Chap. 513.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act to provide for the issuing
of county bonds for permanent road or bridge improvement, in the magis-
terial districts of the counties of the State, and repealing all acts in so
far as the same are in conflict herewith, approved September 5, 1919.

[S B 367]
Approved March 28, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general 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 magisterial or road district in said county upon the conditions
hereinafter provided. The circuit court of the county, or the judge
thereof in vacation, upon the petition of a majority of the board of
supervisors of said county, or upon petition of fifty qualified voters
of said district, shall make an order requiring the judges of elections.
at the next session of county officers or at any other time not less
than thirty days from the date of such order, which shall be desig-
nated therein, to open a poll and take the sense of the qualified
voters of the district on the question whether the board of super-
visors 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, or the
judge thereof in vacation, has been assured by the State highway
commission, or his representative, that the amount of bonds pro-
posed to be issued will be approximately sufficient to improve the
roads set out in the 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
magisterial 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 fifteen (15) per centum of the total
taxable value, not including intangible personalty, at the time in
the magisterial district in which the road or roads are to be built or
permanently improved.

2. The regular election officers of said county in and for the
said district or districts, at the time designated in the order authoriz-
ing the vote, shall open polls at the various voting places in the
said district or districts, and shall conduct such election and close
the polls in such manner as is provided by the 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 the words “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
return thereof as is provided in other elections. Said ballots shall
be printed and furnished by the regular election officers.

3. The commissioners of election of said county shall, within two
days after the judges of election have made return 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 commissioner that a
majority of the qualified voters of the district or districts in which
the road or roads are to be built or permanently improved voting
on the questions, or on either of them, are in favor of issuing the
bonds for the purpose aforesaid, the circuit court, or the judge there-
of in vacation, shall, at its next term, enter of record an order re-
quiring the supervisors of the county to proceed at their next meet-
ing to carry out the wishes of the voters as expressed at the said
election.

5. Whenever the sense of the qualified voters of any district or
districts shall be taken on the question, the board of supervisors
of the said county shall issue bonds for the purposes aforesaid, the
said election and returns shall be subject to the inquiry, determina-
tion and judgment of the circuit court of the county in which said
election was held, upon the written complaint of twenty-five or more
of the qualified voters of such county, of an undue 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, proceed upon
the merits thereof and determine concerning the same according
to the Constitution and laws of this State, but such complaint shall
not be valid unless it shall have been filed within thirty days after
said election in the clerk’s office of the said circuit court. The board
of supervisors of such county shall be made a defendant by summons
or notice to its chairman of the filing of the complaint, and after
such service of notice on the chairman of the board of supervisors,
either party, upon reasonable notice of 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 such service of 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 judgment. If the judgment be
that the election was a valid one in favor of the issuing of bonds
for permanent road improvement in said district or districts, or either
of them, the court shall make an order in conformity with the pre-
ceding section. )

6. The board of supervisors at their meeting or as soon there-
after as practicable, shall determine what amount of bonds for road
improvement in said district or districts, not exceeding the maximum
aforesaid, and in event they do not at said meeting direct the present
issuing of all the said bonds, they may thereafter, from time to time,
direct the residue thereof to be issued to carry out the wishes of
the voters, so far as necessary, as expressed in such election, and
in event the board, for any reason, fails or refuses to issue the bonds
so authorized to be issued, the circuit court of the county may, upon
the complaint of ten qualified voters of the county and after ten
days’ notice to the chairman of the board, for cause known, issue
an order directing them to issue the said bonds or any unissued
residue thereof, or such portion thereof as the court may, from time
to time, deem proper to be issued in order to enable the proper road
authorities to carry out the wishes of the voters as expressed in said
election. And this remedy shall apply to any bond issue heretofore
or hereafter authorized by voters of any district or districts. They
shall have the power to appoint agent or agents to sell said bonds
(and to pay said agent or agents a commission for negotiating said
sale not to exceed three per centum of the amount of bonds sold by
them, or to pay such sum to the purchaser of such bonds, provided
that said bonds shall be sold to be paid for in lawful money only,
and shall not be sold at less than par value). When such a sale
of bonds has been negotiated, the board of supervisors shall issue
the same. Such bonds may be either registered or with coupons
attached, as said board of supervisors may prescribe, and shall have
written or printed in ink the following sentences: “These bonds are
issued for road improvement in _----.---___-----------_----------
magisterial district, but the full faith and credit of the entire county
of ------------------ ++ -e is hereby pledged for their
payment.” Such bonds shall be signed by the chairman and counter-
signed by the clerk thereof under the seal of the board; shall be in
denomination of one hundred dollars or some multiple thereof; shall
bear interest at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum, pay-
able semi-annually, both principal and interest to be payable at such
place or places as may be determined by the board of supervisors,
and shall be payable not exceeding thirty-four years from the date
thereof at said office, but may, in the discretion of the said board, be
made redeemable at such time or times within such period or periods
and upon such notice 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
to the purchasers thereof, or their order, 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 and in the
magisterial district or districts for which it was intended, and none
other. The said treasurer shall receive as compensation for his ser-
vices hereunder one-eighth of one per centum of the amount thus
coming into his hands, and also the reasonable cost to him giving
surety on such additional bond or bonds as may be required of him,
if any, on account of his receipts heretofore or hereafter of said
funds, and the board of supervisors of such county may direct the
treasurer to deposit the proceeds of said bond issue in such bank or
banks as it may approve, to the credit of the said treasurer, to be
paid out on his checks therefor, and at the rate of interest to be
specified, and all interest accrued therefrom shall be accounted for
by said treasurer and be expended for the purposes of the said road
improvement, and in so far as not necessary for said road improve-
ment, shall be covered into the sinking fund for the payment of
the principal of said bonds as provided in section seven.

