Chap. 400.—An ACT to require the approval of the qualified voters of the
county of Washington on certain local questions; to prohibit the board of
supervisors of the said county from appropriating the county levy for certain
purposes; to require the division superintendent of schools and members of
the board of supervisors of the said county to be bonded, and to make them
liable on their official bonds in certain cases; and to limit the rates of levy
in the said county; also, to authorize and direct the county school board of
Washington county to borrow a sum not in excess of two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars and to issue its notes therefor, the proceeds to be used to
pay the existing school indebtedness of the school districts of the county and
to replace funds expended during the present year for indebtedness incurred
during the last preceding year or years; and providing for the levy and
collection of a tax for the payment of the interest thereon and the principal
thereof at maturity. [H B 493]

Approved March 24, 1926.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
consent and approval of a majority of the qualified voters in the
county of Washington, or the district therein affected, voting in an
election held for the purpose of approving or rejecting the proposal
shall be necessary before the local authority shall take any action in
any of the following cases:

(a) Where the county school board proposes to make any loans
authorized by general law other than this act in any amount or to
borrow money from the literary fund in excess of five thousand
dollars, and issue bonds or notes therefor, or to borrow money or
issue bonds or notes in any amount for any other purpose whatsoever,
except as hereinafter provided.

(b) Where the board of supervisors of the said county proposes
to levy any tax or assessment in excess of the maximum rates auth-
orized in this act.

(c) Where the board of supervisors or the county school board
proposes to contract for the expenditure of any sum in excess of the
revenue available for the current year.

2. The board of supervisors of the said county of Washington is
hereby prohibited from appropriating any money out of the county
levy to the support and maintenance of the schools in any school
district or in the county, or to the construction or maintenance of
any roads in the said county, or in any district therecf.

3. The division superintendent of schools of the county of
Washington shall countersign all warrants issued for school purposes,
the aggregate amount of which shall not be in excess of the estimated
income from all sources, for the year in which the warrant is issued,
which estimated income shall be ascertained and published by the
county school board not later than June first in each year, and if re-
quested so to do by the board of supervisors by resolution duly entered
on the minutes of the board, shall enter into bond in the penalty of
five thousand dollars, with security approved by the clerk of the cir-
cuit court of the said county, conditioned upon the faithful discharge
of the duties of his office and compliance with the provisions of this
act. The several members of the board of supervisors shall likewise
enter into bond in the sum of fifteen hundred dollars with surety ap-
proved by the clerk of the circuit court, conditioned upon the faithful
discharge of the duties of their office and compliance with the pro-
visions of this act.

Providied, however, that this act shall not prohibit the county
school board from issuing its warrants not in excess of fifty thousand
dollars in anticipation of the part of the proceeds from the bond issue
mentioned in section seven of this act to replace funds expended during
the present year for indebtedness incurred during the last preceding
year or years.

4. The board of supervisors of said county shall not make any
levy or assessment except on election as hereinbefore provided in ex-
cess of the following rates on the hundred dollars of the assessed
valuation of property for the purposes named, the levies for school
purposes herein named to be for the maintenance and support of the
public schools.

For county purposes, fifty cents.

For county school purposes, fifty cents.

For district school purposes, one dollar.

For county and district roads, forty cents in the aggregate.

5. Whenever the board of supervisors or the county school board
of the county desires that a special election shall be held under the
provisions of this act, such election shall be ordered by the circuit
court of the county, or the judge thereof in vacation, upon the petition
of either of such boards, as the case may be. The court or judge shall
fix the date for such special election, which date shall not be sooner
than sixty days from the time it is ordered. In lieu of a special elec-
tion the court or judge may order that the proposal or proposals to
be voted on shall be submitted to the voters on the date of the next
general election held not less than sixty days after the entry of such
order by the court or judge. Whenever any special election is ordered
by the court or judge, or whenever the court or judge shall order that
the proposal or proposals shall be voted on at a general election, it
shall be the duty of the regular election officers to provide for the
submission of the proposal or proposals on the date so fixed and for
the canvassing and certification of the vote as required by general law.

6. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are repealed,
so far as they affect Washington county, but nothing. herein shall
apply to the town of Abingdon which has a separate school district.

7. The county school board of Washington county, by and with
the consent of the board of supervisors of the said county, be, and is
hereby, authorized and directed to borrow not in excess of two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, and to issue and sell its notes therefor,
payable at such time or times as shall be fixed by said board, said
amount to be applied in paying off and discharging the valid out-
standing public school indebtedness of the districts of the county, and
to replace funds expended during the year for indebtedness incurred
during the last preceding year or years. Said notes shall bear interest
at not exceeding five and one-half per centum per annum, payable
annually or semi-annually, and shall not be sold for less than their
par value. The proceeds of said notes shall be applied in paying off
and discharging the valid outstanding public school indebtedness of
the school districts of the county of Washington, other than money
due to the literary fund, but the purchaser of said notes shall not be
obliged to see to the application of said proceeds, or to inquire into
the validity of said indebtedness. Said notes shall be issued in de-
nominations of one thousand dollars and shall be signed by the chair-
man of the said school board, attested by its clerk, and shall have the
seal of said school board affixed thereto, authority to provide a seal
being hereby conferred. The signatures of the said officers shall be
valid and binding, notwithstanding any change in the incumbency of
said officers, before the delivery of the said notes. Said notes shall be
a lien upon all of the property in said districts, but the full faith and
credit of the entire county of Washington is hereby pledged for their
payment. The board of supervisors of Washington county shall
annually levy a tax on all the property subject to local taxation for
school purposes in each of said school districts sufficient to pay the
interest on the amount of notes which may be issued to pay its in-
debtedness, and the principal thereof as the same shall become due
and payable, and if for any reason the said tax on property in the
school district shall be insufficient, then the said board of supervisors
shall levy a sufficient tax on all the taxable property in the county,
provided, that the levy of such a county tax or payment of such in-
terest and principal from any county fund shall not extinguish the
liability of the school district which shall remain in favor of the
county until fully paid.

Such notes may be either registered or with coupons attached, as
the said board may prescribe, and shall have written or printed on
each the following sentence: ‘‘This note is issued for discharging
valid outstanding indebtedness in................ school district,
but the full faith and credit of the entire county of Washington is
hereby pledged for its payment, and a tax is to be levied upon the
property in said district to pay the interest on it and to create a sinking
fund sufficient in amount to pay it upon maturity.”

Said notes shall be payable at such place or places within or with-
out the State as said school board shall designate.

8. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage, but nothing herein contained shall affect the consummation
of any loan from the literary fund applied for and approved prior to
the passage of this act, or any bond issue already authorized by the
school board to anticipate such loan from the literary fund.