2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 37 - WATER AND IRRIGATION (§§ 37-1-101 — 37-99-103) › WATER CONSERVATION AND IRRIGATION DISTRICTS (§§ 37-40-101 — 37-50-142) › CONSERVATION AND IRRIGATION DISTRICTS (§§ 37-41-101 — 37-50-142) › Article 44 - INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS LAW OF 1923 (§§ 37-44-101 — 37-44-149) › Section 37-44-112 - Bonds

(1)
For the purpose of constructing, purchasing, or acquiring necessary reservoir sites, reservoirs, canals, ditches, and works and acquiring the necessary property rights therefor, for the purpose of paying an amount not to exceed the first five years' interest on the bonds authorized in this article, and for the purpose of otherwise carrying out the provisions of this article, the board of directors of any such internal improvement district, as soon after such district has been organized as may be practicable, shall estimate and determine the amount of money necessary to be raised for such purposes and shall forthwith call a special election, at which election there shall be submitted to the electors of such district possessing the qualifications prescribed by this article the question of whether or not the bonds of said district shall be issued in the amount so determined. A notice of such election shall be given by posting notices in three public places in each election precinct in said district for at least twenty days and also by publication of such notice in some newspaper published in the county where the office of the board of directors is required to be kept once a week for at least three successive weeks.
(2)
Such notice shall specify the time of holding the election, the amount of bonds proposed to be issued and the amount and rate of interest on such bonds proposed to be issued, and the dates when the percentage of principal or series of said bonds will become due, if serial bonds are contemplated, or the maturity date of the entire issue, as the case may be. At such election the ballots shall contain the words, "Bonds - Yes" or "Bonds - No", or words equivalent thereto, and also such appropriate words as shall enable the electors to indicate whether such bonds shall be redeemable at the option of the district at any time after their date or payable in series, and said election must be held and the result determined and declared in all respects as nearly as possible in conformity with the provisions of this article governing the election of officers, but no informality in conducting such election shall invalidate the same if the election has been otherwise fairly conducted. If a majority of the legal electors who are freeholders and taxpayers who represent a majority of the land within said district have voted "Bonds - Yes", the board of directors shall immediately cause bonds in such amount to be issued.
(3)
If bonds are to be payable in series, each series shall consist of a definite percentage of the whole amount and number of said bonds. The time of maturity of the series of bonds and the percentage represented by each series shall be submitted to and approved by the electors at said election; but the last series shall mature in not more than fifty years from the date of said bonds, and the first series or percentage of the principal of said bonds shall become due not more than ten years from the date of said bonds, and the series shall be so arranged that some percentage of the principal of said bonds, never less than one percent, shall become due each year thereafter until the entire principal has been paid. If such bonds are made redeemable at the option of the district, they shall mature at a specific date not more than fifty years from their date of issue. If the optional form of bond is issued, the board of directors of the district, when funds are available for redemption purposes at any time before maturity, shall call for offerings for redemption and, out of the redemption fund provided for the payment of said bonds, shall pay any bonds presented for payment pursuant to such call to any holder thereof who offers the same for payment and redemption for the lowest amount below par, including accrued interest, to the extent of the funds available; otherwise said bonds shall be retired in the order of their issue numerically.
(4)
The interest on the bonds is payable semiannually on June 1 and December 1 of each year. The principal and interest is payable at the location the board of directors designates in the bond.
(5)
Such bonds shall each be of the denomination of not less than one hundred dollars and nor more than one thousand dollars and shall be negotiable in form, executed in the name of the internal improvement district, and signed by the president and secretary, and the seal of the district shall be affixed thereto.
(6)
The bonds must be numbered consecutively as issued and bear the date of their issue. Coupons for the interest shall be attached to each bond bearing the lithographed signatures of the president and secretary. The bonds shall express on their faces that they are issued by the authority of this article, stating its title and date of approval. At the time of the issue of the bonds, each bond shall be registered by the treasurer of the internal improvement district, in a book to be kept by the district treasurer for this purpose, and the interest on the bond shall begin to run only from the date of the registry. Coupons evidencing unearned interest must be detached and canceled. Each registered bond must have endorsed thereon the treasurer's certificate of the registration, and only bonds certified in this manner are valid; and the certificate is conclusive evidence that the bond has been duly issued in full conformity with the provisions of this article 44.
(7)
When the money provided by any previous issue of bonds has been exhausted by expenditures provided for in this article and it becomes necessary to raise additional money for such purposes, additional bonds may be issued, submitting the question by special election to the qualified voters of said district and otherwise complying with the provisions of this article in respect to an original issue of such bonds, but the lien for assessments for the payment of interest and principal of any bond issue shall be a prior lien to that of any subsequent bond issue.
Amended by 2023 Ch. 53, § 9, eff. 1/1/2024.
L. 23: p. 497, § 10. CSA: C. 138, § 26. CRS 53: § 149-5-10. C.R.S. 1963: § 150-4-10.
2023 Ch. 53, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).