§ 64b. Revenue bonds authorized
(a) The following terms when used in this section shall, unless the context otherwise
requires, have the following meanings:
(1) The term “revenue producing facility” shall mean any building, activity, function,
or service that any executive officer or department of the City is authorized to construct,
operate, or carry out and for which the City receives revenue in the form of rent
admission or use fees, concession fees, or other consideration. Provided, the facilities
and activities of the Burlington Electric Light Department, the Burlington Water Resources
Department, and the airport as herein defined shall be excluded from this definition
of revenue producing facility.
(2) The term “airport” shall mean the entire airport now owned by the City, including
runways, hangars, loading facilities, repair shops, terminals, retail stores in such
terminals, restaurants, parking areas, and other facilities necessary or convenient
for the operation of the airport, together with any improvements thereto hereafter
constructed or acquired.
(3) The term “bonds” shall mean any bonds, notes, or obligations of the City issued pursuant
to this section.
(4) The term “City” shall mean the City of Burlington.
(5) The term “improvement” shall mean any improvement, expansion, betterment, addition,
alteration, reconstruction, extraordinary repair, equipping, or reequipping of the
airport.
(6) The term “related laws” shall mean those acts of the Vermont General Assembly that
are specifically applicable to the City of Burlington and are set out in Part I, Subpart
B of the Burlington Code of Ordinances but that do not specifically amend sections
of the Burlington City charter.
(7) The term “revenues” shall mean all rates, fees, charges, rents, and other income derived
from the ownership or operation of a revenue producing facility or of the airport
and may include, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, investment earnings
and the proceeds of insurance, condemnation, sale, or other disposition of revenue
producing facility or airport assets and proceeds of borrowing hereunder.
(b) The City is hereby authorized and empowered to improve its revenue producing facilities
and its airport for the purpose of providing expanded service and facilities to the
users of such revenue producing facilities and airport.
(c)(1) The City is hereby authorized and empowered to issue bonds, from time to time, for
the purpose of financing the costs of any improvement to a revenue producing facility
or the airport; provided, however, that no bonds other than refunding bonds shall
be issued under this section unless and until a majority of the legal voters of the
City present and voting thereon at any annual or special City meeting duly warned
for the purpose shall have first voted to authorize the issuance of such bonds. Said
bonds and the interest thereon shall be payable solely and exclusively from the revenues
of the revenue producing facility and/or the airport as the case may be and shall
not constitute general indebtedness of the City nor be an obligation or liability
upon the City to pay the same from any funds of the City other than the revenues of
said revenue producing facility or airport. No airport revenues may be pledged or
payable to support a revenue producing facility, nor may the revenues of a revenue
producing facility be pledged or payable to support the airport. No owner or owners
of any bonds issued under this section shall ever have the right to compel any exercise
of the taxing power of the City to pay said bonds or the interest thereon. Said bonds
shall not constitute an indebtedness within the meaning of any debt limitation or
restriction and shall not be within any statutory limitation upon the power of the
City to issue bonds. It shall be plainly stated on the face of each bond that it does
not constitute an indebtedness of the City but is payable solely from the revenues
of the revenue producing facility or of the airport.
(2) Bonds issued under this section may be issued in one or more series, may bear such
date or dates, mature at such time or times both exceeding 40 years from their respective
dates, bear interest at such rate or rates (whether variable or fixed), be in such
denominations, be in registered form, have such rank or priority, be executed in such
manner, be payable in such medium of payment, at such place or places, and be subject
to such terms of redemption, with or without premium, be declared or become due before
the maturity date thereof as may be determined or authorized by resolution of the
City Council. Said bonds may be sold at public or private sale for such price or prices
as the City Council shall determine.
(3) In case any officer of the City whose signature appears on any bond or coupon shall
cease to be such officer before the delivery of such bond, such a signature shall,
nevertheless, be valid and sufficient for all purposes, the same as if he or she had
remained in office until such delivery. Any provision of any law to the contrary notwithstanding,
any bonds issued pursuant to this section shall be deemed to be investment securities
under the Uniform Commercial Code. Any bonds issued by the City pursuant to the provisions
of this section are declared to be issued for an essential public and governmental
purpose and to be public instrumentalities, and, together with interest and income
thereon, shall be exempt from taxes. The resolution authorizing the issuance of said
bonds may provide that the bonds shall contain a recital that they are issued pursuant
to this section, which recital shall be conclusive evidence of their validity and
of the regularity of their issuance.
