CHAPTER 436

AN ACT to amend and reenact §§ 85 and 86 of Chapter 34 of the
Acts of Assembly of 1918, approved February 7, 1918, as
amended, which provided a new charter for the City of Norfolk,
relating, respectively, to sinking fund commissioners and bond
issues, and to amend the Chapter by adding a section numbered
2 (c), so as to permit the city to aid in the financing of the con-
struction of bridges within the city constructed by the State
or any public agency or political subdivision thereof.

[S 340]

Approved April 6, 1950

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 85 and 86 of Chapter 34 of the Acts of Assembly of
1918, approved February 7, 1918, as amended, be amended and
reenacted, and that the Chapter be amended by adding a section
numbered 2 (c), as follows:

§ 2(c). The City shall have power to aid in financing the con-
struction of any bridge constructed acithin the corporate limits of
the City by either the State of Virginia or by any of its agencies or
political subdivisions, and in financing the maintenance and opera-
tion of such bridge, upon such terms and conditions as may be pre-
scribed by an agreement or agreements made by the City with the
State or agency or political subdivision constructing such bridge,
provided the bridge is, in the opinion of the Council, necessary or
appropriate to serve the City and its inhabitants.

§ 85. Sinking fund commissioners.—At its first meeting in
September, 1918, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the Council
shall elect three qualified voters of said City, to constitute the Board
of Sinking Fund Commissioners of the City of Norfolk, one of
whom shall be elected for a term of six years, and until his successor
shall have been elected and qualified; one for the term of four
years, and until his successor shall have been elected and qualified ;
and one for the term of two years, and until his successor shall
have been elected and qualified. Thereafter, on the expiration of
the said respective terms, the Council shall elect a qualified voter
of said City to serve as a member of said board for the term of
six years, and until his successor shall have been elected and
qualified. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in said board by reason
of death, resignation or otherwise, the Council shall elect a quali-
fied voter of said City to fill such vacancy for the unexpired term.

The said board shall receive and hold all the funds of the said
City now or hereafter appropriated by the Council as a sinking
fund for the purpose of meeting the indebtedness of the said City,
and manage and invest the same and receive the interest or income
therefrom, and may at all times, either in its own name, or in the
name of the City of Norfolk, institute and prosecute any suit, at
law or in equity, which in the opinion of said board may be neces-
sary in the management, preservation or protection of said fund.

The City Treasurer shall pay over to the said board all moneys
appropriated to the said fund by any law or ordinance which may
now or hereafter be effective.

All moneys received by the said board shall be invested in
registered bonds either of the United States or of the State of
Virginia, or in registered or coupon bonds of the City of Norfolk,
in either or all of them, and in such proportion as to the said
board may seem proper, and may also be invested in the floating or
temporary obligations of the said City as the same may be author-
ized and issued from time to time, and shall be held by the said
board subject to be appropriated by ordinance of the Council to
the payment in whole or in part of the debt of the said City;
provided, that the funds received by the said board for the pay-
ment of the Norfolk City Water Bonds, and the accumulations
thereof, shall be held solely for the payment of the said Norfolk
City Water Bonds when and as they shall fall due; and provided,
further, that any payments made to the said board in respect of
any bonds, notes, or other obligations issued after April first,
nineteen hundred and sixteen, shall be held and kept in separate
accounts pertaining to the several bond issues in respect of which
said payments are made, and all accumulations of or upon said
payments shall likewise be held and kept in said separate accounts,
and shall not be subject to appropriation by the Council except
for the purpose of paying the several bond issues in respect of
which said payments shall have been made; and provided, further,
that the said sinking fund, exclusive of the funds held for the
redemption of the Norfolk City Water Bonds or other specific
issue of bonds, shall not at any time be reduced below the sum of
two hundred thousand dollars by any appropriation from said fund
to the payment of the indebtedness of the said City, so long as
there may be any bonded indebtedness of the said City outstanding
for that amount or more.

