Chap. 107.—An ACT to provide for the issuing of county bonds for permanent
road improvement in the magisterial districts of the counties of the State.

Approved March 8, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That bonds may
ie issued by any county for the purpose of macadamizing or otherwise
permanently improving the public roads and bridges of any magisterial
district in said county, upon the conditions hereinafter provided. ‘The
-ircuit court of the county, upon the petition of a majority of the board
of supervisors of said county, may make an order requiring the judges of
election, at the next election of county officers, or at any other time not
less than thirty days from the date of such order which shall be designated
therein, to open a poll and take the sense of the qualified voters of the

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county cn the question, whether the board of supervisors shall issue bond=
for said purposes, or either of them; the location, length, and width of
such roads as is proposed to be macadamized or permanently improved to
be named in the order. The said order shall designate the magisterial
district in which such road or roads lie, and the maximum amount of
bonds to be issued, which shall in no case exceed an amount in excess of
ten per centum of the total taxable values at the time in the magisterial
district in which the road or roads or bridges are to be built or perma-
nently improved. ‘The qualified voters at any special election held under
this act, until otherwise provided by general law, shall be those qualified
to vote at the preceding general election, except those who by commis-
sion of crime or removal from the district or county have disqualified
themselves to vote.

§19. The regular election officers of said county, at the time desig-
nated in the order authorizing the vote, shall open polls at the various
voting places in the said county, and shall conduct such election and close
the polls in such manner as is provided by law in other elections; and at
said election each qualified voter who shall approve such issue of bonds
shall deposit a ticket or ballot on which shall be written or printed the
words, “For bond issue,” and each qualified voter who shall oppose such
issue of bonds shall deposit a ticket or ballot whereon shall be written or
printed, “Against bond issue.”

The judges of election at the several voting places shall, immediately
after the closing of the polls at each of the said places, count the ballots
deposited, and shall within two days after said election make returns
thereof as is provided in other elections: provided, that no voter shall be
allowed to vote in said election who resides and is a voter in a town ex-
empt from road tax.

$20. The commissioners of election of said county shall, within two
days after the judges of election have made returns of the poll books and
ballots as aforesaid, mect at the office of said clerk, and, having taken an
oath before him faithfully to discharge their duties, canvass the returns
and certify the results thereof to the circuit court.

$21. If it shall appear by the report of the commissioners that a
majority of the qualified freeholders of the said district voting at said
election, and that a majority of the qualified voters of the county voting
npon the question, and also that a majority of qualified voters of the
district voting on the question at said election, in which the road or roads
or bridges are to he built or permanently improved, are in favor of issu-
ing the bonds for the purpose aforesaid, the circuit court shall at its next
term enter of record an order requiring the supervisors of the county to
proceed at their next meeting to carry out the wishes of the voters as ex-
pressed at the said election.

$22. Whenever the sense of the qualified voters of the said county shall
be taken on the question whether the board of supervisors shall issue
bonds for the purpose aforesaid, the said election and returns shall be
subject to the enquiry, determination, and judgment of the circuit court
of the county in which such election was held, upon the written com-
plaint of fifteen or more of the qualified voters of such county of an
undue election or of false return, two of whom shall take an oath that
the facte set forth in such complaint are true to the best of their knowl-
cdge and belief, and the court shall, in judging of such election and re-
turns proceed upon the merits thereof and determine concerning the same
according to the Constitution and laws of this State, and such complaint
shall not be valid unless it shall have been filed within thirty days after
the said election in the clerk’s office of the said circuit court.

The board of supervisors shall be made a defendant by summons or
notice to its chairman of the filing of the complaint, and after such ser-
vice of notice on the chairman of the board of supervisors, either party
upon reasonable notice to the other shall be at liberty to take depositions
to sustain or invalidate such election. Service of notice on any three of
the complainants shall be sufficient. The court shall proceed at its next
term after service-of such summons or notice to determine the contest
without a jury on the evidence, oral or written, unless good cause be
shown for a continuance, and shall make a proper record of its judg-
ment. If the judgment be that the election is a valid one in favor of
issuing bonds, the court shall make an order in conformity with the pre-
ceding section.

