Chap. 47.—An ACT to provide for the issuing of county bonds for permanent
road or bridge improvement in the counties of the State.

Approved February 25, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the gencral assembly of Virginia, That bonds may
be issued by any county for the purpose of macadamizing or otherwise
permanently improving the public roads and bridges of any county,
upon the conditions hereinafter provided. The circuit court of the
county, upon the petition of a majority of the board of supervisors of
said county, or upon petition of one hundred and fifty freeholders of said
county shall 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 county on the ques-
tion whether the board of supervisors shall issue bonds for said pur-
poses, or either of them; the approximate 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 location of
such roads or bridges as are to be improved, and the maximum amount
of bonds to be issued, which shall, including all bonds previously issued
and remaining unpaid, in no case exceed an amount in excess of ten per
centum of the total taxable value at the time in the county in which the
road or roads are to be built or permanently: improved; the qualified
voters at any special clection held under this act, until otherwise pro-
vided by general law, shall be those qualified to vote at the preceding
regular November election and those who may have come of age and
registered since said preceding regular November election, except those
who by commission of crime or removal from the district or county have
disqualified themselves to vote.

2. The regular election officers of said county at the time designated
in the order authorizing the vote, shall open polls at the various ‘voting
places in the said county, including the polls at the voting places in the
incorporated towns located within such 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 sha]l 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 ballots to be used
in such election shall be printed and furnished by the county election
ofhcials as in regular elections.

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 1s provided in other elections.

3. 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, meet 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.

4. If it shall appear by the report of the commissioners that a ma-
jority of the qualified voters of the county voting upon the question is in
favor of issuing 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 expressed at the said election.

5. 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 un-
due election or false returns, two of whom shall take an oath that facts
set forth in such complaint are true to the best of their knowledge and
belief; and the court shall, in judging of such election and returns, pro-
ceed upon the merits thereof and determine concerning the same ac-
cording 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 deposi-
tions 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.

6. The board of supervisors at their meeting, or as soon thereafter
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 bonds
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 bonds,
which may be registered or with coupons attached, as the board of super-
visors may prescribe; said bonds shall be signed by the chairman and
countersigned by the clerk thereof; shall be in denominations of one
hundred ($100.00) dollars, or some multiple thereof, shall bear interest
at the rate not exceeding six per centum, payable semi-annually, 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 dis-
cretion 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 deliver them
to the treasurer of the county, who shall deliver said bonds upon the
payment of the price thereof. The said treasurer and his sureties 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 for which
they were intended and none other. The said treasurer shall receive, as
compensation for his services hereunder, one-fourth of one per centum
on the amount thus coming into his hands; and also the reasonable cost
to him of giving surety on such additional bond or bonds as may be
required of him, if any, on account of his receipts of funds heretofore or
hereafter hereunder.

7. 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 county, including such property lccated or the
situs of which for purposes of taxation is within the limits of any in-
corporated town situated within such county, 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 on the hundred ($100.00) dollars of taxable property within
the 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.

The board of supervisors is 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
by said board of supervisors shall be immediately canceled, and shall
not be reissued; and the board of supervisors is authorized and empow-
ered 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 in-
terest 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 approved by the Commonwealth’s attorney of said county, which ap-
proval shall be entered of record in the order book of said court.

8. 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.

9. The board of supervisors or local county road board, if there be
one, of the county shall apply to the State highway commissioner for, or
shall employ a competent road engineer, whose selection shall be ap-
proved by the State highway commissioner, to make plans and specifica-
tions of all roads or bridges to be built or permanently improved from
the proceeds of such bond issue, and to supervise the building of the same,
and shall let the work to contract to the lowest responsible bidder, after
due public access to the specifications and due public advertisement for
bids for at least two consecutive weeks in a newspaper having a general
circulation in such county, and in such publication as the State highway
commissioner may deem proper, if any, for the furnishing for all mate-
rial and for the construction of such road according to such plans and
specifications; and such State highway commissioner and the board of
supervisors or local county road board, if there be one, acting jointly may
award such contract to the lowest responsible bidder. Such commis-
sioner and board of supervisors or local county road board, if there be
one, may reject any and all bids, and before entering into any contract
with any bidder, they shall require a bond in the penalty of at least thirty
per centum of the contract price, with sufficient security conditioned that
if the proposal shall be accepted the contractor will furnish the material
and perform the work upon the terms proposed, within the time pre-
scribed and in accordance with the plans and specifications; partial pay-
ments may be provided for in the contract and paid in the manner herein
provided when certified to by such commissioner or road engineer ap-
proved by him to an amount not exceeding ninety per centum of the
value of the work done, and ten per centum of the contract price shall be
retained until ninety days after the entire work has been accepted and
open to the public. The said contractor shall conform to all reasonable
regulations and directions of the said highway commissioner or road
engineer. The board of supervisors or local county road board, if there
be one, shall have no power or authority to expend the money derived
from the bond sales as aforesaid except to pay for materials furnished
and work done under the supervision provided for in this act.

10. The board of supervisors or local county road board, if there be
one, and the State highway commissioner, acting jointly, in their discre-
tion, may authorize the purchase of the necessary machinery and sup-
plies and build or permanently improve such roads on account of the
county making the bond issue authorized in this act: provided, however,
that such work shall be done under the same supervision as is provided in
case the work is done by contract.

11. No election upon the question of the issuance of bonds under this
act shall be held oftener than once in two years for the same county.