Chapter 268
2010 -- S 2676
Enacted 06/25/10
A N A C T
RELATING TO THE
EAST GREENWICH FIRE DISTRICT
Introduced By: Senator J. Michael Lenihan
Date Introduced: March 10, 2010
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Sections 4, 8 and 11 of Chapter 26 of the Public
Laws of 1998 entitled "An
Act in Amendment of Chapter
1039 of the Public Laws of 1902, entitled "An Act in Amendment
of and in Addition to an Act Entitled An act in
Amendment of the Charter of the Fire Engine
Company in
session" as amended, are hereby further amended to read
as follows:
SECTION 4. Said residents, at each annual meeting and other
special meetings when
vacancies occur, may elect the following officers:
(a)
for a one (1) year term, or until the next annual
meeting, and until others be chosen in
their stead, a Moderator and such other officers and
committees at such times and with such
duties and powers as the by-laws of the corporation may
prescribe; and
(b) five (5) fire commissioners who shall also serve as tax
assessors, each of whom shall
serve three (3) year terms. If any such official shall be
unable to serve or shall die while in office,
the board of fire commissioners shall appoint a successor
to serve until the next annual meeting at
which time a special election to fill the unexpired term
will be in order. At the next annual
meeting following passage of this act, three (3) fire commissioners
shall be elected, two (2) of
whom shall have a three (3) year term and one (1) of whom
shall have a two (2) year term. A
member of the Board of Fire Commissioners may be recalled
and removed from office by the
eligible voters at an annual or special meeting. A recall
requires a three quarters (3/4) majority of
those present to pass. A quorum for a recall vote shall be
one hundred (100) eligible voters.
SECTION 8. Said residents, at any of their legal annual
or special meetings, shall the
power to order such taxes, and provide for the assessing
and collecting the same, on the taxable
property in said district, as they shall deem necessary for
the operation of the fire district. And
such taxes so ordered shall be assessed by the assessors
of said district on the taxable property
therein, according to the last valuation made by the assessor
of the town of
previous to said assessment, excluding and disregarding therefrom, however, at the district’s
option, any reductions in valuation resulting from special
ordinance or valuations, PILOT
agreements, stabilization agreements and the like, adding,
however, any taxable property which
may have been omitted by said town assessor or afterwards
acquired; and in assessing and
collecting said taxes, such proceedings shall be had by the
officers of said district, as near as may
be, as are required to be had by the corresponding
officers of towns in assessing and collecting
town taxes; and said residents may provide for such
deductions from the tax assessed against any
person, if paid by an appointed time, or for such penalties
by way of percentage on a tax, if not
paid at a time appointed, not exceeding twelve per centum
per annum, as they shall deem
necessary to insure punctual payment.
SECTION 11. (a) The East Greenwich Fire District is hereby
empowered, in addition to
authority previously granted, to borrow money and issue from
time to time under its corporate
name and seal, or a facsimile of such seal, bonds, notes
or other evidences of indebtedness
(hereinafter
called “bonds”) for the purpose of (i) purchasing
land and erecting a building or
buildings thereon for fire purposes, (ii) purchasing fire
apparatus, (iii) operating purposes or (iv)
payment of the principal of or interest on temporary notes
issued under paragraph (c) of this
section, and to authorize its treasurer to issue, with the
approval of its board of fire
commissioners, such bonds in such amounts, for such time and on
such terms as shall be
determined by vote at any regular or special meeting of said
district; provided, however, that the
principal amount of such bonds, including renewals thereof,
outstanding at any time shall in no
case exceed the sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000)
five million dollars ($5,000,000). 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 the 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
after the date of the bonds. Sections 5.1 and
5.2 of chapter 12 of title
45 of the general laws shall apply to any such bonds.
(b)
The bonds shall be signed by the district treasurer Chairperson of
the Board of Fire
Commissioners and by the manual or facsimile signature of the chairman
District Treasurer or
another member of
the board of fire commissioners and shall be sold at not less than par and
accrued interest. Unless otherwise determined in the vote of
the district authorizing the same, the
manner of sale, denominations, maturities, interest rates
and other terms, conditions and details of
such bonds may be fixed by the proceedings by the
proceedings of the board of fire
commissioners authorizing the issue or by separate vote of the
board of fire commissioners or, to
the extent provisions for these matters are not so made,
they may be fixed by the officers
authorized to sign the bonds. Interest coupons, if any, shall
bear the facsimile signature of the
district treasurer. The proceeds derived from the sale of the
bonds shall be delivered to the district
treasurer and such proceeds exclusive of premiums and accrued
interest shall be expended for the
purposes provided in paragraph (a) of this section. No
purchaser of any bonds or notes under this
section shall be in any way responsible for the proper
application of the proceeds derived from
the sale thereof.
(c)
If said fire district shall authorize the issuance of bonds under paragraph (a)
of this
section, the board of fire commissioners of said district may
by resolution authorize the issuance
from time to time of interest bearing or discounted notes
in anticipation of the issue of such bonds
or in anticipation of the receipt of federal or state
aid for the purpose for which such bonds are to
be issued. The amount of original notes issued in
anticipation of bonds may not exceed the
amount of bonds which may be issued under paragraph (a) of
this section 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 under this
paragraph shall be signed by the district treasurer Chairman
of the Board of Fire Commissioner
and by the manual or facsimile signature of the District
Treasurer and by the Chairman or another
member of the board of fire commissioners and shall be
payable within three (3) 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 or the
interest thereon shall not exceed three (3) years.
(d)
In addition to the bonds and notes authorized in paragraphs (a) and (c) of this
section,
said fire district is hereby empowered to borrow from time
to time in each financial year in
anticipation of the receipt of the proceeds of the annual tax due
or to become due in said financial
year upon the ratable property within said fire district,
and in anticipation of the receipt of the
then uncollected proceeds of the annual tax for the next
preceding financial year, an amount
which, together with any money borrow in anticipation of
taxes in any prior year which remain
unpaid, shall not exceed eighty percent (80%) of the tax
levy of the next preceding financial year,
the money to be borrowed to be used and expended for the
payment of the current liabilities and
expenses of the fire district, and to authorize its treasurer
to issue, with the approval of the board
of fire commissioners, its interest bearing or
discounted notes therefor. Notes issued pursuant to
this paragraph shall be signed by the district
treasurer Chairperson of the Board of Fire
Commissioner and by the manual or facsimile signature of the District
Treasurer and by the
Chairman or another member of the board of fire
commissioners and shall be made payable not
later than one (1) year from their dates, but may be
renewed or paid by the issue of new notes
payable not later than one (1) year from the date of the
original notes so renewed or paid. Said
fire district shall assess and levy a tax in each
financial year.
(e)
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
law of the state of
(f)
All bonds and notes issued under this act and the debts evidenced thereby shall
be
obligatory on the district in the same manner and to the same
extent as other debts lawfully
contracted 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 therefore 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 district shall be
subject to ad valorem taxation by the district without
limitation as to rate or amount.
(g)
Any bonds or notes issued under the provisions of this act and coupons on any
bonds,
if properly executed by officers of the district in the
office on the date of execution, shall be valid
and binding according to their terms notwithstanding that
before the delivery thereof and payment
therefore any and all of such officers shall for any reason
have ceased to hold office.
(h)
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any bonds or notes issued
by
the district hereunder, their transfer, and the income
thereon (including any profits made on the
sale thereof) shall at all times be exempt from taxation
by the state of
subdivision thereof other than estate and succession taxes.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
=======
LC01879
=======