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Editor's note: New chapter 12 was substituted forformer chapter 12 by virtue of chapter 189 of the 1973 Public Laws, approved by resolution 121, 6/25/1973, and by referendum, 8/7/1973.
Indebtedness of the city shall be authorized by an order of the city council passed upon the affirmative votes of at least five members. Any loan may be finally passed on the day on which it is introduced, unless any member of the city council shall object to its passage on such day; and in the event such an objection is raised, the order shall not be finally passed until a subsequent day. After final passage every loan order shall be presented to the mayor for the mayor's approval. If the mayor approves the order, the mayor shall sign it. If the mayor does not approve the order, the mayor shall return it to the office of the city clerk with a written statement of the reasons for the mayor's disapproval. A loan order so returned may be reconsidered by the city council thereafter. Unless a loan order provides for a late effective date, such order shall take effect upon its approval by the mayor; or, if the mayor disapproves it, the order shall take effect upon its reconsideration and repassage by the city council upon the affirmative votes of at least six members; or if the mayor neither approves the order nor returns it to the office of the city clerk with the statement of the mayor's reasons for disapproving it, the order shall take effect at the end of the tenth day following the day on which it was presented to the mayor.
(Res. No. 73-121, 6/25/1973, § 2, approved by referendum 8/7/1973; approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
Bonds, notes or other instruments of indebtedness representing an authorized loan may be issued from time to time, and they shall be signed by the director of finance and countersigned with the manual or facsimile signature of the mayor. Unless the loan order provides otherwise, the said officers shall determine the manner of sale and the forms, denominations, maturities, interest rates and other details of such bonds, notes or other instruments of indebtedness.
(Res. No. 73-121, 6/25/1973, § 2, approved by referendum, 8/7/1973)
Unless the statutory authority under which bonds, notes or other instruments of indebtedness of the city are to be issued has been approved or accepted by the electors of the city, no such bonds, notes or other instruments of indebtedness shall be issued until a majority of the electors of the city present and voting at a city-wide election has approved the loan. The question of approving a loan shall be submitted at the first special local, regular municipal, special state or general state election, other than a primary election, which is to be held thirty or more days after the loan order takes effect, and the question shall be submitted in substantially the following form:
Shall $__________ (amount) debt of the city be incurred for the purpose of __________ under __________ (statutory reference) and an order of the city council which became effective on __________ (date)
This section shall not be applicable with respect to loans in anticipation of taxes or with respect to any loan authorized by an order passed in accordance with section 12.04 of this chapter.
(Res. No. 73-121, 6/25/1973, § 2, approved by referendum 8/7/1973)
Whenever a loan is required to be approved by the electors under Section 12.03 of this chapter before any money can be borrowed but the existence of emergency conditions requires that the money be borrowed without delay in order to preserve the public safety, health or welfare, the city council may authorize such loan by an order which includes a brief statement of the facts which show the existence of such emergency conditions. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 12.01 of this chapter, such loan order may only be passed upon the affirmative votes of two-thirds of the members of the city council, but it may be passed on a day on which it is introduced despite an objection to its passage on such day, and it shall not take effect unless it is approved by the mayor before the end of the tenth day following the day on which it is presented to the mayor for the mayor's approval. All bonds, notes or other instruments of indebtedness issued under a loan order which is passed in accordance with the foregoing procedure shall mature no later than three years after the date of the first bonds, notes or other instruments of indebtedness which are issued under such order.
(Res. No. 73-121, 6/25/1973, § 2, approved by referendum 8/3/1973; approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
Nothing contained in this Charter shall impair or limit the city's power to incur indebtedness for the purposes and in the amounts authorized by any law passed by the general assembly of the State of Rhode Island. To the extent that any provision of any other chapter of this Charter is inconsistent with any provision of this chapter, the provision of this chapter shall prevail, and no condition or prerequisite with respect to the authorization or issue of indebtedness of the city which may be contained in any other chapter of this Charter shall be deemed mandatory.
(Res. No. 73-121, 6/25/1973, § 2, approved by referendum 8/7/1973)
The power and obligation of the city to pay its lawfully authorized debts shall be unlimited, and to the extent that other provisions for the payment of such debts is not made, the city shall levy unlimited ad valorem taxes upon all the taxable property within the city for the payment of such debts as they become due, subject to the applicable provisions of the constitution and statutes of this state. The full faith and credit of the city are hereby pledged to the payment of such debts, but such pledge need not be set forth in the bonds, notes or other instruments of indebtedness representing such debts nor in the proceedings authorizing them.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998)