Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 77 - PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (§§ 77-1-1 — 77-NEW-NEW-004) › Chapter 5 - ELECTRIC POWER (§§ 77-5-1 — 77-5-911) › Article 15 - JOINT MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC POWER (§§ 77-5-701 — 77-5-783) › Section 77-5-739 - Issuance of bonds by municipalities and joint agencies

(1)
Each municipality and joint agency is hereby authorized to issue at one (1) time or from time to time its bonds for the purpose of paying all or any part of the cost of any of the purposes authorized by this article. The principal of, premium, if any, and the interest on such bonds shall be payable solely from the respective funds herein provided for such payment. The bonds of each issue shall bear interest at such rate or rates as may be determined by the issuer, provided that the bonds of any issue shall not bear a greater overall interest rate to maturity than that allowed in Section
75-17-103
. The bonds of each issue shall be dated and shall mature in such amounts and at such time or times, either as serial bonds or term bonds or a combination of serial and term bonds, not exceeding fifty (50) years from their respective date or dates, as may be determined by the governing board of the issuer, and may be made redeemable before maturity at such price or prices and under such terms and conditions as may be fixed by the governing board of the issuer prior to the issuance of the bonds. The governing board of the issuer shall determine the form and the manner of execution of the bonds, including any interest coupons to be attached thereto, and shall fix the denomination or denominations of the bonds and the place or places of payment of principal and interest, which may be at any bank or trust company within or without the state. In case any officer whose signature or a facsimile of whose signature shall appear on any bonds or coupons shall cease to be such officer before the delivery of such bond, such signature or such facsimile shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as if he had remained in office until such delivery. The governing board of the issuer may also provide for the authentication of the bonds by a trustee or fiscal agent. The bonds may be issued in coupon or in fully registered form, or both, as the governing board of the issuer may determine, and provisions may be made for the registration of any coupon bonds as to principal alone and also as to both principal and interest, and for the reconversion into coupon bonds of any bonds registered as to both principal and interest, and for the interchange of registered and coupon bonds. No bond shall bear more than one (1) rate of interest. All bonds of the same maturity shall bear the same rate of interest from date to maturity. All interest accruing on such bonds so issued shall be payable semiannually or annually, except that the first interest coupon attached to any such bond may be for any period not exceeding one (1) year.
All bonds issued pursuant to this article shall be advertised and sold on sealed bids in the manner provided under the provisions of Section
31-19-25
; provided that on bond sales in excess of Fifty Million Dollars ($50,000,000.00) the joint agency may sell its bonds by negotiated sale at not less than ninety-eight percent (98%) of par, plus accrued interest, when the joint agency has employed a nationally recognized financial advisor for the proposed bond issue. The duties of the financial advisor shall include the responsibility of preparing a statement to be submitted to the Governor, the chairman of the house ways and means committee and the chairman of the senate finance committee which shall clearly set forth the reasons why the negotiated sale was considered to be in the best interest of the joint agency and member municipalities, including the estimated savings in cost by selling the bonds at a negotiated sale.
(2)
The proceeds of the bonds of each issue shall be used solely for the purposes for which such bonds have been issued, and shall be disbursed in such manner and under such restrictions, if any, as the governing board of the issuer may provide in the resolution authorizing the issuance of such bonds. The municipality or joint agency may issue interim receipts or temporary bonds, with or without coupons, exchangeable for definitive bonds when such bonds shall have been executed and are available for delivery. The municipality or joint agency may also provide for the replacement of any bonds which shall have become mutilated or shall have been destroyed or lost.
(3)
Bonds may be issued under the provisions of this article without obtaining the consent of the state or of any political subdivision, or of any agency, commission or instrumentality of either thereof, and without any other approvals, proceedings or the happening of any conditions or things other than those approvals, proceedings, conditions or things which are specifically required by this article and the provisions of the resolution authorizing the issuance of such bonds or the trust agreement securing the same; provided, however, no joint agency created pursuant to the article shall issue any bonds pursuant to the article, unless and until the issuance of said bonds is approved by each of the governing authorities of the municipalities which are members of the joint agency.
(4)
All bonds issued pursuant to this article shall be fully negotiable in accordance with their terms and shall be "securities" within the meaning of Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code, subject only to provisions of the bonds pertaining to registration.
(5)
The state hereby covenants with the holders of any bonds issued pursuant to this article that so long as such bonds are outstanding and unpaid the state will not terminate the existence of nor limit or alter the rights and powers of a municipality or a joint agency under this article to conduct the activities referred to herein in any way pertinent to the interests of the bondholders, including, without limitation, the right to charge and collect rates, fees and charges and to fulfill the terms of any covenants made with bondholders, or in any way impair the rights and remedies of the bondholders, unless provision for full payment of such bonds, by escrow or otherwise, has been made pursuant to the terms of the bonds or the resolution, trust indenture or other security instrument securing the bonds.
Laws, 1978, ch. 363, § 17; Laws, 1979, ch. 496; Laws, 1981, ch. 329, § 1; Laws, 1985, ch. 477, § 19, eff. 4/8/1985.