§ 3-1-9. Requirements for issuance of bonds.

(a)

Procedures and requirements.

(1)

The city council of the city shall have the power to provide by resolution for the issuance and sale of revenue or excise tax bonds and certificates or any other bonds or certificates not secured by ad valorem taxation, so as to provide money to finance the acquisition, construction, improvement and operation of any utility, facility, enterprise, work, undertaking or project which the city is authorized by law to acquire, construct, improve or operate, or for any other municipal purpose or purposes, and to provide that the bonds and certificates and interest thereon shall be payable from the revenues to be derived by the city from the operation of the same or a combination of any or all of the utilities, facilities, enterprises, works, undertakings or projects, or from any other sources of pledged security except ad valorem taxes. The resolution may be adopted at a regular or special meeting by a majority vote of the council and at the same meeting at which it is introduced, to take effect immediately upon its passage. It is determined and declared as a matter of legislative intent that no election to authorize the issuance of the bonds or certificates shall be necessary. No other proceedings or procedures of any character whatever shall be necessary or required for the issuance of the bonds or certificates by the city. The words "revenue bonds" and "revenue certificates" and "excise tax bonds" and "excise tax certificates" are used interchangeably herein, and the provisions applicable to one are applicable to the other.

(2)

Any and all revenue or excise tax bonds or certificates issued by the city pursuant to this section shall be special obligations of the city and shall be payable from and secured by a lien upon the revenue of the enterprise or other pledged security as more fully described in the resolution adopted, having due regard to the cost of operation and maintenance of the enterprise, and the amount or proportion, if any, of the revenue of the enterprise previously pledged. The city may by resolution pledge for the security of the bonds or certificates a fixed amount, without regard to any fixed proportion of the gross revenue of the enterprise.

(3)

No recourse shall be had for the payment of the revenue bonds or excise tax bonds or certificates, or any interest thereon or any part thereof, against funds of the city realized from ad valorem taxes. The bonds or certificates and interest thereon shall not be a debt of the city nor a charge, lien or encumbrance, legal or equitable, upon the property of the city or upon any income, receipts, excise taxes, franchise fees or revenues of the municipality other than the revenues as shall have been pledged to the payment thereof, and every bond or certificate shall recite in substance that the bond or certificate, including interest thereon, is payable solely from the revenues pledged to the payment thereof, and that the municipality is under no obligation to pay the same except from the revenues.

(4)

The city may issue bonds payable solely out of revenues which may be derived from a particular project or projects, or may issue bonds payable from utilities services taxes, cigarette taxes, franchise taxes, fees or payments, or any excise or service tax which it may be authorized to impose, or a combination of either or all of such sources of revenue or unpledged revenue from any source; except that full faith and credit bonds or general obligation bonds, payable from unlimited ad valorem taxes, may not be issued unless authorized by vote of the electors of the city in the manner provided by law.

(5)

The city may, in addition to the other powers herein conferred, insert provisions in any resolution authorizing the issuance of such revenue or excise tax bonds or certificate which shall be a part of the contract with the holders of the revenue bonds or certificates, in the following respects:

a.

Limitations on the purpose to which the proceeds of sale of any issue of bonds or certificates may be applied;

b.

Limitations on the issuance and on the lien of additional bonds, certificates or obligations to finance the extension, addition or improvement of the enterprise which are secured by or payable from the revenues of the enterprise;

c.

Limitations on the right of the city or its governing body to restrict and regulate the use of the enterprise;

d.

Pledging all or any part of the revenues of the enterprise to which its right then exists or rights which may thereafter come into existence;

e.

The city may avail itself of any right, power or authority to issue bonds granted to municipalities from time to time by the provisions of Florida Statutes.

(6)

The foregoing provisions of this section shall constitute full and complete authority for the issuance of the bonds and certificates herein authorized, and no procedures or proceedings, publications, notices, consents, approvals, orders, acts or things by the council or any board, officer, commission or department of the city, other than those required by this section, shall be required to issue any bond or certificate or to do or perform any act, except as shall be required by this section.

(7)

Bonds, certificates or other obligations of any type or character authorized and issued by the city may bear an interest rate within the discretion of the council. There shall be no maximum limitation on the interest rate, except that the interest rate shall be based on the good faith judgment of the council after receiving advice from the mayor, city financial officials, fiscal agents and bond attorneys employed by the city.

(b)

Power to combine utilities, enterprises. The council shall have power by resolution to combine any or all of its municipally owned utilities or other revenue-producing enterprises or undertakings for the purposes of the construction, extension, improvement, operation or financing thereof.

(Laws of Fla. 1931, Ch. 15425; Laws of Fla., Ch. 59-1725, § 1; Laws of Fla., Ch. 70-885, § 1; Ord. No. 16-10, § 33, 9-9-10)

State law reference

Municipal borrowing, F.S. § 166.101 et seq.; municipal finance and taxation, F.S. § 166.201 et seq.; maximum rate of interest, F.S. § 215.84; bond information, notice, sale, etc., F.S. §§ 218.37, 218.38, 218.385.