Code of Virginia — Title 15.2 (Counties, Cities and Towns), Chapter 59.2 (Virginia Beach Sports or Entertainment Project)
§ 15.2-5931. Bond issues.
A. The City of Virginia Beach may at any time and from time to time issue bonds for any valid purpose, including the establishment of reserves and the payment of interest. As used in this chapter, "bonds" includes notes of any kind, interim certificates, refunding bonds, or any other evidence of obligation, provided that such bonds are issued by the City of Virginia Beach, the City of Virginia Beach Development Authority, or a community development authority formed by the City of Virginia Beach pursuant to the provisions of Article 6 (§ 15.2-5152 et seq.) of Chapter 51 for the purpose of developing the sports and entertainment district.

B. The bonds of any issue shall be payable solely from the property or receipts of the City of Virginia Beach, or other security specifically pledged by the City of Virginia Beach to the payment thereof, including, but not limited to:

1. Taxes, fees, charges, or other revenues;

2. Payments by financial institutions, insurance companies, or others pursuant to letters or lines of credit, policies of insurance, or purchase agreements;

3. Investment earnings from funds or accounts maintained pursuant to a bond resolution or trust agreement;

4. Sales and use tax revenues remitted to the City of Virginia Beach by the State Comptroller pursuant to § 15.2-5933; and

5. Proceeds of refunding bonds.

C. Bonds shall be authorized by resolution of the City of Virginia Beach and may be secured by a trust agreement by and between the City of Virginia Beach and a corporate trustee or trustees, which may be any trust company or bank having the powers of a trust company within or outside the Commonwealth. The bonds shall:

1. Be issued at, above, or below par value, for cash or other valuable consideration, and mature at a time or times, whether as serial bonds or as term bonds or both, not later than June 30 of the fiscal year in which the City of Virginia Beach's entitlement to tax revenues authorized by this chapter expires pursuant to the provisions of subdivision A 2 of § 15.2-5933;

2. Bear interest at the fixed or variable rate or rates determined by the method provided in the resolution or trust agreement;

3. Be payable at a time or times, in the denominations and form, and carry the registration and privileges as to conversion and for the replacement of mutilated, lost, or destroyed bonds as the resolution or trust agreement may provide;

4. Be payable in lawful money of the United States at a designated place;

5. Be subject to the terms of purchase, payment, redemption, refunding, or refinancing that the resolution or trust agreement provides; and

6. Be sold in the manner and upon the terms determined by the City of Virginia Beach, including private (negotiated) sale.

D. Any resolution or trust agreement may contain provisions that shall be a part of the contract with the holders of the bonds as to:

1. Pledging, assigning, or directing the use, investment, or disposition of receipts of the City of Virginia Beach or proceeds or benefits of any contract and conveying or otherwise securing any property rights;

2. The setting aside of loan funding deposits, debt service reserves, capitalized interest accounts, cost of issuance accounts, and sinking funds, and the regulation, investment, and disposition thereof;

3. Limitations on the purpose to which or the investments in which the proceeds of sale of any issue of bonds may be applied and restrictions to investments of revenues or bond proceeds in government obligations for which principal and interest are unconditionally guaranteed by the United States of America;

4. Limitations on the issuance of additional bonds and the terms upon which additional bonds may be issued and secured and may rank on a parity with, or be subordinate or superior to, other bonds;

5. The refunding or refinancing of outstanding bonds;

6. The procedure, if any, by which the terms of any contract with bondholders may be altered or amended and the amount of bonds the holders of which must consent thereto, and the manner in which consent shall be given;

7. Defining the acts or omissions that shall constitute a default in the duties of the City of Virginia Beach to bondholders and providing the rights or remedies of such holders in the event of a default, which may include provisions restricting individual right of action by bondholders;

8. Providing for guarantees, pledges of property, letters of credit, or other security, or insurance for the benefit of bondholders; and

9. Any other matter relating to the bonds that the City of Virginia Beach determines appropriate.

E. No member of the governing body of the City of Virginia Beach nor any person executing the bonds on behalf of the City of Virginia Beach shall be liable personally for the bonds or subject to any personal liability by reason of the issuance of the bonds.

F. The City of Virginia Beach may enter into agreements with agents, banks, insurers, any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or others for the purpose of enhancing the marketability of, or as security for, its bonds.

G. A pledge by the City of Virginia Beach of its revenues as security for an issue of bonds shall be valid and binding from the time the pledge is made.

The revenues pledged shall immediately be subject to the lien of the pledge without any physical delivery or further act, and the lien of any pledge shall be valid and binding against any person having any claim of any kind in tort, contract, or otherwise against the City of Virginia Beach, irrespective of whether the person has notice.

No resolution, trust agreement or financing statement, continuation statement, or other instrument adopted or entered into by the City of Virginia Beach need be filed or recorded in any public record other than the records of the City of Virginia Beach in order to perfect the lien against third persons, regardless of any contrary provision of public general or public local law.

H. Except to the extent restricted by an applicable resolution or trust agreement, any holder of bonds issued under this chapter or a trustee acting under a trust agreement entered into under this chapter may, by any suitable form of legal proceedings, protect and enforce any rights granted under the laws of the Commonwealth or by any applicable resolution or trust agreement.

I. The City of Virginia Beach may issue bonds to refund any of its bonds then outstanding, including the payment of any redemption premium and any interest accrued or to accrue to the earliest or any subsequent date of redemption, purchase, or maturity of the bonds. Refunding bonds may be issued, directly or through a debt restructuring, for the public purposes of realizing savings in the effective costs of debt service and alleviating impending or actual default, or either, and may be issued in one or more series in an amount in excess of that of the bonds to be refunded.

2019, c. 793; 2020, c. 467; 2021, c. 5.