures installed on the estate or upon the number or average number of persons residing or working in or otherwise connected therewith or upon any other factor affecting the use of or the value of the facilities and services furnished or upon any combination of such factors.
The charges shall be payable upon a date or dates fixed by the department of finance and if not paid within thirty (30) days thereafter they shall bear interest at a rate fixed by the town council form their due date until paid.
Delinquent service charges together with any interest and charges accruing thereon shall constitute a lien upon real estate on a parity with the lien for town taxes. The collector of taxes shall have the same rights to enforce such liens and to collect the service charges and interest thereon as he has in the case of town taxes.
SECTION 13. {ADD Appropriation of charges and assessments. ADD} -- The receipts for sewer service charges and assessments, including any net earning and profits realized form the deposit or investment thereof, shall be deemed appropriated for the purposes set forth in this act. Except as provided in this act the assessment and collection of sewer charges and assessments shall be governed by ordinances adopted by the town council and applicable to all such charges and assessments in the town.
SECTION 14. {ADD Other instruments, documents and agreements. ADD} The town director of finance and the town manager, on behalf of the town, 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 15. The question of the approval of this act shall be submitted to the electors of the town at the general election or special election which is not a primary on such date as the town council shall designate. The question shall be submitted in substantially the following form: "Shall an act, passed at the 1998 session of the general assembly, entitled 'An Act Authorizing the Town of Westerly to Issue Bonds and Notes to an Amount Not Exceeding $255,000 to Finance the Construction and Expansion of Sewers and Sewerage Systems in the Pickering Drive and Butterfly Drive Areas of the Town' 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 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 16. 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.
