15.2-2403 - Powers of service districts.
§ 15.2-2403. Powers of service districts.
After adoption of an ordinance or ordinances or the entry of an ordercreating a service district, the governing body or bodies shall have thefollowing powers with respect to the service districts:
1. To construct, maintain, and operate such facilities and equipment as maybe necessary or desirable to provide additional, more complete, or moretimely governmental services within a service district, including but notlimited to water supply, dams, sewerage, garbage removal and disposal, heat,light, fire-fighting equipment and power and gas systems and sidewalks;economic development services; promotion of business and retail developmentservices; beautification and landscaping; beach and shoreline management andrestoration; dredging of creeks and rivers to maintain existing uses; controlof infestations of insects that may carry a disease that is dangerous tohumans, gypsy moths, cankerworms or other pests identified by theCommissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inaccordance with the Virginia Pest Law (§ 3.2-700 et seq.); public parking;extra security, street cleaning, snow removal and refuse collection services;sponsorship and promotion of recreational and cultural activities; uponpetition of over 50 percent of the property owners who own not less than 50percent of the property to be served, construction, maintenance, and generalupkeep of streets and roads; construction, maintenance, and general upkeep ofstreets and roads through creation of urban transportation service districtspursuant to § 15.2-2403.1; and other services, events, or activities thatwill enhance the public use and enjoyment of and the public safety, publicconvenience, and public well-being within a service district. Such services,events, or activities shall not be undertaken for the sole or dominantbenefit of any particular individual, business or other private entity. Anytransportation service, system, facility, roadway, or roadway appurtenanceestablished under this subdivision that will be operated or maintained by theVirginia Department of Transportation shall be established with theinvolvement of the governing body of the locality and meet the appropriaterequirements of the Department.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 33.1-69, to provide, in addition toservices authorized by subdivision 1, transportation and transportationservices within a service district, regardless of whether the facilitiessubject to the services are or will be operated or maintained by the VirginiaDepartment of Transportation, including, but not limited to: publictransportation systems serving the district; transportation managementservices; road construction, including any new roads or improvements toexisting roads; rehabilitation and replacement of existing transportationfacilities or systems; and sound walls or sound barriers. However, anytransportation service, system, facility, roadway, or roadway appurtenanceestablished under this subdivision that will be operated or maintained by theVirginia Department of Transportation shall be established with theinvolvement of the governing body of the locality and meet the appropriaterequirements of the Department. The proceeds from any annual tax or portionthereof collected for road construction pursuant to subdivision 6 may beaccumulated and set aside for such reasonable period of time as is necessaryto finance such construction; however, the governing body or bodies shallmake available an annual disclosure statement, which shall contain the amountof any such proceeds accumulated and set aside to finance such roadconstruction.
3. To acquire in accordance with § 15.2-1800, any such facilities andequipment and rights, title, interest or easements therefor in and to realestate in such district and maintain and operate the same as may be necessaryand desirable to provide the governmental services authorized by subdivisions1 and 2.
4. To contract with any person, municipality or state agency to provide thegovernmental services authorized by subdivisions 1 and 2 and to construct,establish, maintain, and operate any such facilities and equipment as may benecessary and desirable in connection therewith.
5. To require owners or tenants of any property in the district to connectwith any such system or systems, and to contract with the owners or tenantsfor such connections. The owners or tenants shall have the right of appeal tothe circuit court within 10 days from action by the governing body.
6. To levy and collect an annual tax upon any property in such servicedistrict subject to local taxation to pay, either in whole or in part, theexpenses and charges for providing the governmental services authorized bysubdivisions 1, 2 and 11 and for constructing, maintaining, and operatingsuch facilities and equipment as may be necessary and desirable in connectiontherewith; however, such annual tax shall not be levied for or used to payfor schools, police, or general government services not authorized by thissection, and the proceeds from such annual tax shall be so segregated as toenable the same to be expended in the district in which raised. Such tax maybe levied on taxable real estate zoned for residential, commercial,industrial or other uses, or any combination of such use classification,within the geographic boundaries of the service district; however, such taxshall only be levied upon the specific classification of real estate that thelocal governing body deems the provided governmental services to benefit. Inaddition to the tax on property authorized herein, in the City of VirginiaBeach, the city council shall have the power to impose a tax on the basetransient room rentals, excluding hotels, motels, and travel campgrounds,within such service district at a rate or percentage not higher than fivepercent which is in addition to any other transient room rental tax imposedby the city. The proceeds from such additional transient room rental taxshall be deposited in a special fund to be used only for the purpose of beachand shoreline management and restoration. Any locality imposing a taxpursuant to this subdivision may base the tax on the full assessed value ofthe taxable property within the service district, notwithstanding any specialuse value assessment of property within the service district for landpreservation pursuant to Article 4 (§ 58.1-3229 et seq.) of Chapter 32 ofTitle 58.1, provided the owner of such property has given written consent. Inaddition to the taxes and assessments described herein, a locality creating aservice district may contribute from its general fund any amount of funds itdeems appropriate to pay for the governmental services authorized bysubdivisions 1, 2, and 11 of this section.
