CHAP. 238.—An ACT to amend sections 1, 7, 9, 10 and 11 of an act en-
titled an act to provide for the issuing of county bonds for permanent
road or bridge improvement in the magisterial districts of the counties
of the State, approved March 13, 1912. (S. B. 104.)

Approved March 17, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
sections one, seven, nine, ten and eleven of an act to provide
for the issuing of county bonds for permanent road or bridge
improvement in the magisterial districts of the counties of the
State, approved March thirteenth, nineteen hundred and
twelve, be amended to read as follows:

Section 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Vir-
ginia, That bonds may be issued by any county for the pur-
pose of macadamizing or otherwise permanently improving the
public roads and bridges of any magisterial or road district in
Said 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
fifty freeholders of said county, shall make an order requiring
the judges of elections, 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
question whether the board of supervisors shall issue bonds for
said purposes, 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. But no
election shall be ordered until after the court has been assured
by the State highway commissioner, or his representative, that
the amount of bonds proposed to be issued will be approxi-
mately sufficient to improve the roads set out in this order,
the estimated cost of each road, or part thereof, to be set out
in the order of the court, for expenditure solely on said road
or part thereof. The said order shall designate the magis-
terial district or districts 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 are to be built or permanently improved;
the qualified voters at any special election held under this act,
until otherwise provided by general laws, shall be those quali-
fied to vote at the preceding regular November election and
those who may have come of age and registered since said pre-
ceding regular November election, except those who by com-
mission of crime or removal from the district or county have
disqualified themselves to vote.

Sec. 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 county and district tax
in such magisterial district in which the proceeds of the bonds
have been or are to be expended, including such property lo-
cated or the situs of which for taxation is, within the limits
of any incorporated town situated within such district, to pay
the interest on the bonds so issued, and to create a sinking
fund to redeem the principal thereof at maturity; and in ad-
dition an annual levy at a rate to yield a sum equal to but not
less than three per centum of the amount of bonds issued in
any year, or in lieu thereof, an amount equal to the amount
raised from said additional levy may be set aside by the board
of supervisors from other funds of the county, or may
raised by other means now provided for by law, which sum
shall be expended under the direction of the State highway
commissioner and the local road authorities in the maintenance
and upkeep of the roads constructed and improved hereunder,
and from year to year said levy or assessment shall be made
until the debt and interest are paid, which levy shall not ex-
ceed ninety cents on the one hundred ($100.00) dollars of tax-
able 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 pay-
ment of the principal of said bonds, and for no other purpose.

Should for any reason the county in anyway have to as-
sume any payment on account of said bond issue, either in-
terest or principal, it is hereby provided that the board of su-
pervisors shall levy such tax in said magisterial district as
may be necessary to defray the amount assumed by the county,
it being and having heretofore been intended that bonds issued
or to be issued under this act are county obligations, but pay-
able primarily out of levies upon the property in the magis-
terial district, where the proceeds of the bonds may be ex-
pended hereinunder.

The board of supervisors is hereby authorized and empow-
ered to apply any part or all of said sinking fund to the pay-
ment 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 cancelled, and shall not be reissued, and
the board of supervisors is 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 approved by the Com-
monwealth’s attorney of said county, which approval shall be
entered of record in the order book of said court.

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 approved by the State highway com-
missioner, to make plans and specifications of all roads or
bridges to be built or permanently improved from the pro-
ceeds of such bond issue, and to supervise the building of
the 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 two con-
secutive 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 material and for the construction of such road according
to such plans and specifications, and such State highway com-
missioner 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 commissioner 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 per-
form the work upon the terms proposed, within the time pre-
scribed and in accordance with the plans and specifications;
partial payments may be provided for in the contract and paid
in the manner herein provided when certified to by such com-
missioner or road engineer approved 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 reason-
able regulations and directions of the said highway commis-
sioner or road engineer. The board of supervisors, or local
road board if there be one, shall have no power or authority
to expend the money derived from the bond sales as afore-
said except to pay for materials furnished and work done
under the supervision provided for in this act.

Sec. 10. The board of supervisors, or local county road
board if there be one, and the State highway commissioner,
acting jointly, in their discretion, may authorize the purchase
of the necessary machinery and supplies and build or perma-
nently improve such roads on account of the magisterial dis-
trict making the bond issue authorized in this act; provided,
however, that such work shall be done under the same supervi-
sion as is provided in case the work is done by contract.

Sec. 11. No election upon the question of the issuance of
bonds under this act shall be held oftener than once in one
year for the same magisterial district.