§ 130A-81. Incorporation of municipality and simultaneous dissolution of sanitary district, with transfer of assets and liabilities from the district to the municipality.
§130A‑81. Incorporation of municipality and simultaneous dissolution ofsanitary district, with transfer of assets and liabilities from the district tothe municipality.
The General Assembly mayincorporate a municipality, which includes within its boundaries or iscoterminous with a sanitary district and provide for the simultaneousdissolution of the sanitary district and the transfer of the district's assetsand liabilities to the municipality, in the following manner:
(1) The incorporationact shall define the boundaries of the proposed municipality; shall set thedate for and provide for a referendum on the incorporation of the proposedmunicipality and dissolution of the sanitary district; shall provide forregistration of voters in the area of the proposed municipality in accordancewith G.S. 163‑288.2; shall set a proposed effective date for theincorporation of the municipality and the dissolution of the sanitary district;shall establish the form of government for the proposed municipality and thecomposition of its governing board, and provide for transitional arrangementsfor the sanitary district to the municipality; and may include any other matterappropriate to a municipal charter.
(1a) As an alternate tosubdivision (1) of this section, the incorporation act shall define theboundaries of the proposed municipality; shall provide that the incorporationis not subject to referendum; shall set a proposed effective date for theincorporation of the municipality and the dissolution of the sanitary district;shall establish the form of government for the proposed municipality and thecomposition of its governing board, and provide for transitional arrangementsfor the sanitary district to the municipality, and may include any other matterappropriate to a municipal charter. If this subdivision is followed instead ofsubdivision (1), then the municipality shall be incorporated and the sanitarydistrict simultaneously dissolved at 12 noon on the date set for incorporationin the incorporation act, and the provisions of paragraphs a through g ofsubdivision (5) of this section shall apply.
(2) The referendum shallbe conducted by the board of elections of the county in which the proposedmunicipality is located. If the proposed municipality is located in more thanone county, the board of elections of the county which has the greatest numberof residents of the proposed municipality shall conduct the referendum. Theboard of election shall conduct the referendum in accordance with this sectionand the provisions of the incorporation act.
(3) The form of theballot for a referendum under this section shall be substantially as follows:
"[] FOR incorporation ofthe Town (City) of . . . . . . . . . . and the simultaneous dissolution of the. . . . . . . . . . Sanitary District, with transfer of the District's assetsand liabilities to the Town (City), and assumption of the District'sindebtedness by the Town (City).
[] AGAINST incorporation ofthe Town (City) of . . . . . . . . . . and the simultaneous dissolution of the. . . . . . . . . . Sanitary District, with transfer of the District's assetsand liabilities, to the Town (City), and assumption of the District'sindebtedness by the Town (City)."
(4) If a majority ofthose voting in the referendum vote in favor of incorporating the proposedmunicipality and dissolving the sanitary district, the board of elections shallnotify the Department and the Local Government Commission of the date on whichthe municipality will be incorporated and the sanitary district dissolved andshall state that all assets and liabilities of the sanitary district will betransferred to the municipality and that the municipality will assume thedistrict's indebtedness.
(5) If a majority ofthose voting in the referendum vote in favor of incorporating the proposedmunicipality and dissolving the sanitary district, the municipality shall beincorporated and the sanitary district shall be simultaneously dissolved at 12noon on the date set for incorporation in the incorporation act. At that time:
a. The sanitarydistrict shall cease to exist as a body politic and corporate;
b. All property, real,personal and mixed, belonging to the sanitary district vests in and is theproperty of the municipality;
c. All judgments,liens, rights and courses of action in favor of the sanitary district vest infavor of the municipality;
d. All rentals, taxes,assessments and other funds, charges or fees owed to the sanitary district areowed to and may be collected by the municipality;
e. Any action, suit, orproceeding pending against, or instituted by the sanitary district shall not beabated by its dissolution, but shall be continued and completed in the samemanner as if dissolution had not occurred. The municipality shall be a party tothese actions, suits and proceedings in the place of the sanitary district andshall pay any judgment rendered against the sanitary district in any of theseactions or proceedings. No new process need be served in any of the actions,suits or proceedings;
f. All obligations ofthe sanitary district, including outstanding indebtedness, are assumed by themunicipality, and all the obligations and outstanding indebtedness areconstituted obligations and indebtedness of the municipality. The full faithand credit of the municipality is deemed to be pledged for the payment of theprincipal of and interest on all general obligation bonds and bond anticipationnotes of the sanitary district, and all the taxable property within themunicipality shall remain subject to taxation for these payments; and
g. All rules of thesanitary district shall continue in effect until repealed or amended by thegoverning body of the municipality.
(6) The transitionbetween the sanitary district and the municipality shall be provided for in theincorporation act of the municipality. (1971, c. 737, 1973, c. 476,s. 128; 1983, c. 891, s. 2; 1985, c. 375.)