It shall be the duty of the board to protect the City against
any increase of indebtedness beyond the limit provided by law,
and * no bonds * shall be hereafter issued by the City, except such
bonds as may be lawfully issued beyond the limit pursuant to the
provisions of Section one hundred and twenty-seven of the Consti-
tution of the State, * until the members of said board have signed
and filed with the City Clerk of the City a certificate stating that
the issuance of such bonds will not increase the indebtedness of the
City beyond eighteen per centum of the assessed valuation of the
real estate in the City subject to taxation as shown by the last
assessment for taxation preceding the issuance of such bonds, and
that such bonds are within the limit prescribed by law for the
indebtedness of the City. Any such certificate shall set forth the
date, the identifying numbers and the maturities of the bonds
therein referred to and shall state the title and date of adoption of
the ordinance or ordinances authorizing such bonds.

Each member of the said board, before entering upon the
duties of his office, shall give bond, payable to the said City, for
such amount and in such manner as may be prescribed by the
Council, by ordinance, and conditioned for the faithful perform-
ance of the trust reposed in him.

The said board shall semiannually, in the months of January
and July of each year, report to the Council all bonds, securities,
and monies in its hands or under its control, and also at such
other times as may be required by the Council or by the City Man-
ager, and such accounts shall be examined and audited as soon
thereafter as practicable by the City Auditor or by such agency or
other means as the Council may direct. The said board shall also
report to the Director of Finance all investments made by it, and
all moneys received by it within thirty days after the same shall
have been made or received, and the Director of Finance shall
keep an account of the same and report the said account to the
Council semiannually in January and July of each year, and as
much oftener as may be required by the Council.

§ 86. Bond issues.—(1) The Council may in the name and
for the use of the City contract debts and make and issue or
cause to be made and issued as evidence thereof, bonds, notes or
other obligations, upon the credit of the City or solely upon the
credit of specific property owned by the City, or solely upon the
credit of income derived from property used in connection with
any public utility owned and operated by the City, such bonds
and notes or other obligations to be either coupon or registered
bonds, or coupon bonds with the privilege to the holder of hav-
ing the same registered as to principal or as to both principal and
interest. But except as provided in clause (4) of this section no
debt shall hereafter be contracted for a longer period than that
of the probable life of the work or object for which the debt is
to be contracted, to be determined by the Director of Public Works
and by him certified as hereinafter provided. In determining the
probable life or probable average life of works or objects as here-
inafter provided, the Director of Public Works shall not deem the
life of the following classes of work or objects to exceed the fol-
lowing periods, namely: roadways of streets having, at the time
the debt is contracted, railroad or street railway tracks thereon,
fifteen years; roadways of all other streets, twenty years; school-
houses, thirty years; other public buildings, forty years; iron
bridges, thirty years; concrete bridges, forty years; parks or other
real estate, fifty years; and all other works or objects not herein-
above specified, thirty years. In the event that a debt shall be
authorized for purposes falling within two or more of the above-
named classes, it shall be the duty of the Director of Public
Works to determine and certify as hereinafter provided the prob-
able average life of the works or objects for which said debt is
contracted, taking into consideration the nature of said works or
objects and the portion of said debt applicable to said works or
objects, respectively. The words “probable life’, as herein used,
shall be construed to mean the length of time that will probably
elapse before any particular improvement (assuming it to be kept
in reasonable current repair) will reasonably require replacement.

(2) No bond, note, or other obligation of the City shall here-
after be issued except as hereinafter provided in the case of tem-
porary loans, unless and until there is filed with the City Clerk
a certificate from the Director of Public Works in substantially
the following form:

“I hereby certify that the probable life (or ‘the probable aver-
age life’) of the work or object (or ‘the works or objects’) for
which the debt authorized by the ordinance entitled (naming it)
is contracted is as great as the longest period fixed for the
maturity of any obligation issued or to be issued under the * same
ordinance”; and the said certificate shall be conclusive.

(3) The maximum periods hereinabove fixed for the contract-
ing of debts for the several purposes hereinabove set forth may
be changed at any time by the General Assembly, or under its
authority, as to any bonds to be issued after said change is made,
and such change shall not be deemed to constitute an impairment
of the obligation of the contract of the City as to any bonds there-
tofore issued.

(4) Notwithstanding anything in this section contained, it
shall be lawful for the said City to issue, without the certificate
of the Director of Public Works above-mentioned, bonds, notes,
or other obligations for the purpose of refunding, so far as neces-
sary, any obligations of the City created before April first, nine-
teen hundred and sixteen, but maturing thereafter, or for the
purpose of refunding bonds of the City heretofore issued which
mature not more than three years after the date of their issue;
but no such refunding bonds, notes, or other obligations shall
‘be issued for a period of more than twenty-five years, except that
bonds issued for the purpose of refunding bonds of said City here-
tofore issued which mature not more than three years after the
date of their issue may be issued for a term not exceeding thirty-
five years; and all such refunding bonds shall conform to the re-
quirements set forth in clause (5) or clause (6) hereof, as the
case may be.