(d) In order to secure the payment of any of the bonds issued pursuant to this section,
the interest thereon, or in connection with such bonds, the City shall have power
as to such bonds, to the extent not inconsistent with the mandatory provisions of
this section:
(1) to pledge all or any part of the revenues derived from the revenue producing facility
to secure payment of bonds issued for a revenue producing facility or from the airport
to secure payment of bonds issued for the airport;
(2) to provide for the terms, forms, registration, exchange execution, and authentication
of such bonds;
(3) to provide for the replacement of lost, destroyed, or mutilated bonds;
(4) to covenant as to the use and disposition of the proceeds from the sale of such bonds
and as to the use and disposition of revenues, including, without limiting the generality
of the foregoing, the establishment of reserves for debt service of other capital
or current expenses from bond proceeds or revenues or both;
(5) to covenant as to the rates, charges, and rents of the revenue producing facility
or airport, provided that the City shall always collect revenues adequate at all times
to provide for the proper operation and maintenance of the revenue producing facility
or airport and for the payment of the principal of and interest on all bonds payable
from said revenues and all other required payments in connection therewith;
(6) to redeem such bonds, and to covenant for their redemption, and to provide the terms
and conditions thereof;
(7) to covenant and prescribe as to what happenings or occurrences shall constitute “events
of default” and the terms and conditions upon which such declaration and its consequences
may be waived;
(8) to covenant as to the rights, liabilities, powers, and duties arising upon the breach
by it of any covenant, conditions, or obligations;
(9) to vest in a trustee or trustees the right to receive all or any part of the income
and revenue pledged and assigned to, or for the benefit of, the owner or owners of
bonds issued hereunder, and to hold, apply, and dispose of the same and the right
to enforce any covenant made to secure or pay the bonds or made in relation to the
bonds; to execute and deliver a trust agreement or trust agreements that may set forth
the powers and duties and the remedies available to such trustee or trustees and limiting
the liabilities thereof and describing what occurrences shall constitute “events of
default” and prescribing the terms and conditions upon which such trustee or trustees
or the owner or owners of bonds of any specified amount of percentage of such bonds
may exercise such rights and enforce any and all such covenants and resort to such
remedies as may be appropriate;
(10) to make covenants other than, and in addition to, the covenants herein authorized,
of like or different character, necessary or advisable to effectuate the purposes
of this section;
(11) to execute all instruments necessary or convenient in the exercise of the powers herein
granted or in the performance of its covenants or duties.
(e)(1) Any pledge hereunder shall be valid and binding and shall be deemed continuously perfected
from time to time when the pledge is made; unless otherwise provided in the resolution
making the pledge, the pledge of revenues shall include any contract or other rights
to receive the same, whether then existing or thereafter coming into existence and
whether then held or thereafter acquired by the City, and the proceeds thereof; the
revenues, rights and proceeds so pledged and then held or thereafter acquired by the
City shall immediately be subject to the lien of such pledge without any physical
delivery or segregation thereof or further act; and the lien of any such pledge shall
be valid and binding as against the City, irrespective of whether such parties have
notice thereof. The resolution by which a pledge is made need not be filed or recorded
except in the records of the proceedings of the City Council and no filing need be
made under the Uniform Commercial Code.
(2) A resolution pledging revenues hereunder may provide for priorities among payments
to be made from such revenues, whether required by statute, the City charter, such
resolution, or otherwise. The pledge may include revenues otherwise accruing to particular
funds established by statute or the City charter. In the event bonds are issued junior
and subordinate to other bonds, revenues remaining from time to time that are permitted
by the terms of the senior bonds to be used to pay or secure the junior bonds may
be pledged for that purpose by the resolution under which the junior bonds are issued.
A pledge of revenues under this section shall constitute a sufficient appropriation
thereof for the purpose of any provision for appropriation and such revenues may be
applied as required by the pledge without further appropriation.
(f) The City may issue refunding bonds for the purpose of paying any of its bonds issued
hereunder at maturity or upon acceleration or redemption. The refunding bonds may
be issued at such time prior to the maturity or redemption of the refunded bonds as
the City deems to be in the public interest. The refunding bonds may be issued in
sufficient amounts to pay or provide the principal of the bonds being refunded, together
with any redemption premium thereon, any interest accrued or to accrue to the date
of payment of such bonds, the expenses of issue of the refunding bonds, the expenses
of redeeming the bonds being refunded, and such reserves for debt service or other
capital or current expenses from the proceeds of such refunding bonds as may be required
by a resolution under which bonds are issued. The issue of refunding bonds, the maturities
and other details thereof, the security therefor, the rights of the owners thereof,
and the rights, duties, and obligations of the City with respect thereto shall be
governed by the provisions of this section relating to the issue of bonds other than
refunding bonds insofar as the same may be applicable.
(g) Unless otherwise provided in the authorizing proceedings, if bonds are authorized
under this section, temporary notes may be issued in anticipation thereof. The City
Council may delegate the sale (but not the authorization) of temporary notes to an
officer or officers of the City. The principal of and interest on notes may be renewed
or paid from time to time by the issue of other notes. Except as otherwise provided,
notes issued under this subsection shall be governed by the provisions of this section
relating to bonds insofar as the same may be applicable.
