Chap. 9.—An ACT to amend an act entitled, “An Act to provide a new charter
tor the city of Portsmouth”, approved March 10, 1908, as amended, by adding
thereto a new chapter to be known as Chapter 13, authorizing the establish-
ment, construction, improvement, enlargement, maintenance and operation 0!
a sewage disposal system, the borrowing of money and the issuance of bonds
therefor, and the collection of fees, rents and charges for the use thereof, and
prescribing certain powers and duties of the city council. {H 12]

Approved February 17, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That an act entitled “An act to provide a new charter for
the city of Portsmouth”, approved March ten, nineteen hundred
eight, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new chapter to
be known as chapter thirteen, as follows:

CHAPTER 13

Section 1. That for the purpose of providing relief of the tidal
waters from pollution, and for the improvement of conditions af-
fecting the public health and the natural oyster beds, rocks and
shoals, and in addition to other powers conferred by law, and sub-
ject to the provisions of chapter sixty-three-B of the Code of Vir-
ginia, the council of the city of Portsmouth shall have power and
authority :

(1) To establish, construct, improve, enlarge, operate and main-
tain a sewage disposal system with all the necessary sewers, con-
duits, pipe lines, pumping and ventilating stations, treatment plants
and works, and other plants, structures, boats, conveyances and
other real and personal property necessary for the operation of such
system.

(2) To acquire by purchase, gift, condemnation or otherwise.
real estate, or rights or easements therein, necessary or convenient
for establishment, enlargement, maintenance or operation of such
sewage disposal system, and the right to dispose of property so
acquired no longer necessary for the use of such system.

(3) To borrow money for the purpose of establishing, con-
structing, improving, and enlarging the sewage disposal system and
to issue bonds therefor in the name of the city of Portsmouth, as
hereinafter provided in section two of this chapter.

(4) To accept gifts or grants of real or personal property,
money, material, labor or supplies for the establishment and oper-
ation of such sewage disposal system and to make and perform such
agreements or contracts as may be necessary or convenient in con-
nection with the procuring or acceptance of such gfits or grants.

(5) To enter on any lands, waters and premises for the purpose
of making surveys, borings, soundings and examinations for con-
structing and operating the sewage disposal system, and for the
prevention of pollution of the tidal waters.
(6) To enter into contracts with the United States of America,
or any department or agency thereof, the Hampton Roads Sanitation
Commission, or any person, firm or corporation, providing for or
relating to the treatment and disposal of sewage and industrial
wastes.

(7) To fix, charge and collect fees, rents or other charges for
the use and services of the sewage disposal system. Such fees, rents,
and charges may be charged to and collected from any person con-
tracting for the same, or from the owner or lessee or tenant, or
some or all of them, who uses or occupies any real estate which
directly or indirectly is or has been connected with the sewage dis-
posal system, or from or on which originates or has originated
sewage or industrial wastes, or either, which directly or indirectly have
entered or will enter the sewage disposal system, and the owner
or lessee or tenant of any such real estate shall pay to the city such
fees, rents and charges at the time and place where the same are due
and payable.

Such fees, rents and charges, being in the nature of use or service
charges, shall, as nearly as the city council shall deem practicable
and equitable, be uniform for the same type, class and amount of
‘use or service of the sewage disposal system, and may be based or
computed either on the consumption of water on or in connection
with the real estate, making due allowances for commercial use of
water, or on the number and kind of water outlets on or in connec-
tion with the real estate or on the number and kind of plumbing or
sewage fixtures or facilities on or in connection with the real estate
or on the number or average number of persons residing or working
on or otherwise connected or identified with the real estate or any
other factors determining the type, class and amount of use or ser-
vice of the sewage disposal system, or on any combination of such
factors, or on such other basis as the city council may determine.
Such fees, rents, and charges shall be due and payable at such time
as the city council may determine, and the council may require the
same to be paid in advance for periods of not more than six months.
The revenue derived from any or all of such fees, rents, and charges
is hereby declared to be revenue of such sewage disposal system.

In the event the fees, rents or charges charged for the use and
services of the sewage disposal system by or in connection with any
real estate shall not be paid when due, interest shall at that time
begin to accrue thereon at the rate of one per centum per month,
and the owner, lessee or tenant, as the case may be, of such real
estate shall, until such fees, rents and charges shall be paid with
such interest to the date of payment, cease to dispose of sewage or
industrial waste originating from or on such real estate by dis-
charge thereof directly or indirectly into the sewage disposal system,
and if such owner, lessee or tenant shall not cease such disposal
within two months thereafter, the city or person or corporation sup-
plying water for the use of such real estate shall cease supplying
water thereto unless the health officers shall certify that the shutting
off the water will endanger the health of the occupants of the premise
or the health of others in the city.

Such fees, rents and charges and interest thereon may be recover-
ed by the city of Portsmouth by action at law or suit in equity, and
shall constitute a lien against the property, ranking on a parity with
liens for unpaid city taxes.