(5) Hereafter, except as provided in clause (6) of this sec-
tion, no debt shall be contracted, nor any bond, note or other
obligation of the City issued, except as hereinafter provided in the
case of temporary loans, unless by the ordinance or ordinances
authorizing the same there be required the annual or semiannual
payment, as a sinking fund, to the Board of Sinking Fund Com-
missioners of the City of Norfolk of a sum, or sums, to be fixed
in and by said ordinance or ordinances, which, if annually or
semiannually paid as provided by said ordinance or ordinances,
will (as shown by any sinking fund tables in accepted use among
bankers), with interest at four per centum per annum thereon and
upon the accumulations thereof, produce at the date of maturity
of the bonds the amount of the * debt to retire which said sink-
ing fund was created; and the said amount shall be annually
appropriated by the Council and shall be paid annually if said
amount shall have been fixed on the basis of annual payments,
and semiannually if such amount shall have been fixed on the
basis of semiannual payments; provided that after the sinking
fund created for any issue of bonds shall equal the total amount
of said issue, the obligation of the City to make further payments
in respect thereof shall cease and determine, except to make good
any losses to the said sinking fund. Not less than five nor more
than six years after the date of each issue of bonds, notes or
other obligations hereunder, it shall be the duty of the Board of
Sinking Fund Commissioners to appraise at their fair market
value, not exceeding par, the securities held in the sinking fund
pertaining to that issue, and if it should then appear that the
said fund, together with the further appropriations to be made
thereto, and with interest at four per centum per annum upon
said fund and the accumulations thereof and the appropriations
thereto, will not be adequate to pay the said bonds, notes, or other
obligations, at maturity, it shall then be the duty of the said
board to determine and certify to the Council the amount of such
further annual appropriation as will, with interest and accumula-
tions as aforesaid, be adequate for said purpose; and a similar
appraisal, determination, and certification shall be made * by the
said board every five years thereafter during the term of the
said issue; and the Council and the City Treasurer, respectively,
shall rest under the same duty in respect of the appropriation and
payment of said further sum or sums as in respect of the appro-
priation and payment of the sum originally provided for.

(6) In lieu, however, of creating a sinking fund, or sinking
funds, as in clause (5) hereof provided, the City may issue bonds
hereinafter called “serial bonds’, payable in annual installments,
the first of which shall be payable at any time within the fiscal
year succeeding the fiscal year in which the said issue may be
authorized; and the last of which shall be payable within the
period of the probable life of the work or object for which the
debt evidenced by said bonds was created, ascertained and certi-
fied as hereinabove provided. The several installments in which
said serial bonds may be payable may be equal or unequal as the
Council may prescribe; but, if unequal, the greatest of said install-
ments shall not be more than double the amount of the smallest.

(7) All bonds issued after April first, 1916, shall be paid at
their respective maturities, and, except in the case of obligations
of said City issued after April first, 1916, and prior to the enact-
ment of this Charter, which mature not more than three years
from the date thereof, no refunding bonds shall be issued for
the payment thereof; provided, however, that if for any reason
there shall not at the time of the maturity of any such bonds be
sufficient funds of said City available for the payment thereof, it
shall be lawful for the City to borrow money and issue negotiable
notes to the amount required to pay such maturing bonds, which
* bonds shall be paid out of taxes to be levied and collected
within the three years next succeeding the year in which such
notes were issued. The payment out of the proceeds of the sale
of any bonds of temporary loans made in anticipation of the
sale of such bonds shall not be deemed a refunding of such tem-
porary loans within the meaning of this clause. If the Council
shall fail to make provision for the payment of any sinking
fund installment required as to any bonds lawfully issued under
this section, or of any installment of serial bonds lawfully issued
under this section, and such default shall continue for sixty days,
then, and in either of said events, the City Treasurer shall, with-
out further direction from the Council, and notwithstanding any
contrary direction from the Council, pay such sinking fund or
serial bond installments from moneys then in his hands, if suffi-
cient; and, if not, then from the first moneys that shall come into
his hands thereafter.