(h) Except as otherwise permitted by this section, all monies received from the issue
of bonds for improvements to revenue producing facilities or for airport improvements
(other than refunding bonds) shall be used solely to defray the cost of improving
the revenue producing facility or the airport of the City as the case may be. The
cost of improving shall include all costs of improvement, including all preliminary
expenses, the cost of acquiring all property, franchises, easements, and rights necessary
or convenient therefor, engineering and legal expenses, expenses for estimates of
costs and revenues, expenses for plans, specifications, and surveys, other expenses
incident or necessary to determining the feasibility or practicability of a project,
administrative expenses, interest prior to and during the carrying out of any project
and for a reasonable period thereafter, such reserves for debt service or other capital
or current expenses as may be required by the resolution under which the bonds are
issued, and such other expenses as may be incurred in the financing herein authorized,
the improvement of the revenue producing facility or the airport, the placing of an
improvement in operation, including the creation of cash working funds, and the performance
of the things herein required or permitted in connection therewith.
(i) Any owner or owners of bonds, and a trustee or trustees for holders of such bonds
shall have the right in addition to all other rights.
(1) By mandamus or other suit, action, or proceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction
to enforce his or her or their rights against the City, the City Council and any other
proper officer, agent, or employee of any of them, including the right to require
the City, the City Council, and any proper officer, agent, or employee of any of them,
to fix and collect rates, charges, and rents adequate to carry out any agreement as
to, or pledge of revenues, and to require the City, the City Council, and any officer,
agent, or employee of any of them to carry out any other covenants or agreements and
to perform its and their duties under this section;
(2) By actions or suit in equity to enjoin any acts or things that may be unlawful or
a violation of the rights of such holder of bonds.
(j) The City shall have power by resolution of its City Council to confer upon any owner
or owners of a specified amount or percentage of bonds, including a trustee or trustees
for such owners, the right in the event of an “event of default” as defined in such
resolution or as may be defined in any agreement with the owner or owners of such
bonds or the trustee or trustees therefor:
(1) By suit, action, or proceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction to obtain the
appointment of a receiver of the revenue facility or the airport as applicable or
any part or parts thereof. If such receiver be appointed, he or she may enter and
take possession of such revenue producing facility or airport or any part or parts
thereof and operate and maintain the same, and collect and receive all revenues thereafter
arising therefrom in the same manner as the City itself might do and shall deposit
such monies in a separate account or accounts and apply the same in accordance with
the obligations of the City as the court shall direct.
(2) By suit, action, or proceeding in any court of competent jurisdiction to require the
City to account as if it were the trustee of an express trust. Any such resolution
shall constitute a contract between the City and the owners of bonds of such issue.
(k) The powers conferred by this section shall be in addition and supplemental to the
power conferred by any other law or by any other section of this City charter or the
related laws of the City. Bonds may be issued hereunder for the improvement of a revenue
producing facility and/or the airport, notwithstanding that any other law may provide
for the issuance of bonds for the like purpose and without regard to the requirements,
restrictions, or procedural provisions contained in any other law. Nothing in this
section shall be construed to preclude the City from issuing general obligation bonds
or notes in accordance with applicable law to finance improvements to a revenue producing
facility or to the airport. Such financing shall not be governed by the provisions
of this section. It shall not be necessary for the City proceeding under this charter
to obtain a certificate of convenience or necessity, franchise, license, permit, or
other authorization or approval from any bureau, board, commission, or other instrumentality
of the State of Vermont or the City for the issuance of bonds hereunder except as
expressly provided in this section.
(l) This section is remedial in nature and the powers hereby granted shall be liberally
construed to effectuate the purposes hereof, and to this and the City shall have power
to do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes hereof in addition
to the powers expressly conferred in this section.
(m) It is hereby declared that the subsections, clauses, sentences, and parts of this
section are severable, are not matters of mutual essential inducement, and any of
them shall be exscinded if this section would otherwise be unconstitutional or ineffective;
it is the intention to confer upon the City the whole or any part of the powers in
this charter provided for, and if any one or more subsections clauses, sentences,
and parts of this section shall for any reason be questioned in any court, and shall
be adjudged unconstitutional or invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or
invalidate the remaining provisions thereof, but shall be confined in its operation
to the specific provision or provisions so held unconstitutional or invalid, and the
inapplicability or invalidity of such subsection, clause, sentence, or part of this
section in any one or more instances shall not be taken to affect or prejudice in
any way its applicability or validity in any other instance.
(n) The powers granted to the City hereunder shall be exercised by its City Council. No
provisions hereof shall be deemed to permit the exercise or any power in violation
of the rights of bonds or note owners.