2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 7 - Municipal Property Tax (§§ 5001 — 6756) › PART III (§§ 5901 — 6756) › Chapter 261 - Municipal Financing Act of 1996 (§§ 6001 — 6029) › § 6008a - Approval by the Government Bank

(a) Every obligation to be incurred under the provisions of this chapter shall have the prior approval of the Government Bank.
(b) The Government Bank shall evaluate the proposed obligation to determine if it meets the requirements of this chapter, and those requirements that the Government Bank establishes through regulations. The Government Bank shall communicate its decision to the municipality not later than sixty (60) days after receiving the duly completed request for approval. In the evaluation of every proposed obligation, the Goverment Bank may require that the municipality present its last financial statement audited by certified public accountants and any other information or document that the Government Bank deems is needed to evaluate the proposed obligation.
(c) The Government Bank shall establish by regulations, the requirements of the request for approval, the procedure for the presentation and evaluation of requests, and the criteria that apply for the evaluation of the proposed obligations.
(d) The Government Bank, in consultation with the Office of the Municipal Affairs Commissioner, shall be bound to establish certain requirements that the municipalities must meet in order to prove that they have a suitable accounting and fiscal structure to receive advancements from the proceeds of the obligations assumed for the development of capital works. Once the Bank determines that a municipality meets said requirements, the funds shall be transferred to said municipality as follows:
(1) The municipality shall open a checking account with the Government Development Bank for each obligation from which advancements are requested. Any payments pertinent to the purposes of said obligation shall be drawn from said account.
(2) The Government Development Bank shall make an initial deposit into said checking account equal to an advancement of twenty-five percent (25%) of the total obligation amount, excluding the financed amount corresponding to administrative, supervisory, and financing expenses.
(3) After the first advancement has been made, the Government Development Bank shall replace to the municipality those amounts used by presenting evidence of the payments made, provided the total amount of the funds disbursed does not exceed 90% of the total amount of the approved loan.
(4) The Government Development Bank shall always retain at least 10% of the total amount of loan-derived funds. Once the advancements disbursed amount to 90% of the total loaned sum, excluding the financed amount corresponding to administrative, supervisory, and financing expenses, the remaining loan payments shall be processed through the Government Development Bank by presenting the documents required to process building certificates.
(e) Municipalities that qualify to receive advancements as established in subsection (d) of this section may resort to duly licensed municipal engineers and architects for the processing of the certificates required by the Government Development Bank. Should a municipality not have these resources available, said municipality may contract outside services or make use of the resources provided by the Government Development Bank.
History —July 3, 1996, No. 64, added as § 11 on Aug. 12, 1997, No. 75, § 10; Aug. 6, 1999, No. 220, § 1.