(8) Pending the issuance or sale of any bonds, notes or other
obligations by this section authorized, or in anticipation of the
receipt of taxes and revenues of the current fiscal year, or of
either of the two fiscal years immediately preceding the current
fiscal year, it shall be lawful for the city to borrow money tem-
porarily and issue notes or other evidences of indebtedness there-
for, and from time to time to renew such temporary loans to be
ultimately repaid from the proceeds of said bonds, notes or other
obligations, or from the city taxes and revenues, as the case may
be; provided that such temporary loans, including all renewals
thereof, if made pending the issuance or sale of bonds, notes or
other obligations, issued under clause (5) five or clause (6) six
hereof, shall not be made for a period greater than three (3)
years, nor shall they exceed in the aggregate at any one time
the amount of such bonds, notes or other obligations remaining
unissued and unsold; and temporary loans made in anticipation
of the receipt of taxes and revenues of any fiscal year includ-
ing all renewals thereof, shall not be made for a period greater
than the period ending two years after the expiration of such
fiscal year and shall not exceed in the aggregate at any one
time the uncollected portion of the taxes and revenues in antici-
pation of which such notes or other evidences of indebtedness are
issued. All such temporary loans shall be evidenced by instru-
ments upon the face of which there shall be plainly written “tem-
porary loans’. No such loan made pending the issuance or sale
of bonds, notes, or other obligations under the provisions of clause
(5) five or clause (6) six hereof shall be valid unless the said
bonds, notes or other obligations shall have been first legally
authorized. The provisions of clauses (1) one to (6) six inclu-
sive, of this section, shall not apply to said temporary loans.

(9) The credit of the City shall not, directly or indirectly,
under any device or pretense whatsoever, be granted to or in aid
of any person, association or corporation. The Council shall
not issue any bonds, notes or other obligations of the City, or
increase the indebtedness thereof, to an amount greater than
eighteen per centum of the assessed valuation of the real estate
in the City subject to taxation as shown by the last preceding
assessment for taxation; provided, however, that in determining
the limitation of the power of the City to incur indebtedness there
shall not be included the classes of indebtedness mentioned in
subsections (a) and (b) of section one hundred and twenty-seven
of the Constitution of the State.

(10) Bonds of said City predicated solely upon the credit of
specific property owned by the City, or solely upon the credit of
income derived from property used in connection with any public
utility owned or operated by the City, may be issued only after
the ordinance authorizing the same has been approved by the
affirmative vote of the majority of the qualified voters of the
City voting upon the question of their issuance at the general
election next succeeding the enactment of the ordinance, or at
a special election held for that purpose, pursuant to any law
now in existence or hereafter enacted providing the method by
which cities and towns may vote upon the issuance of bonds
contemplated by clause B, section one hundred and twenty-seven
of the Constitution of this State; and in every such case the net in-
come from such specific property or from such public utility or prop-
erty used in connection therewith, after payment of operating
expenses or so much thereof as shall be necessary for the purpose,
shall be paid by the City Treasurer to the Board of Sinking Fund
Commissioners and by it set aside to meet the interest and
principal of such bonds or other obligations in accordance with
the terms of the contract or contracts evidenced by such bonds
or other obligations.

(11) Every ordinance authorizing the issuance of bonds shall
specify the purpose or purposes for which they are to be issued,
the aggregate amount of the bonds, the term for which they shall
be issued, and the rate or maximum rate of interest to be paid
thereon. Any such ordinance may be amended by ordinance at
any time before the bonds to be affected by such amendment
have been sold. All other matters relating to such bonds may
be determined by resolution, within the limitations prescribed by
such ordinance or by this Act.

(12) All bonds shall be under the seal of the City and shall
be signed by the City Treasurer or one of his deputies and by
such other officer or officers of the City as may be designated
in the ordinance authorizing the bonds. If such ordinance shall
so determine, the officer or officers signing the bonds, other than
the City Treasurer or his deputy, may sign the bonds by their
facsimile signatures, in liew of manual signatures; but the signa-
ture of the City Treasurer or his deputy on such bonds shall be
in his own proper handwriting. Coupons attached to a bond shall
he authenticated by the facsimile signature of the City Treasurer.