Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 65 - HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES AND FERRIES (§§ 65-1-1 — 65-43-85) › Chapter 43 - TOLL ROADS AND TOLL BRIDGES (§§ 65-43-1 — 65-43-85) › TOLL ROADS AND TOLL BRIDGES (§§ 65-43-1 — 65-43-39) › Section 65-43-7 - Authorization of counties and municipalities to borrow money and issue bonds for projects authorized under this chapter; details of bonds; procedure

(1)
For the purpose of providing funds to defray the expenses of projects authorized pursuant to Sections
65-43-1
and
65-43-3
, the board of supervisors of a county or the governing authorities of a municipality shall have the right to borrow money for the project, and to issue revenue bonds therefor in such principal amounts as the board of supervisors or governing authorities may determine to be necessary to provide sufficient funds to defray the expenses of projects authorized pursuant to Sections
65-43-1
and
65-43-3
. The bonds shall be payable out of any revenues derived from the project, including grants or contributions from the federal government or other sources. Such bonds may be sold at public or private sale at not less than par and shall bear interest at a rate or rates not exceeding that allowed in Section
75-17-103
. Any such bonds so issued shall not constitute a debt of the county, the municipality or any political subdivision of the county or the city within the meaning of any constitutional, statutory or charter restriction, limitation or provision. It shall be plainly stated on the face of each bond in substance that the bond has been issued pursuant to the authority granted in this section and that the taxing power of the county or municipality issuing the bond is not pledged to the payment of the bond or the interest on it and that the bond and the interest on it are payable solely from the revenues of the project for which the bond is issued.
(2)
All bonds issued under the authority of this section shall bear such date or dates, shall be in such form or denomination, shall bear such rate of interest, and shall mature at such times as the county or municipality shall determine, but no bonds issued under the authority of this section shall mature more than thirty (30) years from the date of the issuance thereof and none of the bonds shall be sold for less than par and accrued interest. All bonds shall be sold in the manner now provided by law for the sale of bonds without any restrictions, limitations, requirements or conditions applicable to the borrowing of such money and the issuance of such bonds which are not herein contained. The denomination, form, place of payment and other details of such bonds may be determined by resolution or order of the board of supervisors of a county or the governing authorities of a municipality, and shall be executed on behalf of the county or municipality as is now provided by law.
(3)
Before issuing any bonds under the provisions of this section, the board of supervisors of the county or the governing authorities of the municipality shall, by resolution spread upon the minutes, declare its intention to issue such bonds for the purposes authorized by this section and shall state in the resolution the amount of bonds proposed to be issued and shall likewise fix in the resolution the date upon which the board of supervisors of the county or the governing authorities of the municipality proposes to direct the issuance of the bonds. Notice of such intention shall be published once a week for at least three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper published or having a general circulation in the county or the municipality, with the first publication of the notice to be made not less than twenty-one (21) days prior to the date fixed in the resolution for the issuance of the bonds and the last publication to be made not more than seven (7) days prior to such date. If, on or before the date specified in the resolution, twenty percent (20%) or fifteen hundred (1500), whichever is less, of the qualified electors of the county or municipality shall file a written protest against the issuance of the bonds, then an election upon the issuance of the bonds shall be called, and held, as provided in this section. If no such protest shall be filed, then the board of supervisors of the county or the governing authorities of the municipality may issue such bonds without an election on the question of the issuance of the bonds at any time within a period of two (2) years after the date specified in the resolution.
(4)
If an election is called under the provisions of this section on the question of the issuance of bonds, the election shall be held, insofar as practicable, in the same manner as other elections are held in the county or municipality. At the election, all qualified electors of the county or municipality may vote and the ballots used in the election shall have printed thereon a brief statement of the amount and purposes of the proposed bond issue and the words "FOR THE BOND ISSUE" and the words "AGAINST THE BOND ISSUE," and the voters shall vote by placing a cross (X) or check mark (Y) opposite their choice on the proposition.
(5)
When the results of any election provided for in this section shall have been canvassed by the election commissioners of the county or municipality and certified by them to the proper authorities, it shall be the duty of the board of supervisors of the county or the governing authorities of the municipality to determine and adjudicate whether or not a majority of the qualified electors who voted in the election voted in favor of the issuance of the bonds and unless a majority of the qualified electors who voted in the election voted in favor of the issuance of the bonds, then the bonds shall not be issued. Should a majority of the qualified electors who vote in the election vote in favor of the bonds, the board of supervisors of the county or the governing authorities of the municipality may issue the bonds, either in whole or in part, within two (2) years from the date of such election, or within two (2) years after final favorable determination of any litigation affecting the issuance of such bonds at such time or times, and in such amount or amounts, not exceeding that specified in the notice of the election, as shall be deemed proper.
(6)
This section, without reference to any other statute, shall be deemed to be full and complete authority for the issuance of bonds and borrowing of money as authorized in this section by counties or municipalities, and shall be construed as an additional and alternate method therefor. The bonds authorized by this section shall not constitute an indebtedness within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory limitation or restriction.
Laws, 2007, ch. 582, § 4, eff. 7/18/2007 (the date the United States Attorney General interposed no objection under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965).