Chapter 478
2008 -- H 7484
Enacted 07/05/08
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: Representatives Petrarca, and Winfield
Date
Introduced: February 13, 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.
=======
LC01406
=======