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48-2851. List of unpaid assessments; issuance of bonds; denominations; due date; certificate of completion

A. After the prescribed time from the date of the warrant has expired and after the flood protection district has recorded the return, the board shall make and certify a complete list of all unpaid assessments.

B. If any person, before certification of the list, presents to the board an affidavit that the person is the owner of a lot, acre or parcel on the list, accompanied by the certificate of a searcher of record that the person is the owner of record, and notifies the board, in writing, that the owner desires no bond to be issued for the assessment on the lot, acre or parcel, the assessment shall not be included in the list and shall remain collectible as provided in this article. The failure to file the notice bars any defense against the bonds except for the defense that the board did not have authority to issue the bonds.

C. The clerk shall present the list to the district at its next meeting after the return has been recorded. At any time after awarding a contract for construction or acquisition, the district, by resolution, may direct improvement bonds to be issued in an amount that does not exceed the amount of unpaid assessments as may be shown on the certified list of unpaid assessments. The resolution shall prescribe the maximum number and denomination of the bonds and the times when payable, which shall be fixed so that an approximately equal amount of principal is paid each year or any approximately equal aggregate amount of principal and interest is paid each year until the whole amount is paid. The bonds shall mature in a period that does not exceed forty years and three months from the date of the bonds. The denominations of the bonds shall be fixed by the district. The district may provide in the form of the bond for redemption before maturity by giving such notice as the district determines to be reasonable and by the payment of a premium at redemption if the district determines a premium is advisable. The resolution shall also fix the place, if any, other than the office of the treasurer, at which the bonds and the interest are payable. The board may issue fully registered bonds and may issue bonds registered in the nominee name of a depository to provide for a book entry system to administer registration and payment of principal, premium, if any, and interest on the bonds.

D. The bonds shall be issued as of the date determined by the district and shall bear interest from that date at the rate not to exceed that specified in the resolution of intention. The bonds shall have semiannual interest payments, the first of which is payable on January 1 or July 1, as the case may be, occurring at least ninety days after the later of the date of the bond or the expected completion of the work, and shall be for the interest accrued at that time.

E. The due date of all bonds is January 1 or July 1, as stated on the face of the bonds, in the years in which they become due, respectively.

F. The district may sell the bonds at public or private sale at a price at, above or below par and accrued interest to the date of payment, and at an interest rate not exceeding the maximum rate set in the resolution of intention. If deemed necessary by the board of directors, a reserve fund may be established either with proceeds from the sale of the bonds or by increasing the collections of the annual installments of principal up to the first ten years the bonds are outstanding, over and above the amounts required to pay maturing principal on the bonds. The monies in the reserve fund may be used only to cure deficits in the principal and interest funds or to pay interest and principal on the final maturity or maturities of the bonds.

G. The proceeds from the sale of the bonds shall be placed in a special fund to be held by the treasurer and to be used to pay incidental expenses and payments for construction or acquisition. If the district received sealed proposals for construction of the flood protection facility, the proceeds from the sale of the bonds shall be used to make semimonthly or monthly payments to the contractor on a basis of ninety per cent of the value of the work actually performed as estimated by the district or engineer employed for those purposes to and including the fifteenth or last day of each calendar month. The balance shall be paid after the district has recorded a certificate of substantial completion of the flood protection facility, in the same manner as the recording of the assessment. The district shall record the certificate only after the work has been completed to its satisfaction.

H. If contracting services are procured pursuant to title 34, chapter 6, article 1, proceeds from the sale of the bonds shall be used to make monthly progress payments to the contractor as provided in section 34-609, subsection B except that notwithstanding any provision of title 34, the balance shall be paid after the work is substantially complete and the district has recorded a certificate of substantial completion of the flood protection facility in the same manner as the recording of the assessment.

I. The district shall mail a copy of the notice of completion to each property owner in the same manner as the notice of hearing on the assessment. Pending use of the bond proceeds, the treasurer may invest the proceeds in any investments for which sinking funds of this state may be invested or in a pooled investment fund established under section 35-326, except that if bond anticipation notes have been issued, the bond proceeds or so much as is necessary shall be used to redeem the notes.

J. Refunding bonds may be issued to refund all or any portion of an issue of bonds issued and sold pursuant to this section in the manner prescribed by title 35, chapter 3, article 4.