Chap. 153.—An ACT to authorize and empower the board of supervisors of any
county adjoining any city within or without this State having a population
of more than 125,000, according to the last preceding United States census,
to construct, reconstruct, maintain, alter, improve, add to and operate sewer
systems; to acquire by gift, condemnation, purchase, lease or otherwise a
sewer system or systems; to permit the use of such systems by any sanitary
district, village, town, community, individual, firm, corporation or partnership,
to make charge for the use of the sewer system or systems herein authorized
as the board may from time to time determine upon; to lay a levy for the pur-
pose of raising funds for the construction, maintenance, operation, improve-
ment, reconstruction and extension of any such sewer system or systems, or
to appropriate from the general county fund for such purposes: to contract
for a loan and issue bonds for the purpose of construction, acquisition, recon-
struction, improvement, maintenance, extension and operation of any such
sewer system on the credit of the county and/or on the basis of net returns
from sewer service charges for the use of such sewer system or systems
and without the credit of the county being pledged, provided, that such
borrowing power shall not exist, and the loan shall not be contracted for or
bonds issued unless and until the action of the board of supervisors determin-
ing to construct, maintain and operate or acquire, reconstruct, improve or
extend such sewer system or systems shall be certified to the Judge of the
Circuit Court of such county, petitioning the said judge to call an election
for the purpose of obtaining the sense of the qualified voters of the county
on the question of such loan and bond issue for such purpose; prescribing
the duties of the Judge of said Circuit Court of said county; prescribing the
duties of the county electoral board and the judges of election and other
election officials and other public officers; prescribing the duties and powers
of the board of supervisors; exempting certain incorporated towns and cities
of the second class from the operation of this act, and declaring any bonds
issued under authority of this act to be negotiable. {H 256]

Approved March 6, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. Section 1. The board of supervisors of any county adjoin-
ing any city within or without this State, having a population of
more than one hundred twenty-five thousand, according to the last
preceding United States census, shall be, and it hereby is authorized
and empowered to construct, reconstruct, maintain, alter, improve,
add to and operate sewer systems in said county.

Section 2. Said board shall have the following additional
powers and duties subject to the conditions and limitations here-
inafter prescribed :

(a) To acquire by gift, condemnation, purchase, lease or
otherwise a sewer system or systems, provided that the right of
condemnation granted herein shall be subject to the same provi-
sions as are provided in section thirty-eight hundred thirty-two of
the Code of Virginia concerning the condemnation of any property
belonging to a corporation possessing the power of eminent domain
by another public service corporation.

(b) To permit the use of any such sewer system or systems
by any sanitary district, village, town, community, individual, firm,
corporation or partnership, and to make such charge for the use
of such sewer system or systems as the board may from time to
time determine upon.

(c) To lay a levy for the purpose of raising funds for the con-
struction, maintenance, operation, improvement, acquisition, exten-
sion and reconstruction of any such sewer system or systems, or in
lieu thereof, to appropriate from the general county fund for such
purposes.

(d) To contract for a loan or loans and to issue bonds of said
county on the credit of the county and/or bonds of the said county,
the payment of which the net revenue from the said sewer service
charge for the use of any such sewer system or systems shall be
obligated and appropriated, and for which the credit of any such
county shall not be obligated, to an amount in the aggregate not
to exceed eighteen per centum of the assessed value of all real
estate in said county subject’ to local taxation, for the purpose of
construction, reconstruction, acquisition, improvement, mainte-
nance, operation and extension of any such sewer system or
systems, provided that such borrowing power shall not exist and
the loan shall not be contracted for nor bonds issued unless and
until the action of the board of supervisors determining to con-
struct, maintain and operate, acquire, reconstruct, extend and/or
improve such sewer system or systems and specifying the character
of the bonds shall be certified to the Judge of the Circuit Court of
said county petitioning the said judge to call an election for the
purpose of taking the sense of the qualified voters of the county
on such loan and bond issue. After receipt of the petition of the
board of supervisors above referred to, the judge of the Circuit
Court of said county, in term time or in vacation, shall make an
order requiring the judges of election to open a poll not less than
thirty days from the date of such order, which date shall be desig-
nated therein, and take the sense of the qualified voters of the said
county on the question whether the board shall issue bonds for
said purpose and/or purposes. The clerk of the said Court shall
cause a notice of such election to be published in some newspaper
published or having a general circulation in the county, once a
week for three consecutive weeks, shall post a copy of such notice
at the door of the Courthouse of said county and shall certify a
copy of the order requiring the judges of election to open a poll
to the County Electoral Board. The County Electoral Board shall
cause the polls at the various voting places in the county to be
open on the day designated in the said order and the judges of
election shall conduct the election in the manner provided in section
one hundred ninety-seven-a of the Code of Virginia. The ballots
shall be furnished by the County Electoral Board and shall be
prepared, printed and voted in accordance with the provisions of
section one hundred ninety-seven-a of the Code of Virginia, and
the board of supervisors, if they deem it expedient, shall proceed
to carry out the wishes of the voters as soon as practicable.
Section 3. Whenever the sense of the qualified voters of the
county shall be taken on the question whether the board of super-
visors of the said county shall issue bonds for the purposes afore-
said, the said election and returns shall be subject to the inquiry,
determination and judgment of the Circuit Court of the county,
subject to the provisions of chapter sixty-three B of the Code of
Virginia, in which said election was held, upon the written com-
plaint 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 on the chair-
man of the board of supervisors, either party, upon reasonable
notice to 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 in said county, the Court shall
make an order in conformity with the preceding section.

