7-82-703 - Financial statements and reports Rate structures.
7-82-703. Financial statements and reports Rate structures.
(a) The comptroller of the treasury shall cause to be filed with the board a copy of the audited financial statements prepared pursuant to § 7-82-401 of any utility district, its system or systems, that is in default on any outstanding indebtedness, or that has a deficit total net assets or a negative change in net assets for a period of two (2) years, referred to in this part as a financially distressed utility district.
(b) After reviewing such annual financial report and operations of such utility district, and after holding a public hearing within the service area of such utility district, the board may prescribe a rate structure to be adopted by the utility district as may be necessary to cause the utility district to eliminate negative changes in net assets, to liquidate in an orderly fashion any deficit total net assets and to cure a default on any indebtedness of the district, or any of these.
(c) In the event the board of commissioners of the financially distressed utility district fails to adopt the prescribed rate structure, the utility management review board shall petition the chancery court in a jurisdiction in which the utility district is operating to require the adoption of the rate structure prescribed by the board or such other remedial actions that, in the opinion of the court, may be required to cause the utility district to be operated in accordance with the provisions of state law.
(d) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, nothing in this section shall preclude a public utility district from operating water and sewer systems as individual or combined entities.
[Acts 1987, ch. 422, § 10; 2004, ch. 619, §§ 8, 9; 2008, ch. 700, §§ 2-4; 2009, ch. 72, § 2.]