Section 2. Bonds of the city of Portsmouth, the principal and

interest of which shall be payable from ad valorem taxes, which
shall be levied upon all the taxable property of said city without
limitation of rate or amount, in the event that the revenue herein-
after referred to is insufficient for the payment of the principal and
interest thereof, may be issued from time to time in the manner
prescribed by section one hundred twenty-seven (b) of the Constitu-
tion of Virginia to establish, construct, improve and enlarge a
sewage disposal system with all the necessary sewers, conduits, pipe
lines, pumping and ventilating stations, treatment plants and works
and other property, real and personal, necessary for the operation
thereof, from which the city may derive a revenue pursuant to the
provisions of section one of this chapter; to reimburse the general
fund or any other fund of the city for moneys paid from said fund
or funds for such purposes, and to fund or refund any existing in-
debtedness incurred for such purposes, and such bonds shall not be
included in determining the power of the city to incur indebtedness
within the limitation prescribed by section one hundred twenty-
seven of the Constitution of Virginia, but from and after a period
to be determined by the council, not exceeding five years from the
date of the election authorizing such bonds, whenever and for so
long as such sewage disposal system fails to produce sufficient
revenue to pay for cost of operation and administration, including
the interest on such bonds, and the cost 9f insurance against loss by
injury to persons or property, and an aunual amount to be covered
into a sinking fund sufficient to pay, at or before maturity, all such
bonds, then all such bonds outstanding shall be included in determin-
ing the limitation of the power of the city to incur indebtedness;
provided, however, that bonds may be issued from time to time for
any or all of such purposes, including reimbursement of funds and
the funding or refunding of existing indebtedness, in the manner
prescribed by section one hundred twenty-seven (b) of the Con-
stitution of Virginia, the principal and interest of which bonds shall
be payable solely from the revenue of such sewage disposal system,
which bonds shall never be included in determining the power of the
city to incur indebtedness within the limitations prescribed by sec-
tion one hundred twenty-seven of the Constitution of Virginia. The
ordinance authorizing the issuance of any of such bonds and the
calling of an election on the question of the issuance thereof shall
state:
(a) the maximum amount of bonds to be issued ;

(b) the purpose or purposes for which such bonds are to be
issued ;

(c) that the principal and interest of said bonds shall be payable
from ad valorem taxes without limitation of rate or amount, if
the revenue of the sewage disposal system is insufficient for that
purpose, or that the principal and interest of such bonds shall be
payable solely from the revenue of such sewage disposal system ;

(d) if the bonds are to be payable from ad valorem taxes with-
out limitation of rate or amount in the event that the revenue of
the sewage disposal plant is insufficient for that purpose, that the
bonds are to be issued pursuant to the provisions of section one
hundred twenty-seven (b) of the Constitution of Virginia and are
not to be included in determining the power of the city to incur
indebtedness within the limitation prescribed by section one hundred
twenty-seven of the Constitution of Virginia; provided, however,
that from and after a period specified in such ordinance not exceeding
five years from the date of the election authorizing the bonds, when-
ever and for so long as such sewage disposal system fails to produce
sufficient revenue to pay for cost of operation and administration,
including the interest on such bonds, and the cost of insurance
against loss by injury to persons or property, and an annual amount
to be covered into a sinking fund sufficient to pay at or before ma-
turity, all such bonds, then all such bonds outstanding shall be in-
cluded in determining the limitation of the power of the city to incur
indebtedness ;

(e) if the bonds are to be payable solely from the revenue of
such sewage disposal system, that the bonds are to be issued pur-
suant to the provisions of section one hundred twenty-seven (b)
of the Constitution of Virginia and are never to be included in
determining the power of the city to incur indebtedness within the
limitation prescribed by section cone hundred twenty-seven of the
Constitution of Virginia;*." ‘~

(f{) the maximum rate of interest to be borne by the bonds, not
exceeding six per centum per annum;

(g) the maximum period within which such bonds shall mature,
not exceeding thirty-five years from the date of issue;

(h) such other details as the council may, in its sole discretion
deem necessary, including but without limiting the generality of the
foregoing, a pledge of the net revenue of the sewage disposal system
to the payment of the principal and interest of any such bonds and a
covenant to maintain fees, rents or other charges for the use of such
sewage disposal system, authorized by section one of this chapter,
at a level which will produce net revenue sufficient for the payment
of the principal and interest thereof, and any reserve funds deemed
necessary for the efficient administration of such sewage disposal
system and for the protection of the holders of the bonds.
Section one hundred ninety-seven-a, three thousand eighty-three,
three thousand eighty-six, three thousand eighty-seven and
three thousand eighty-eight of the Code of Virginia shall govern
the calling and holding of the election on the question of the issuance
of such bonds, and the provisions of chapter three hundred eighty-
six of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred twenty-eight and
section three thousand eighty-four of the Code of Virginia, except
in so far as the same may be in conflict herewith, shall govern the
issuance of such bonds. If such bonds are sold at public sale, the
notice of sale may provide that the bidders shall name the rate or
rates of interest to be borne by such bonds, not exceeding the maxi-
mum rate prescribed by the ordinance calling the election, to be
expressed in a multiple or multiples of one-fourth or one-tenth of
one per centum per annum. The powers conferred by this section
shall be deemed to be supplemental to, cumulative of, and in addi-
tion to all other powers heretofore granted by the general laws of
the State or by special acts or other charter provisions of the city
of Portsmouth, and no general law or special act or other charter
provision, except as herein expressly provided, shall in any way
affect the issuance of such bonds.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.