Section 4. After the approval of any such loan and bond issue
by the qualified voters of the county, the board of supervisors shall
determine what amount of bonds shall be issued for the construc-
tion, maintenance, operation, acquisition, reconstruction, extension
and/or improvements of said sewer system or systems in said
county, and in event they do not direct the present issuing of all
of 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 two hundred qualified voters of such county
and after ten days notice to the chairman of the board, for cause
shown, issue an order directing the board 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 carry out the wishes of the voters as expressed in said election.
The board shall have the power to appoint an 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 said bonds sold shall 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
if the bonds authorized to be issued be bonds the payment of which
the full faith and credit of the county is pledged, there shall be
written or printed in ink thereon the following sencence: “These
bonds are issued for the construction and operation and/or acquisi-
tion of a public sewer system in the county of .................... , Virginia,
and the full faith and credit of the said county is hereby pledged
for their payment.” And if the bonds authorized to be issued be
bonds the payment of which the net revenue from sewer service
charge for the use of such sewer system or systems shall be obli-
gated and appropriated and for which the credit of any such county
shall not be obligated, there shall be written or printed in ink on
the face of the bonds the following sencence: “These bonds are
issued for the construction and operation and/or acquisition of a
public sewer system in the county of .................. , Virginia, and the
net revenue from the sewer service charge for the use of such
sewer system or systems is hereby pledged for their payment, and
the credit of the county is not pledged.”

Section 5. The net revenue derived from the operation of such
sewer system or systems shall be set apart by the said board 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.
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 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 accumulation of money to the credit of said
sinking fund 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 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 this 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.

The said board of supervisors shall, if necessary for the payment
of interest on the said bonds or to increase. the sinking fund pro-
vided for hereunder, levy an annual tax upon all the real property
in such county subject to local taxation to pay such interest and to
make payments into the said sinking fund, if the bonds be those the
payment of which the credit of the county is pledged.

Section 6. When the board of supervisors of the county wishes
to redeem any of the 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 thereof 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 pay-
ment, 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.

Section 7. The board of supervisors of any such county is
hereby vested with the power of eminent domain insofar as may
be necessary for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, altera-
tion, additions to, maintenance and repair of any part of such
sewer system or systems, and in the exercise of such power it 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 eleven of the Acts of the General Assembly
of Virginia of nineteen hundred forty-two, approved April four,
nineteen hundred forty-two.

Section 7-a. Any incorporated town or city of the second class
having voting power in the county operating its own sewer system
shall be exempt from the operation of this act and from any obliga-
tion for the payment of bonds or loans made under authority of
this act, and no election had under authority of this act shall be
held in any such town and/or city.

Section 7-b. In cases where a county, at the time of issuing
bonds under authority of this act, contains an incorporated town
or a city of the second class having voting power in the county
operating its own sewer system and exempted from the operation
of this act by section seven-a, that part of the territory of such
county which is outside of the corporate limits of such exempt
town and/or city of the second class having voting power in the
county, shall, for the purposes of issuing and paying the bonds,
constitute a district, and the following special provisions shall be
applicable to such bonds: (a) the bonds shall be issued in the
name of such county on behalf of such district, and not on the
credit of the entire county. (b) there shall not be written or
printed on the bonds the words “and the full faith and credit of
said county is hereby pledged for their payment”, required by
section four of this act. (c) the aggregate principal amount of
the bonds shall not exceed eighteen per centum of the assessed
value of all real estate of such district subject to local taxation.
(d) any tax which may be levied for the payment of interest on
such bonds or to increase the sinking fund provided therefor shall
be levied only on the real property in such district.

Section 7-c. Any provisions of any law to the contrary not-
withstanding, any bonds issued pursuant to the authority of this
act shall be deemed to be fully negotiable within the meaning and
for all the purposes of chapter two hundred thirty-three of the Code
of Virginia.

Section 7-d. The board of supervisors is authorized and em-
powered to adopt all resolutions necessary and expedient to fully
exercise the powers granted by this act, and such resolutions, when
applicable, shall be a part of the contract between the board of
supervisors and the purchaser and/or purchasers of bonds issued
under authority of this act whether such resolutions shall appear
on the face of the bonds or only on the permanent minutes of any
such board. Any such contract between the board of supervisors
and the purchaser and/or purchasers of any bonds issued under
authority of this act shall constitute a contract between the county
and the holder and/or holders of the bonds, and shall be enforcible
by any such holder or holders by mandamus or other appropriate
action at law or in equity, in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Section 8. If any section or part of section of this act is here-
after held by any court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitu-
tional, such decision shall in no wise affect or render void the
remainder of such section of this act.

Section 9. An emergency existing, this act shaJl be in force
from its passage.