260C.22 - FACILITIES LEVY BY VOTE -- BORROWING -- TEMPORARY CASH RESERVE LEVY. - Iowa Statutes

260C.22 FACILITIES LEVY BY VOTE -- BORROWING -- TEMPORARY CASH RESERVE LEVY. 1. a. In addition to the tax authorized under section 260C.17, the voters in a merged area may at the regular school election or at a special election held on the second Tuesday in September of the even-numbered year vote a tax not exceeding twenty and one-fourth cents per thousand dollars of assessed value in any one year for a period not to exceed ten years for the purchase of grounds, construction of buildings, payment of debts contracted for the construction of buildings, purchase of buildings and equipment for buildings, and the acquisition of libraries, for the purpose of paying costs of utilities, and for the purpose of maintaining, remodeling, improving, or expanding the community college of the merged area. If the tax levy is approved under this section, the costs of utilities shall be paid from the proceeds of the levy. The tax shall be collected by the county treasurers and remitted to the treasurer of the merged area as provided in section 331.552, subsection 29. The proceeds of the tax shall be deposited in a separate and distinct fund to be known as the voted tax fund, to be paid out upon warrants drawn by the president and secretary of the board of directors of the merged area district for the payment of costs incurred in providing the school facilities for which the tax was voted. b. In order to make immediately available to the merged area the proceeds of the voted tax hereinbefore authorized to be levied, the board of directors of any such merged area is hereby authorized, without the necessity for any further election, to borrow money and enter into loan agreements in anticipation of the collection of such tax, and such board shall, by resolution, provide for the levy of an annual tax, within the limits of the special voted tax hereinbefore authorized, sufficient to pay the amount of any such loan and the interest thereon to maturity as the same becomes due. A certified copy of this resolution shall be filed with the county auditors of the counties in which such merged area is located, and the filing thereof shall make it a duty of such auditors to enter annually this levy for collection until funds are realized to repay the loan and interest thereon in full. Said loan must mature within the number of years for which the tax has been voted and shall bear interest at a rate or rates not exceeding that permitted by chapter 74A. Any loan agreement entered into pursuant to authority herein contained shall be in such form as the board of directors shall by resolution provide and the loan shall be payable as to both principal and interest from the proceeds of the annual levy of the voted tax hereinbefore authorized, or so much thereof as will be sufficient to pay the loan and interest thereon. In furtherance of the foregoing the board of directors of such merged area may, with or without notice, negotiate and enter into a loan agreement or agreements with any bank, investment banker, trust company, insurance company or group thereof, whereunder the borrowing of the necessary funds may be assured and consummated. The proceeds of such loan shall be deposited in a special fund, to be kept separate and apart from all other funds of the merged area, and shall be paid out upon warrants drawn by the president and secretary of the board of directors to pay the cost of acquiring the school facilities for which the tax was voted. c. If the boundary lines of a merged area are changed, the levy of the annual tax provided in this section sufficient to pay the amount due for a loan agreement and the interest on the loan agreement to maturity shall continue in any territory severed from the merged area until the loan with interest on the loan has been paid in full. d. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to limit the authority of the board of directors to levy the full amount of the voted tax, but if and to whatever extent said tax is levied in any year in excess of the amount of principal and interest falling due in such year under any loan agreement, the first available proceeds thereof, to an amount sufficient to meet maturing installments of principal and interest under the loan agreement, shall be paid into the sinking fund for such loan before any of such taxes are otherwise made available to the merged area for other school purposes, and the amount required to be annually set aside to pay the principal of and interest on the money borrowed under such loan agreement shall constitute a first charge upon all of the proceeds of such annual special voted tax, which tax shall be pledged to pay said loan and the interest thereon. e. This law shall be construed as supplemental and in addition to existing statutory authority and as providing an independent method of financing the cost of acquiring school facilities for which a tax has been voted under this section and for the borrowing of money and execution of loan agreements in connection therewith and shall not be construed as subject to the provisions of any other law. The fact that a merged area may have previously borrowed money and entered into loan agreements under authority herein contained shall not prevent such merged area from borrowing additional money and entering into further loan agreements provided that the aggregate of the amount payable under all of such loan agreements does not exceed the proceeds of the voted tax. All acts and proceedings heretofore taken by the board of directors or by any official of any merged area for the exercise of any of the powers granted by this section are hereby legalized and validated in all respects. 2. The proceeds of the tax voted under subsection 1, paragraph "a", prior to July 1, 1987, shall be used for the purposes for which it was approved by the voters and may be used for the purpose of paying the costs of utilities. 3. a. In addition to the tax authorized under section 260C.17, the board of directors of an area school may certify for levy by March 15, 1982, and March 15, 1983, a tax on taxable property in the merged area at rates that will provide total revenues for the two years equal to five percent of the area school's general fund expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1980, in order to provide a cash reserve for that area school. As nearly as possible, one-half the revenue for the cash reserve fund shall be collected during each year. b. The revenues derived from the levies shall be placed in a separate cash reserve fund. Moneys from the cash reserve fund shall only be used to alleviate temporary cash shortages. If moneys from the cash reserve fund are used to alleviate a temporary cash shortage, the cash reserve fund shall be reimbursed immediately from the general fund of the community college as funds in the general fund become available, but in no case later than June 30 of the current fiscal year, to repay the funds taken from the cash reserve fund. 4. a. The board of directors of any merged area that failed to certify for levy under subsection 3 by March 15, 1982, and March 15, 1983, may certify for levy by April 15, 1997, and April 15, 1998, a tax on taxable property in the merged area at rates that will provide total revenues for the two years equal to five percent of the area school's general fund expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1995, in order to provide a cash reserve for that area school. As nearly as possible, one-half the revenue for the cash reserve fund shall be collected during each year. b. The revenues derived from the levies shall be placed in a separate cash reserve fund. Notwithstanding subsection 3, moneys from the cash reserve fund established by a merged area under subsection 3 or this subsection shall be used only to alleviate temporary cash shortages. If moneys from the cash reserve fund are used to alleviate a temporary cash shortage, the cash reserve fund shall be reimbursed immediately from the general fund of the community college as funds in the general fund become available, but in no case later than June 30 of the current fiscal year, to repay the funds taken from the cash reserve fund.          Section History: Early Form [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 280A.22; 81 Acts, ch 88, § 1; 82 Acts, ch 1136, § 10]          Section History: Recent Form 84 Acts, ch 1003, § 3; 87 Acts, ch 233, § 476, 477; 90 Acts, ch 1253, § 32 C93, § 260C.22 96 Acts, ch 1215, §30; 2008 Acts, ch 1115, §6, 21; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §263; 2009 Acts, ch 57, §76 Referred to in § 260C.15, 260C.21, 260C.34, 260C.35, 260C.38, 331.512, 331.559