Chapter
276
2008 -- S 2399
Enacted 07/08/08
A N A C T
AUTHORIZING THE TOWN
OF SMITHFIELD TO ISSUE BONDS AND NOTES IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $13,500,000
TO FINANCE THE ACQUISITION, CONSTRUCTION, BUILDING, FURNISHING AND EQUIPPING OF
A LIBRARY
Introduced By: Senator John J. Tassoni
Date Introduced: February
12, 2008
It is
enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. The Town of Smithfield is hereby empowered, in addition to authority
previously
granted, to issue its general obligation bonds and notes to an amount not
exceeding
Thirteen
Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($13,500,000) at one time or from time to
time
under
its corporate name and seal or a facsimile of such seal. The bonds of each
issue shall
mature
in annual installments of principal, the first installment to be not later than
three (3) years
and the
last installment not later than twenty-five (25) 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. Annual installments of
principal
may be
provided for by maturity of principal in the case of serial bonds or by
mandatory serial
redemption
in the case of term bonds. The amount payable annually for principal and
interest
combined
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 manual or facsimile signatures of the town
treasurer
and countersigned by the town manager and the town clerk and shall be issued
and sold
in such
amounts as the town council may authorize by majority vote of all its members.
The
manner
of sale, denominations, maturities, interest rate or rates, award and other
terms, conditions
and
details of any bonds or notes issued under this act may be fixed by the
proceedings of the
town
council authorizing their 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. The town council may provide that any bonds issued under this act and
any other
authorized
issue of bonds of the town may be consolidated and issued at the same time as a
single
bond
issue, provided that the last installment of the portion of any such
consolidated issue that is
allocable
to the bonds issued under this act shall not be later than the times specified
by the
applicable
provisions hereof. The bonds may be made callable with or without premium. The
proceeds
derived from the sale of the bonds shall be delivered to the town treasurer,
and such
proceeds,
exclusive of premiums and accrued interest, shall be expended (a) to finance
the
acquisition,
construction, building, furnishing and equipping of a library; (b) in payment
of the
principal
of or interest on temporary notes issued under section three (3); or (c) in
repayment of
advances
under section four (4).
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 therefore on behalf of the town by the town council, or as may
be
authorized
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 six (6)
shall be
deemed
appropriated for the purposes of this act without further action than that
required by this
act.
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
under this act 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 town
treasurer.
Temporary
notes issued hereunder shall be signed by the town treasurer and countersigned
by the
town
manager and the town clerk 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. 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 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 town treasurer in
any
investment permitted under section five (5). 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 an 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 or pending or in lieu of any
authorization
or issue of notes hereunder, the town treasurer, 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 for the purposes specified in section two (2), 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 town
treasurer
in demand deposits, time deposits or savings deposits in banks which are
members of
the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 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 shall, in the discretion of the town 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 projects, 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 town
treasurer,
be met
from bond or note proceeds exclusive of premiums and accrued interest or from
other
moneys
available therefor. Any balance of bond or note proceeds remaining after
payment of the
cost of
the projects and the cost of preparing, issuing and marketing bonds or notes
hereunder
may be
applied to any project authorized under section two or 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 used for
the same
purposes
as the proceeds of bonds or notes issued hereunder. In exercising any
discretion under
this
section, the town treasurer shall be governed by any instructions adopted by
resolution of the
town
council. The treasurer 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.
SECTION
7. All bonds and notes issued under this act and the debts evidenced thereby
shall
be obligatory to the town in the same manner and to the same extent as other
debts lawfully
contracts
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 the law to the contrary, all taxable property in the town
shall be
subject
to ad valorem taxation by the town without limitation as to the rate or amount.
SECTION
8. Any bonds or notes issued under the provisions of this act, and coupons, if
any, on
any bonds, 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 federal or state advances or other grants or assistance
which may be
available
for the purposes of the act, and any such expenditures may be in addition to
other
moneys
provided in the 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 (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. 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 projects, 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 of Smithfield at the general election to be held on November 4, 2008. The
question
shall
be submitted in substantially the following form: "Shall an act, passed at
the 2008 session of
the
general assembly, entitled 'An Act Authorizing the Town of Smithfield to Issue
Bonds and
Notes
in an Amount Not to Exceed $13,500,000 to finance the acquisition,
construction, building,
furnishing
and equipping of a library' 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 this act available at his or her
office for public
inspection,
but the validity of the election shall not be affected by this requirement.
SECTION
12. This section and the foregoing section 11 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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LC01405
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