2023 Vermont Statutes › Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters › Chapter 601 - Rutland County Recreational District › App § 36. Indebtedness

§ 36. Indebtedness
(a) Short-term borrowing. The Board of Supervisors may borrow money through the issuance of notes of the District for the purpose of paying current expenses of the District. These notes, however, must mature within the fiscal year in which they were issued. The Board of Supervisors may also borrow money in anticipation of taxes in an amount not to exceed 90 percent of the amount of taxes assessed for each such year and may issue notes of the District that must mature within the fiscal year in which they were issued. The Board of Supervisors may also borrow money in anticipation of any revenues other than taxes through the issuance of notes of the District. These notes, however, must mature within the fiscal year in which they were issued.
(b) Long-term indebtedness and long-term contracts.
(1) Submission to voters. On a petition signed by at least 10 percent of the voters of the District, the proposition of incurring a bonded debt or other indebtedness to pay for public improvements or of authorizing a long-term contract shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the District at any special meeting to be held for that purpose, or, when the Board of Supervisors at a regular or special meeting called for the purpose shall determine by resolution passed by a vote of a majority of votes, present and voting, that the public interest or necessity demands improvements or a long-term contract, and that the cost of the same will be too great to be paid out of the ordinary annual income and revenue, it may order the submission of the proposition of incurring a bonded debt or other indebtedness or of authorizing a long-term contract to the qualified voters of the District at a meeting to be held for that purpose. A “long-term contract” means a contract wherein the District incurs obligations for which the costs are too great to be paid out of the ordinary annual income and revenues of the District in the judgment of the Board of Supervisors. Bonded debt or other indebtedness or long-term contracts may be authorized for any purpose permitted by 24 V.S.A chapter 53 or any other applicable sections of the Vermont Statutes Annotated for any purpose for which the District is organized. The warning calling the meeting shall state the object and purpose for which the indebtedness or long-term contract is proposed to be incurred or authorized, the estimated cost of the improvements or service, the amount of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness proposed to be issued, a summary of the terms of any contract proposed to be authorized, and the means of raising or apportioning all costs entailed thereby for debt service for payments under a long-term contract. The warning shall fix the places where and the date on which the meeting shall be held and the hours of opening and closing the polls. The District may not submit to the voters more than twice in the same calendar year or any 12 month period the proposition of incurring bonded or other indebtedness to pay for the same or substantially similar public improvement or the same or substantially similar long-term contract.
(2) Notice of meeting, authorization. The Clerk of the District shall cause notice of a special meeting to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the District once a week for three consecutive weeks on the same day of the week, the last publication to be not less than five nor more than 10 days before the meeting. Notice of the meeting shall also be posted in at least five public places within each member municipality for two weeks immediately preceding the meeting and be filed with the town or city clerk of each member municipality. Each municipality will have its voters vote in locations and in the manner it votes on similar questions for the municipality. When a majority of all the voters in the District present and voting on the question at the meeting votes to authorize the issuance of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness or to authorize a long-term contract, the District shall be authorized to issue bonds or other evidence of indebtedness as provided in 24 V.S.A. chapter 53 or other applicable sections of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, or to enter into the long-term contract. The ballots cast in all the member municipalities shall be counted as ballots are counted in each municipality. The results shall then be combined. Blank and defective ballots shall not be counted in determining the question. Obligations incurred by the District shall be joint and several obligations of the District and of each member municipality but shall not affect any limitation on indebtedness of a member municipality. The cost of debt service or of payments under a long-term contract shall be included in the annual budget of the District, and shall be allocated among the member municipalities as provided in subsection 33(c) of this chapter, unless otherwise provided by applicable law and in the vote authorizing the same. The applicable provision of 24 V.S.A. chapter 53 or other enabling law under which debt is incurred or long-term contracts are authorized shall apply to the issuance of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness by the District and for that purpose the Rutland County Recreation District shall be deemed a “municipal corporation,” the Board of Supervisors shall be deemed a “legislative branch,” and the District Treasurer shall be deemed a “municipal treasurer” within the purview of that chapter. Bonds or other evidence of indebtedness and long-term contracts shall be signed by the Treasurer and Chair of the Board of Supervisors of the District. (Added 2005, No. M-8, § 2.)