15.20 Limitations on amount of local indebtedness; exclusions of certain indebtedness. a. The provisions of section 104.00 of this chapter shall be applicable in relation to the powers of counties, cities, towns, villages and school districts in cities to contract indebtedness, and the powers of other school districts to issue bonds and bond anticipation notes, in connection with a joint service or joint water, sewage or drainage project; provided, however, that the amount of the joint indebtedness of any such municipal corporation or municipality therefor shall not exceed the amount allocated and apportioned as provided in or pursuant to the provisions of section 15.10 of this chapter.
b. In ascertaining the power of a county, city, town or village to contract indebtedness, there shall be excluded any joint indebtedness and any several indebtedness contracted to provide for the supply of water. Any such indebtedness for such purpose shall not be excluded in ascertaining the power of any school district to contract indebtedness. The provisions of paragraph c of this section shall not apply to indebtedness contracted to provide for the supply of water.
c. In ascertaining the power of a county, city, town or village to contract indebtedness there shall be excluded any joint indebtedness or several indebtedness contracted or proposed to be contracted for a joint service, other than a joint sewage or drainage project, to the extent permitted by paragraph C of section five of article eight of the constitution, as implemented by section 123.00 of this chapter. The provisions of this paragraph shall not be deemed to affect or impair any other existing exclusions of indebtedness granted by any other provision of this chapter or the constitution. Any such municipal corporation, or all of such municipal corporations, participating in a joint service, other than a joint sewage or drainage project, may apply to the state comptroller for a conclusive determination of the amount or amounts of any such indebtedness contracted or proposed to be contracted for such joint service to be excluded pursuant to the provisions of section 123.00 of this chapter. The provisions of such section, other than subdivision two of paragraph b thereof, shall be applicable in relation to any such application, and the procedural provisions thereof shall be liberally construed to effectuate the provisions of paragraph C of section five of article eight of the constitution. Where there is a joint application and the fiscal years of the municipal corporations are not the same, the term "preceding fiscal year, " as used in section 123.00, shall, for the purposes of this section, mean "preceding year." If an application is not made jointly by all of the chief fiscal officers of the participating municipal corporations, written notice of such application shall be given, prior to the filing of the application with the state comptroller, to the chief fiscal officer of each participating municipal corporation not joining in such application. In the case of a joint application the notice required to be published under the provisions of paragraph h of section 123.00 shall be published in the official newspaper or newspapers of each of the participating municipal corporations, or if there be no such newspaper or newspapers, then in one or more newspapers having general circulation in such municipal corporations as the finance boards shall designate, except that where any newspaper is the official newspaper of all of the participating municipal corporations, or is the only newspaper designated by the finance boards as a newspaper having general circulation in all of the participating municipal corporations, only one notice need be published in any such newspaper. Where there is a joint application in relation to a joint service which has been in operation for one year, and the fiscal years of the municipal corporations are not the same, the certificate of the state comptroller shall be effective only until the first day of the fourth month following the close of the year of operation described in the application.
d. In ascertaining the power of a municipality to contract indebtedness there shall be excluded all or any part of the joint indebtedness or several indebtedness contracted or proposed to be contracted for a joint sewage or drainage project the amount or amounts of which shall be determined conclusively by the state comptroller in the same manner as provided in paragraph c of this section, except that, in any proceeding under this paragraph, any requirement that the improvement, or part thereof, or service shall have yielded net revenue during the preceding fiscal year or preceding year in a sum equal to twenty-five per centum or more of the amount required in such year for the payment of the interest on an amortization of, or payment of, indebtedness, as set forth in subdivisions one and three of paragraph b and in subdivision two of paragraph c of section 123.00, shall not be applicable.
Last modified: February 3, 2019