Chapter
460
2007 -- S 1077
Enacted 07/05/07
A N A C T
RELATING
TO CHARLESTOWN FIRE DISTRICT
Introduced
By: Senators Algiere, and Breene
Date
Introduced: June 06, 2007
It is enacted by the General Assembly as
follows:
SECTION 1. Section
6 of an act entitled "An Act to Incorporate the Charlestown Fire
District" passed at the January session AD
1974 as amended, are is further amended to read as
follows:
SECTION 6. Said
Charlestown fire district is empowered to borrow money and issue its
notes for the same, but such borrowings or debt
outstanding at any one time shall not exceed the
sum of two million five hundred thousand
dollars ($2,500,000) five million dollars ($5,000,000);
and said borrowings shall be authorized amounts
approved from time to time by vote of a
majority of the electors present and voting on
the question at an annual or special district meeting.
A voted vote not to approve an
amount of bonds hereunder shall not preclude any later vote to
approve the same or a different amount.
Said bonds and
notes may be issued from time to time under the district's corporate name
and seal or a facsimile of such seal. The bonds
of each issue may be issued in the from 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 bond,
in annual installments of principal, the first
installment to be not later than five (5) years and the
last installment not later than forty (40)
years after the date of the bonds. No installment of
principal shall exceed the next prior
installment by more than eight percent (8%), except that this
limitation shall not apply to an installment
payable less than five (5) years from the date of the
bond. Section Sections 5.1 and 5.2
of Chapter 12 of title 45 of the general laws shall apply to any
such bonds.
The bonds shall be
signed by a member of the Board of Engineers authorized by it and by
the manual or facsimile signature of the
treasurer of the district and shall be issued and sold at
public or private sale at not less than par and
accrued interest in such amounts as the Board of
Engineers may authorize. 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 separate
resolution of the Board of Engineers or, to the
extent provisions of these matters are not so made
by such resolution of the Board, they may be
fixed by the member of the Board authorized to sign
the bonds or notes and the Treasurer of the
District. Without limiting the generality of the
foregoing, the District is expressly authorized
to borrow from, issue and sell bonds to the United
States of America and/or the United States
Department of Agriculture at such rate or rates of
interest and upon such terms and upon such
agreements with respect thereto as deemed
acceptable by the Board of Engineers.
The proceeds
derived from the sale of the bonds shall be delivered to the treasurer, and
such proceeds exclusive or premiums and accrued
interest shall be expended for payment of
principal of or interest on temporary notes
issued, in repayment of advances from its treasury, and
for such other purposes as may be fixed at the
annual or special meeting of said district
authorizing said borrowing, or to the extent
provisions for these matters are not so made at such
meeting, by separate resolution of the Board of
Engineers.
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 and any applicable federal or state
assistance and any premiums or accrued interest
thereon shall be deemed appropriated for the
purposes of this act without further action than
that required by this act.
The Board of
Engineers may by 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. 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 district
treasurer. Temporary notes issued hereunder shall be
signed by the district treasurer and by a member
of the Board and shall be payable within five (5)
years from their respective dates, but the
principal of an 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.
Pending any issue
of bonds hereunder or pending or in lieu of any issue of notes
hereunder, the district treasurer, with the
approval of the Board, may, to the extent that bonds or
notes may be issued hereunder, apply funds in
the treasury of the district to the purposes for
which bonds or notes are authorized hereunder,
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.
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 district treasurer 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.
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
district treasurer, 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 project, 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 Board of Engineers, be met
from bond or note proceeds exclusive of premium
and accrued interest or from other moneys
available therefor. Any balance of bonds 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. Any
earnings or net profit realized from the deposit
or investment of funds hereunder shall, upon
receipt, be added to and dealt with as part of
the revenues of the district from property taxes. In
exercising any discretion under this section,
the district treasurer shall be governed by any
instructions adopted by resolution of the Board
of Engineers.
The Board is
authorized to take any action deemed necessary.
(1) 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 District or on underwriters of
such bonds and notes.
All bonds and
notes issued under this act and the debts evidence thereby shall be
obligatory on the district in the same manner
and to the same extent as other debts lawfully
contacted by it. The district 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 and shall not be
subject to the limitation of twenty cents ($.20) for
each one hundred dollars ($100) in Section 5
hereof. In order to provide such sum in each year
and notwithstanding any provision of law to the
contrary, all taxable property in the district shall
be subject to ad valorem taxation by the district
without limitation as to rate or amount.
Any bonds or notes
issued under the provisions of this act, if properly executed by a
member of the Board and treasurer of the
district 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 either or both of such member and
treasurer shall for any reason have ceased to hold
office.
The district,
acting by resolution of its Board of Engineers, 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 for which bonds may
be issued under this act, and any such
expenditures may be in addition to other moneys
provided. 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
from the proceeds of bonds or notes as a cost of the
project or projects involved.
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 and any bonds and notes issued in accordance
herewith shall not be affected by the existence
or nonexistence of any approval or other
proceedings, conditions, or act.
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; buy by
the validity of bonds and notes issued hereunder shall in no
way depend upon the validity or occurrence of
such action.
SECTION 2. This
act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC03245
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