Chap. 426.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3 of an act entitled “An act
to provide for the creation of sanitary districts in counties of the State
adjoining a citv having a population, according to the last preceding United
States census, of one hundred and seventy thousand inhabitants or more; to
prescribe the powers and duties of the boards of supervisors of such counties
as to the construction, acquisition, maintenance and operation of water supply,
sewerage, heat, light and power and gas systems in such districts; and to
provide for the issuance of county bonds; to provide funds for establishing
and operating such public utilities in said sanitary districts,” approved March
17, 1926, and to further amend said act by adding thereto a new section num-
bered 12-a, authorizing the board of supervisors of any county in which a
sanitary district has heretofore or may hereafter be created under said act,
to provide public utilities for thickly populated areas through the creation of
smaller districts within such sanitary district, and to provide funds for said
purpose, by taxation and otherwise; a new section numbered 12-b, conferring
certain powers of eminent domain upon the board of supervisors of the county,
and a new section numbered 12-c, declaring what shall be the effect if any
part of section, sentence, clause, or phrase of the said act is declared uncon-
stitutional. [H B 384]

Approved March 30, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
three of an act entitled “An act to provide for the creation of sanitary
districts in counties of the State adjoining a city having a population,
according to the last preceding United States census, of one hundred
and seventy thousand inhabitants or more; to prescribe the powers
and duties of the boards of supervisors of such counties as to the con-
struction, acquisition, maintenance and operation of water supply,
sewerage, heat, light and power and gas systems in such districts; and
to provide for the issuance of county bonds; to provide funds for
establishing and operating such public utilities in said sanitary districts,”
approved March seventeenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, be
amended and re-enacted and that said act be further amended by
adding thereto three new sections numbered twelve-a, twelve-b, and
twelve-c, so that the said amended section and the said new sections
shall read as follows:
Section 3. After the entry of such order creating a sanitary district
in such county, the board of supervisors thereof shall have the fol-
lowing powers and duties, subject to the conditions and limitations
hereinafter prescribed:

(a) To construct, reconstruct, maintain, alter, improve, add to and
to operate water supply, sewerage, heat, light, power, gas, and fire-
fighting systems, for the use and benefit of the public in such sanitary
districts.

(b) To acquire by gift, condemnation, purchase, lease, or other-
wise, and to maintain and operate any such water supply, sewerage,
heat, light and power and gas and fire-fighting systems in such district.

(c) To contract with any person, firm, corporation or municipality
to construct, establish, maintain, and operate any such water supply,
sewerage, heat, light, power, gas and fire-fighting systems in such
district.

(d) To require owners or tenants of any property in the said dis-
trict to connect with any such system or systems, and to contract with
the said owners or tenants for such connections. Said owners or tenants
shall have the right of appeal to the circuit court or the judge thereof
in vacation within ten days from action by the said board of super-
visors.

(e) To fix and prescribe the rates of charge for the use of any
such system or systems, and to provide for the collection of such
charges.

(£) To employ and fix the compensation of any technical, clerical,
or other force and help which from time to time, in their judgment
may be deemed necessary for the construction, operation or maintenance
of any such system or systems.

(g) To negotiate and contract with any person, firm, corporation,
or municipality with regard to the connection of any such system or
systems, with any other system or systems now in operation or here-
after to be established, and with regard to any other matter necessary
and proper for the construction or operation and maintenance of any
such system within the said sanitary district.

Section 12-a. In any county in which a sanitary district has been
created, or may hereafter be created under this act, the board of super-
visors of such county may, if they deem it necessary, furnish to any
thickly populated area within such district, public utilities, as provided
in section three of this act, and thereupon they may form such thickly
populated area within such sanitary district into a smaller district,
hereinafter referred to as ‘“‘small district,” and allocate to said “small
district” such sum or sums of money from the sanitary district bond
issue, or issues, as may be, in their judgment, necessary for the con-
struction of public utilities within such “small district’ so formed.

All of the property subject to local taxation within such “‘small
district” shall be primarily obligated for the payment of the interest
and principal on that part of the bonded indebtedness of the sanitary
district as is equal to that part of the proceeds therefrom which may
have been allocated for use within such “small district,” and the board
of supervisors of such county shall, in the event that the net revenue
from the operation of such public utilities is not sufficient to pay the
interest and to create a sinking fund to liquidate the amount so al-
located, levy an annual tax on all of the property, subject to local taxa-
tion in said ‘‘small district,” to pay such interest and to make payments
into the sinking fund. But nothing in this act shall be construed to
exempt the sanitary district, and the property subject to local taxation
therein, from its obligation under and by reason of such sanitary dis-
trict bond issue or issues.

Section 12-b. The board of supervisors of any such county is here-
by vested with the power of eminent domain insofar as may be neces-
sary for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, additions to, main-
tenance, and repair of any part of such sewerage system, water system,
or other public utility, and in the exercise of such power is hereby
vested with all of the authority to exercise such power as is given to
the State Highway Commissioner of Virginia by chapter four hundred
and three of the Acts of Assembly of Virginia, nineteen hundred and
twenty-two, as amended.

Section 12-c. If any part or parts, section, sub-section, sentence,
clause or phrase of this act is for any reason declared unconstitutional,
such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions
of this act, which shall remain in force as if such act had been passed
with the unconstitutional part or parts, section, sub-section, sentence,
clause or phrase thereof eliminated; and the General Assembly hereby
declares that it would have passed this act if such unconstitutional
part or parts, section, sub-section, sentence, clause or phrase had not
been included herein.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.