7. After the order of the board of supervisors has been made
under section four hereof, when the next levy is laid or tax imposed
in said county, a special tax shall be levied on all property liable to
county or district road tax in such magisterial district in which the
proceeds of the bonds have been or are to be expended, including
such property located or the situs of which for taxation is within the
limits of any incorporated town situated within such district, sufh-
cient to pay the interest on the bonds so issued, or to be issued, and
to create a sinking fund to redeem the principal thereof at maturity ;
and, in addition, an annual levy at a rate to yield a sum not less than
three per centum of the amount of bonds issued, 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 be raised by other means now provided for by
law, which sum shall be expended under the direction of the local
road authorities in the maintenance and upkeep of the roads con-
structed and improved hereunder, and from year to year said levy
or assessment shall be made until the debt and interest are paid,
provided, however, that the interest and sinking fund tax provided
for herein shall not be construed in the meaning of this act to be
a county road tax, and provided further that no tax upon intangible
personal property for road construction and for maintenance shall
exceed thirty cents on the one hundred dollars of valuation.

Bonds issued or to be issued under this act are county obligations,
but payable primarily out of levies upon the property in the magis-
terial district, where the proceeds of the bonds may be expended
hereunder.
The board of supervisors is hereby authorized and empowered
to apply any part or all of said sinking fund to the payment, if
redeemable by their terms, or to the 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 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 in-
terest all accumulations of money to the credit of said sinking fund
and taxes for road construction and maintenance herein authorized;
and to collect and reinvest the same and the interest accruing there-
on from time to time, so often as may be necessary or expedient,
until such bonds become subject to call; provided, that no money
to 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 approval shall be entered of record in the order book
of said court.

The treasurer shall not be liable for any funds herein provided
for that shall be lost while on deposit made by order of the board
of supervisors with any bank or banks, or when invested in any
real estate security as provided herein, but the board of supervisors
may require of any such bank a bond, with corporate or other surety,
to secure such deposit.

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 readiness to do so to the holder in person or by publication there-
of 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 such 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 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,
interest 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 approved by the State highway commissioner, to make plans and
specifications of all roads or bridges to be built or permanently im-
proved from the proceeds of such bond issue, and to supervise the
building of the same, and shall let the work to contracts 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 of all material and for the con-
struction of such road according to such plans and specifications,
and such State highway commissioner and the board of supervisors,
or local county 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 con-
ditioned that if the proposal shall be accepted the contractor will
furnish the material and perform the work upon the terms proposed,
within the time prescribed 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
commissioner 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 opened 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 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
discretion, may authorize the purchase of the necessary machinery
and supplies and build or permanently improve such roads on account
of the magisterial district 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 one year for the same
magisterial district.

12. All acts and parts of acts in so far as the same are in con-
flict herewith, are hereby repealed; provided, that this act shall not
affect the existing law where in any proposed bond issue for county
or magisterial district application has been made for an election
thereon as provided for in the existing law.

13. Notwithstanding the invalidity of any phrase or clauses or
parts thereof in this act, the remainder of the act shall be unofficial
thereby and such invalid portions shall be regarded as forming no
part of the act.

14. That an act approved September fifth, nineteen hundred and
nineteen, entitled an act to amend and re-enact an act to provide
for the issuing of county bonds for permanent road or bridge im-
provement in the magisterial districts of the counties of the State,
and repealing all acts in so far as the same are in conflict herewith,
be, and the same is hereby, amended and re-enacted in the words of
this act and so as to read in accordance with the same.

15. By reason of the necessity for issuing of bonds in several
magisterial districts of the counties of the State in order to properly
carry om county highway work, an emergency is hereby declared to
exist, and this act shall be in force from its passage.