Sec. 32-23zz. Issuance of bonds on behalf of municipalities for information technology projects and remediation projects. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 32-23zz. Issuance of bonds on behalf of municipalities for information technology projects and remediation projects. (a) For the purpose of assisting (1) any information technology project, as defined in subsection (ee) of section 32-23d, which is located in an eligible municipality, as defined in subdivision (12) of subsection (a) of section 32-9t, or (2) any remediation project, as defined in subsection (ii) of section 32-23d, the Connecticut Development Authority may, upon a resolution of the legislative body of a municipality, issue and administer bonds which are payable solely or in part from and secured by: (A) A pledge of and lien upon any and all of the income, proceeds, revenues and property of such a project, including the proceeds of grants, loans, advances or contributions from the federal government, the state or any other source, including financial assistance furnished by the municipality or any other public body, (B) taxes or payments or grants in lieu of taxes allocated to and payable into a special fund of the Connecticut Development Authority pursuant to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, or (C) any combination of the foregoing. Any such bonds of the Connecticut Development Authority shall mature at such time or times not exceeding thirty years from their date of issuance and shall be subject to the general terms and provisions of law applicable to the issuance of bonds by the Connecticut Development Authority, except that such bonds shall be issued without a special capital reserve fund as provided in subsection (b) of section 32-23j and, for purposes of section 32-23f, only the approval of the board of directors of the authority shall be required for the issuance and sale of such bonds. Any pledge made by the municipality or the Connecticut Development Authority for bonds issued as provided in this section shall be valid and binding from the time when the pledge is made, and revenues and other receipts, funds or moneys so pledged and thereafter received by the municipality or the Connecticut Development Authority shall be subject to the lien of such pledge without any physical delivery thereof or further act. The lien of such pledge shall be valid and binding against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the municipality or the Connecticut Development Authority, even if the parties have no notice of such lien. Recording of the resolution or any other instrument by which such a pledge is created shall not be required. In connection with any such assignment of taxes or payments in lieu of taxes, the Connecticut Development Authority may, if the resolution so provides, exercise the rights provided for in section 12-195h of an assignee for consideration of any lien filed to secure the payment of such taxes or payments in lieu of taxes. All expenses incurred in providing such assistance may be treated as project costs.

      (b) Any proceedings authorizing the issuance of bonds under this section may contain a provision that taxes or a specified portion thereof, if any, identified in such authorizing proceedings and levied upon taxable real or personal property, or both, in a project each year, or payments or grants in lieu of such taxes or a specified portion thereof, by or for the benefit of any one or more municipalities, districts or other public taxing agencies, as the case may be, shall be divided as follows: (1) In each fiscal year that portion of the taxes or payments or grants in lieu of taxes which would be produced by applying the then current tax rate of each of the taxing agencies to the total sum of the assessed value of the taxable property in the project on the date of such authorizing proceedings, adjusted in the case of grants in lieu of taxes to reflect the applicable statutory rate of reimbursement, shall be allocated to and when collected shall be paid into the funds of the respective taxing agencies in the same manner as taxes by or for said taxing agencies on all other property are paid; and (2) that portion of the assessed taxes or the payments or grants in lieu of taxes, or both, each fiscal year in excess of the amount referred to in subdivision (1) of this subsection shall be allocated to and when collected shall be paid into a special fund of the Connecticut Development Authority to be used in each fiscal year, in the discretion of the Connecticut Development Authority, to pay the principal of and interest due in such fiscal year on bonds issued by the Connecticut Development Authority to finance, refinance or otherwise assist such project, to purchase bonds issued for such project, or to reimburse the provider of or reimbursement party with respect to any guarantee, letter of credit, policy of bond insurance, funds deposited in a debt service reserve fund, funds deposited as capitalized interest or other credit enhancement device used to secure payment of debt service on any bonds issued by the Connecticut Development Authority to finance, refinance or otherwise assist such project, to the extent of any payments of debt service made therefrom. Unless and until the total assessed valuation of the taxable property in a project exceeds the total assessed value of the taxable property in such project as shown by the last assessment list referred to in subdivision (1) of this subsection, all of the taxes levied and collected and all of the payments or grants in lieu of taxes due and collected upon the taxable property in such project shall be paid into the funds of the respective taxing agencies. When such bonds and interest thereof, and such debt service reimbursement to the provider of or reimbursement party with respect to such credit enhancement, have been paid in full, all moneys thereafter received from taxes or payments or grants in lieu of taxes upon the taxable property in such development project shall be paid into the funds of the respective taxing agencies in the same manner as taxes on all other property are paid. The total amount of bonds issued pursuant to this section which are payable from grants in lieu of taxes payable by the state shall not exceed an amount of bonds, the debt service on which in any state fiscal year is, in total, equal to one million dollars.

      (c) The authority may make grants or provide loans or other forms of financial assistance from the proceeds of special or general obligation notes or bonds of the authority issued without the security of a special capital reserve fund within the meaning of subsection (b) of section 32-23j, which bonds are payable from and secured by, in whole or in part, the pledge and security provided for in section 8-134, 8-192, 32-227 or this section, all on such terms and conditions, including such agreements with the municipality and the developer of the project, as the authority determines to be appropriate in the circumstances, provided any such project in an area designated as an enterprise zone pursuant to section 32-70 receiving such financial assistance shall be ineligible for any fixed assessment pursuant to section 32-71, and the authority, as a condition of such grant, loan or other financial assistance, may require the waiver, in whole or in part, of any property tax exemption with respect to such project otherwise available under subsection (59) or (60) of section 12-81.

      (d) As used in this section, "bonds" means any bonds, including refunding bonds, notes, temporary notes, interim certificates, debentures or other obligations; "legislative body" has the meaning provided in subsection (w) of section 32-222; and "municipality" means a town, city, consolidated town or city or consolidated town and borough.

      (e) For purposes of this section, references to the Connecticut Development Authority shall include any subsidiary of the Connecticut Development Authority established pursuant to subsection (l) of section 32-11a, and a municipality may act by and through its implementing agency, as defined in subsection (k) of section 32-222.

      (f) No commitments for new projects shall be approved by the authority under this section on or after July 1, 2010.

      (g) In the case of a remediation project, as defined in subsection (ii) of section 32-23d, that involves buildings that are vacant, underutilized or in deteriorating condition and as to which municipal real property taxes are delinquent, in whole or in part, for more than one fiscal year, the amount determined in accordance with subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section may, if the resolution of the municipality so provides, be established at an amount less than the amount so determined, but not less than the amount of municipal property taxes actually paid during the most recently completed fiscal year. If the Connecticut Development Authority issues bonds for the remediation project, the amount established in the resolution shall be used for all purposes of subsection (a) of this section.

      (P.A. 01-179, S. 1; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-6, S. 73, 85; P.A. 04-106, S. 1; P.A. 05-113, S. 1; P.A. 08-162, S. 1.)

      History: June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-6 amended Subsec. (b) to specify that the limit on total debt service is for any state fiscal year, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 04-106 added Subsec. (g) re remediation projects involving buildings that are vacant and as to which municipal taxes are delinquent, effective May 21, 2004; P.A. 05-113 amended Subsec. (f) to extend date from which authority prohibited from approving commitments for new projects from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2008, effective June 24, 2005; P.A. 08-162 amended Subsec. (f) to change commitment deadline from July 1, 2008, to July 1, 2010, effective June 12, 2008 (Revisor's note: In 2009, a reference to "subsection (y) of section 32-222" in Subsec. (d) was changed editorially by the Revisors to "subsection (w) of section 32-222" to conform with changes made by P.A. 08-34).