(a) In addition to the powers which it may now have, any municipality or county shall have power under this division:
(1) To acquire by gift or purchase, to construct, to reconstruct, to improve, to better or to extend any undertaking within or without the municipality or county or partially within or partially without the municipality or county;
(2) To operate and maintain any undertaking for its own use and for the use of public and private consumers and users within and without the territorial boundaries of the municipality or county;
(3) To lease any undertaking or portion thereof to any agency or department of the State of Alabama for a period or periods not exceeding 40 years from the completion of the construction of the work, if any, required in the lease to be done with respect to the undertaking covered by the lease or for a period or periods not exceeding 40 years from the delivery of the lease if no such work is required in the lease to be done;
(4) To prescribe and collect rates, fees, tolls or charges for the services, facilities and commodities furnished by such undertaking and to charge and contract for and collect rentals for all or part of any undertaking that may be leased by the municipality or county as authorized in paragraph (a) (3) of this section, and in anticipation of the collection of such rates, fees, tolls, charges or rentals to issue revenue anticipation bonds to finance in whole or in part the cost of the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, betterment or extension of any undertaking and to pledge to the punctual payment of the principal of and interest on said bonds all or any part of the gross or net revenues of or rentals from such undertaking (including the revenues of or rentals from improvements, betterments or extensions thereto thereafter constructed or acquired as well as the revenues of existing systems, plants, works, instrumentalities and properties of the undertaking so improved, bettered or extended) or of any part of such undertaking; and
(5) To pledge or to mortgage or execute deeds of trust or to create liens upon any undertaking, either with or without including subsequent extensions and improvements thereto, and upon any lease thereof for the purpose of securing such revenue anticipation bonds as may be issued under the provisions of subdivision (4) of subsection (a) of this section, as amended, for the purpose of financing the cost of acquiring, constructing, improving or extending such undertaking.
(b) The instrument or deed of trust creating such pledge, mortgage, trust or lien as provided in subdivision (5) of subsection (a) of this section may provide for the appointment of a trustee and the acceptance of such trust by such trustee and may contain covenants and warranties usually or customarily contained in mortgages or deeds of trust to secure bonds issued to finance similar undertakings, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, covenants regarding the operation and maintenance of, insurance upon and rates and charges for the use of the undertaking, the maintenance of accurate books and records and financial data with respect thereto and warranties of title and against encumbrances, as well as covenants for the prompt payment of the principal of and interest on such revenue anticipation bonds. Such covenants and warranties shall, however, be limited to the funds and resources which the municipality or county may obligate to the payment of such revenue anticipation bonds. Such instrument or deed of trust may provide for the foreclosure of the pledge, mortgage, trust or lien, upon the occurring of any default in the payment of the principal of any such revenue anticipation bonds or any installment thereof or any interest thereon or the violation of any other covenants or warranties contained in such instrument or deed of trust, either by the trustee or by the creditors or their attorneys, and the taking of possession of the property pledged, mortgaged or subject to the deed of trust or lien, the operation thereof by a receiver or trustee and the sale thereof at public outcry, either with or without court proceedings, either by the trustee or by the creditors or by their attorneys or, if foreclosure is by court proceedings, by such official as the court may designate, and may provide that the trustee or creditors may become purchasers at any such sale. Any such instrument or deed of trust may contain provisions for redemption from a foreclosure sale or, if it is silent as to provisions for redemption, the law of the State of Alabama applying to the redemption of real property from mortgage foreclosure sales shall govern. Such instrument or deed of trust may provide that, in the event of the foreclosure of such pledge, mortgage, deed of trust or lien, the purchaser at any foreclosure sale may acquire the right, privilege and franchise of operating the undertaking which is sold or conveyed, and such purchaser or his vendee may have the right, authority and privilege to carry on and operate such undertaking in the same manner, on the same terms and to the same extent as the municipality or county is authorized to operate until the municipality or county may redeem the undertaking from such foreclosure sale.
(c) The governing body in determining the cost of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, betterment or extension of any undertaking may include all costs and estimated costs of the issuance of said bonds, all engineering, inspection, fiscal and legal expenses and interest which it is estimated will accrue during the construction period and for six months thereafter on money borrowed or which it is estimated will be borrowed pursuant to this division.
Last modified: May 3, 2021