2007 Minnesota Statutes

473.541 DEBT OBLIGATIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Certificates of indebtedness. At any time or times after approval of an
annual budget, and in anticipation of the collection of tax and other revenues appropriated in
the budget, the council may by resolution authorize the issuance, negotiation, and sale, in such
form and manner and upon such terms as it may determine, of general obligation certificates of
indebtedness in aggregate principal amounts not exceeding 50 percent of the total amount of such
appropriations, and maturing not later than April 1 following the close of the budget year. All
receipts of tax and other revenues included in the budget, after the expenditure of appropriated
funds, shall be irrevocably appropriated to a special fund to pay the principal of and the interest
on the certificates when due. If for some reason the anticipated revenues are insufficient to pay
the certificates and interest thereon when due, the council shall levy a tax in the amount of the
deficiency on all taxable property in the metropolitan area, and shall appropriate this amount
to the special fund, to be credited thereto from the first tax and other revenues received in the
following budget year.
    Subd. 2. Emergency certificates. If in any budget year the receipts of tax and other revenues
should from some unforeseen cause become insufficient to pay the council's current wastewater
control expenses, or if any calamity or other public emergency should subject it to the necessity
of making extraordinary wastewater control expenditures, the council may make an emergency
appropriation of an amount sufficient to meet the deficiency and may authorize the issuance,
negotiation, and sale of certificates of indebtedness in this amount in the same manner and
upon the same conditions as provided in subdivision 1, except that the council shall forthwith
levy on all taxable property in the metropolitan area a tax sufficient to pay the certificates and
interest thereon, and shall appropriate all collections of such tax to a special fund created for
that purpose. The certificates may mature not later than April in the year following the year in
which the tax is collectible.
    Subd. 3. General obligation bonds. The council may by resolution authorize the issuance
of general obligation bonds for the acquisition or betterment of any interceptors or treatment
works determined to be necessary or desirable for the metropolitan disposal system, or for the
refunding of outstanding bonds, certificates of indebtedness, or judgments. The council shall
provide for the issuance and sale and for the security of such bonds in the manner provided in
chapter 475, and shall have the same powers and duties as a municipality issuing bonds under
that law, except that no election shall be required and the net debt limitations in chapter 475
shall not apply to such bonds. The council may also pledge for the payment of such bonds any
revenues receivable under section 473.517.
    Subd. 4. Revenue bonds. (a) The council may, by resolution, authorize the issuance
of revenue bonds for any purpose for which general obligation bonds may be issued under
subdivision 3. The bonds shall be sold, issued, and secured in the manner provided in chapter 475
for bonds payable solely from revenues, except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, and the
council shall have the same powers and duties as a municipality and its governing body in issuing
bonds under that chapter. The bonds shall be payable from and secured by a pledge of all or any
part of revenues receivable under section 473.517, shall not, and shall state they do not, represent
or constitute a general obligation or debt of the council, and shall not be included in the net debt
of any city, county, or other subdivision of the state for the purpose of any net debt limitation. The
proceeds of the bonds may be used to pay credit enhancement fees.
(b) The bonds may be secured by a bond resolution, or a trust indenture entered into by the
council with a corporate trustee within or outside the state, which shall define the revenues and
bond proceeds pledged for the payment and security of the bonds. The pledge shall be a valid
charge on the revenues received under section 473.517. No mortgage of or security interest in
any tangible real or personal property shall be granted to the bondholders or the trustee, but they
shall have a valid security interest in the revenues and bond proceeds received by the council
and pledged to the payment of the bonds as against the claims of all persons in tort, contract, or
otherwise, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof and without possession or filing
as provided in the Uniform Commercial Code or any other law, subject, however, to the rights of
the holders of any general obligation bonds issued under subdivision 3. In the bond resolution or
trust indenture, the council may make such covenants as it determines to be reasonable for the
protection of the bondholders, including a covenant to issue general obligation bonds to refund
the revenue bonds if and to the extent required to pay principal and interest on the bonds and to
certify a deficiency tax levy as provided in section 473.521, subdivision 4.
(c) Neither the council, nor any council member, officer, employee, or agent of the council,
nor any person executing the bonds shall be liable personally on the bonds by reason of their
issuance. The bonds shall not be payable from nor a charge upon any funds other than the revenues
and bond proceeds pledged to the payment thereof, nor shall the council be subject to any liability
thereon or have the power to obligate itself to pay or to pay the bonds from funds other than the
revenues and bond proceeds pledged, and no holder or holders of bonds shall ever have the right to
compel any exercise of the taxing power of the council (except any deficiency tax levy the council
covenants to certify under section 473.521, subdivision 4) or any other public body, to the payment
of principal of or interest on the bonds, nor to enforce payment thereof against any property of the
council or other public body other than that expressly pledged for the payment thereof.
History: 1975 c 13 s 88; 1989 c 355 s 13; 1994 c 628 art 3 s 179