§23. The board of supervisors, at their next meeting, or as soon there-
after as practicable, shall determine what amount of bonds, not exceeding
the maximum aforesaid, shall be issued, and shall enter of record the
amount so determined. They shall have power to appoint an agent or
agents to negotiate a loan or loans, or to sell said bonds: provided, said
londs shall be paid for in lawful money, and shall not be sold at a price
that will net the county less than their par value. When such a loan has
been negotiated, or bonds sold, the board of supervisors shall issue said
honds, which may be either registered or with coupons attached, as said
board of supervisors may prescribe; and shall have written or printed in
said bonds the following sentences: “These bonds are issued for
magisterial district, and a tax is to be levied upon the property of said
district to pay the interest on them and to create a sinking fund suffi-
cient in amount to pay them upon maturity.” Said bonds shall be signed
by the chairman and countersigned by the clerk thereof; shall be in de-
nominations of one hundred ($100) dollars, or some multiple thereof ;
shall bear interest at the rate not exceeding five per centum, payable an-
nually at the office of the treasurer of said county, and shall be payable
not exceeding thirty-four years from the date thereof at said office; but
may, in the discretion of said board, be made redeemable at such time or
times, or after such period or periods, as the said board may prescribe and
stipulate upon the face of the bonds when issued. The board shall de-
liver them to the treasurer of its county, who shall deliver said bonds
upon the payment of the price thereof: ‘The said treasurer and his sure-
ties shall be liable for the amount received for said bonds as though it
were a county levy, and said funds shall be expended for the purposes and
in the magisterial district for which it was intended, and none other.
The said treasurer shall receive as compensation for his services here-
under a commission of one-fourth of one per centum on the amount thus
coming into his hands.

$24. After issuing such bonds, or any of them, when the next levy is
made, or tax imposed in said county, a tax shall be levied on all property
liable to State tax in such magisterial district in which the proceeds of
the bonds have been or ‘are to be expended, to pay the interest on the
bonds so issued, and to create a sinking fund to redeem the principal
thereof at maturity; and from year to year said levy or assessment shall
be made until the debt and interest are paid, which levy shall not exceed
ninety cents in the hundred ($100) dollars of taxable property within the
said magisterial district of said county; the amount levied for and set
apart as a sinking fund, and the interest accruing thereon shall be used
for the payment of the principal of said bonds, and for no other purpose.
Should for any reason the county in any way have to assume any pay-
ment on account of said bond issue, either interest or principal, it is
hereby provided that the board of supervisors shall levy such tax in said
magisterial district as may be necessary to repay the amount assumed by
the county.

The board of supervisors are hereby authorized and empowered to
apply any part or all of said sinking fund to the payment or purchase of
any of said bonds at any time, and all bonds so paid off or purchased bv
said board of supervisors shall be immediately cancelled and shall not be
reissued, and the board of supervisors are authorized and empowered to
lend out, upon real estate security, the loan not to exceed fifty per centum
of the assessed value of such real estate, or deposit in bank at interest, all
accumulations of money to the credit of said sinking fund provided as
aforesaid, and to collect and reinvest the same and the interest accruing
thereon from time to time, so often as may be necessary or expedient,
until such bonds become subject to call: provided, that no money to the
credit of said sinking fund shall be loaned out or deposited or invested
by the said board of supervisors, unless said loan, deposit, or investment
shall be first approved by the circuit court of said county, or the judge
thereof in vacation, and the form of the security be examined and ap-
proved by the Commonwealth’s attorney of said county, which approval
shall be entered of record in the order book of the said court.

§25. When the said county wishes to redeem any of its outstanding
bonds, subject to call, issued under the provisions of this act, it may
through the chairman of the board of supervisors give notice of its readi-
ness to do so to the holder in person, or by publication thereof once a
week for two successive weeks in a newspaper published in said county,
or nearest thereto. It shall be sufficient in the notice to give the number
and amount of each bond and fix a day for its presentation for payment,
which shall not be less than ten days from the date of personal service of
the notice, or the completion of the publication thereof, as the case
may be. .

If the bond be not presented on the day fixed for its redemption, in-
terest thereon shall cease from that day.

§26. The board of supervisors, or when there are road boards, the said
road boards of the counties shall apply to the State highway commissioner
for or shall employ a competent road engineer to make plans and specifi-
cations, or cause the same to be made, of all roads to be built or perma-
nently improved, from the proceeds of such bond issue, and to supervise
the building of same, and shall let the work to contract to the lowest re-
sponsible bidder, after due public access to the specifications and due
public advertisement for bids for at least four weeks in a newspaper or
newspapers of general circulation in Virginia, when it can get satisfac-
tory bids, and shall require contractors to furnish good and sufficient
honds for faithful performance of contracts, and fifteen per centum of
the contract price shall be reserved until the work is completed and five
per centum until one year after the completion of the work. ‘he said
contractors shall conform to all reasonable regulations and directions of
the aforesaid engineer, boards of supervisors, or road boards.

The board of supervisors shall have no power to expend the money
derived from the bond sales as aforesaid except to pay for work done
under supervision and contract as aforesaid.