7. To accept the allocation, contribution or funds of, or to reimburse from,any available source, including, but not limited to, any person, authority,transportation district, locality, or state or federal agency for either thewhole or any part of the costs, expenses and charges incident to theacquisition, construction, reconstruction, maintenance, alteration,improvement, expansion, and the operation or maintenance of any facilitiesand services in the district.
8. To employ and fix the compensation of any technical, clerical, or otherforce and help which from time to time, in their judgment may be necessary ordesirable to provide the governmental services authorized by subdivisions 1,2 and 11 or for the construction, operation, or maintenance of any suchfacilities and equipment as may be necessary or desirable in connectiontherewith.
9. To create and terminate a development board or other body to which shallbe granted and assigned such powers and responsibilities with respect to aspecial service district as are delegated to it by ordinance adopted by thegoverning body of such locality or localities. Any such board or alternativebody created shall be responsible for control and management of fundsappropriated for its use by the governing body or bodies, and such funds maybe used to employ or contract with, on such terms and conditions as the boardor other body shall determine, persons, municipal or other governmentalentities or such other entities as the development board or alternative bodydeems necessary to accomplish the purposes for which the development board oralternative body has been created. If the district was created by courtorder, the ordinance creating the development board or alternative body mayprovide that the members appointed to the board or alternative body shallconsist of a majority of the landowners who petitioned for the creation ofthe district, or their designees or nominees.
10. To negotiate and contract with any person or municipality with regard tothe connections of any such system or systems with any other system orsystems now in operation or hereafter established, and with regard to anyother matter necessary and proper for the construction or operation andmaintenance of any such system within the district.
11. To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, bequest, grant, or otherwise titleto or any interests or rights of not less than five years' duration in realproperty that will provide a means for the preservation or provision ofopen-space land as provided for in the Open-Space Land Act (§ 10.1-1700 etseq.). Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision 3, the governing bodyshall not use the power of condemnation to acquire any interest in land forthe purposes of this subdivision.
12. To contract with any state agency or state or local authority forservices within the power of the agency or authority related to thefinancing, construction, or operation of the facilities and services to beprovided within the district; however, nothing in this subdivision shallauthorize a locality to obligate its general tax revenues, or to pledge itsfull faith and credit.
13. In the Town of Front Royal, to construct, maintain, and operatefacilities, equipment, and programs as may be necessary or desirable tocontrol, eradicate, and prevent the infestation of rats and removal of skunksand the conditions that harbor them.
14. In Accomack County, to construct, maintain, and operate in the WallopsResearch Park, consistent with all applicable federal, state, and local lawsand regulations, such infrastructure, services, or amenities as may benecessary or desirable to provide access for aerospace-related economicdevelopment to the NASA/Wallops Flight Facility runway and relatedfacilities, and to create and terminate a Wallops Research Park Partnershipbody, which shall consist of one representative of the NASA/Wallops ResearchFlight Facility, one representative of the U.S. Navy Surface Combat SystemsCenter, one representative of the Marine Science Consortium, onerepresentative of the Accomack County government, the Chancellor of theVirginia Community College System, and one representative of the VirginiaEconomic Development Partnership. The Partnership body shall have all of thepowers enumerated in § 15.2-2403. Federal appointees to the Partnership bodyshall maintain their absolute duties of loyalty to the U.S. government.
(Code 1950, § 15-8.2; 1962, c. 581, § 15.1-18.2; 1981, c. 631, § 15.1-18.3;1982, c. 96; 1984, c. 385; 1985, c. 150; 1987, cc. 61, 80, 82; 1988, c. 402;1989, c. 3; 1990, cc. 44, 515; 1991, cc. 12, 29; 1992, cc. 232, 655; 1993, c.744; 1994, c. 166; 1996, cc. 99, 430, 844; 1997, c. 587; 1999, c. 295; 2000,cc. 743, 853, 925; 2002, cc. 198, 202, 230, 356; 2003, c. 493; 2004, c. 810;2006, cc. 10, 394; 2007, cc. 210, 229, 813, 835, 896; 2009, cc. 302, 408;2010, c. 212.)