Chap. 115.—-An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1 of chapter 8 of an
an act entitled an act to incorporate the city of Danville, approved.
February 17, 1890, as heretofore amended. [H B 137]

Approved March 29, 1923.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section one of chapter eight of an act entitled an act to in-
corporate the city of Danville, approved February seventeenth,
eighteen hundred and ninety, as heretofore amended, be and
it is hereby amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1. The council shall have power and authority, in
the name and for the use and henefit of said city, to borrow
money on temporary loans for a period not exceeding twelve
months, and for an amount not exceeding, in the aggregate at
any one time, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars ($150,000.00), and issue therefor notes, bonds or other evi-
dences of debt.

The council shall also have power and authority, in the
name and for the use and benefit of said city, to borrow money
and contract debts, and issue, negotiate and sell notes, bonds
and certificates of debt; and, moreover, to issue, negotiate and
sell bonds of the city to be used in the payment, discharge and
redemption, or refunding of any outstanding bonds of said city,
whenever said bonds shall mature or become Subject to call.
But said city shall not issue bonds or other interest bearing
obligations for any purpose, or in any manner, to an amount,
which, including existing indebtedness, shall at any time ex-
ceed eighteen per centum of the assessed valuation of the real
estate of said city, subject to taxation, as shown by the last
preceding assessment for taxes; provided, however, that in de-
termining this limitation to incur indebtedness, there shall not
be included the classes of indebtedness Specifically provided for
by sub-sections (a) and (b) of section one hundred and twenty-
Seven of the Constitution of Virginia.

That no bonds issued by the council of the city of Danville
for and on behalf of said city, after July first, nineteen hun-
dred and twenty-two, shall be made payable a greater number
of years after their date than the estimated life of the improve-
ment or undertaking on account of which the debt is to be
created; provided, that in no event shall a debt of said city
be made payable more than thirty years after the date thereof,
and provided, further, that the city council may determine the
estimated life of any such improvement or undertaking and
the judgment of the council in making said estimate shall be
conclusive.

That all bonds, including refunding bonds, issued by the
said city council, for and on behalf of said city, after July first,
nineteen hundred and twenty-two, shall be issued in serial form,
that is to say, the aggregate of the principal of the debt to be
created shall be divided into equal annual instalments, payable
annually, with the first annual instalment falling due one year
after the date of said bond, with interest payable annually or
semi-annually, as the council may determine; provided, how-
ever, that nothing herein contained, shall be construed to re-
quire the issue in serial form of bonds or other obligations
issued in anticipation of the collection of the revenue of said
city for the then current year, and maturing within one year
from the date of their issue.

Except for the current expenses aforesaid, except for the
said bonds issued to refund the bonded indebtedness of said city,
and except as to such bonds as the council of said city may issue,
negotiate and sell to raise funds for the erection, enlargement,
extension, maintenance and repair of the gas, water, and elec-
tric plants, or works, of the city, and other public utilities from
which the city derives a revenue, said council shall not, in the
name of the city contract any debt or issue any bonds or other
evidences of debt, in an amount exceeding ten thousand dollars,
until the question of contracting such indebtedness or issuing
such bonds, or other evidences of debt, shall have been first
submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of the city, and shall
be approved by two-thirds of such voters, voting at such elec-
tion, which two-thirds shall include a majority of the qualified
registered voters owning real estate in said city; provided,
however, that not more than $100,000 of bonds for gas plants
or works, nor more than $100,000 of bonds for electric plants
or works, nor more than $100,000 of bonds for any other public
utility from which the city derives a revenue, shall hereafter
be issued without submitting the question to a vote of the
people as aforesaid.

The council shall annually set aside from the resources of
said city a sum equal to one per centum of the aggregate bonded
indebtedness of said city, not payable within one year, whether
heretofore or hereafter contracted, except that no sinking fund
shall be required for bonds hereafter issued in serial form;
provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be con-
strued to authorize the council to discontinue any sinking fund
which may be. required for bonds issued pursuant to clause (b)
of section one hundred and twenty-seven, of the Constitution
of Virginia of nineteen hundred and two. The fund thus set
aside shall be called the “Sinking Funds,” and shall be applied
to the payment of the bonded indebtedness of said city as it
shall become due, and if no part be due and payable, the sink-
ing fund shall be invested in the bonds or other certificates
of indebtedness of said city, or of the State of Virginia, of
the United States, or of any other State of the Union.

2. An emergency existing, this act is hereby declared an
emergency act, and shall be in force from its passage.