S 1139 Session 112 (1997-1998)
S 1139 General Bill, By Wilson
A BILL TO AMEND ACT 387 OF 1963, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CREATION OF THE
IRMO FIRE DISTRICT IN LEXINGTON COUNTY, SO AS TO CORRECT TECHNICAL ERRORS IN
THE DESCRIPTION OF ITS BOUNDARIES, PROVIDE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE GOVERNING
BOARD, AND AT THE TIME OF THE GENERAL ELECTION IN 1998, PROVIDE FOR THE TERMS
OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD, CHANGE THE POWERS OF THE BOARD, PROVIDE THAT THE
PROPERTY OF ANY PERSON CONTIGUOUS TO THE DISTRICT MUST BE ADDED TO THE
DISTRICT UPON RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF A
REQUEST FROM THE PROPERTY OWNER REQUESTING THE INCLUSION, AND AUTHORIZE THE
DISTRICT TO ISSUE GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS NOT EXCEEDING ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
03/24/98 Senate Intd. & placed on local & uncontested cal. w/o
reference SJ-5
04/28/98 Senate Amended SJ-23
05/21/98 Senate Read second time SJ-15
05/22/98 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-1
05/26/98 House Introduced, read first time, placed on calendar
without reference HJ-15
05/27/98 House Debate adjourned until Tuesday, June 2, 1998 HJ-27
06/02/98 House Debate adjourned until Wednesday, June 3, 1998 HJ-12
06/03/98 House Debate adjourned until Thursday, June 4, 1998 HJ-8
06/04/98 House Debate adjourned until July 1, 1998 HJ-10
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
INTRODUCED
May 26, 1998
S. 1139
Introduced by Senator Wilson
L. Printed 5/26/98--H.
Read the first time May 26, 1998.
A BILL
TO AMEND ACT 387 OF 1963, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO
THE CREATION OF THE IRMO FIRE DISTRICT IN
LEXINGTON COUNTY, SO AS TO CORRECT TECHNICAL
ERRORS IN THE DESCRIPTION OF ITS BOUNDARIES,
PROVIDE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE GOVERNING BOARD,
AND AT THE TIME OF THE GENERAL ELECTION IN 1998,
PROVIDE FOR THE TERMS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE
BOARD, CHANGE THE POWERS OF THE BOARD, PROVIDE
THAT THE PROPERTY OF ANY PERSON CONTIGUOUS TO
THE DISTRICT MUST BE ADDED TO THE DISTRICT UPON
RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE BY THE BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS OF A REQUEST FROM THE PROPERTY
OWNER REQUESTING THE INCLUSION, AND AUTHORIZE
THE DISTRICT TO ISSUE GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS
NOT EXCEEDING ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 3 of Act 387 of 1963, as last amended by Act
1074 of 1966, is further amended to read:
"Section 3. The Irmo Fire District in Lexington County
shall be is bounded as follows:
Beginning at a point where I-26 intersects with I-20, thence
following a southwesterly direction on I-20 to the Saluda River,
thence northwesterly along the Saluda River to lands of Allied
Chemical Fibers Corporation, thence along the
easternmost boundary of said Allied Chemical Fibers
Corporation to the tracks of the Columbia, Newberry, and Laurens
Railroad Company, thence northwesterly along the said railroad
tracks to a point of intersection with S.C. 36, continuing along S.C.
36 and S.C. 107 to a point bordering on the western boundary of the
General Electric Phillips Components Plant, thence
running in a southerly direction to the Saluda River, thence running
in a westerly direction along the Saluda River to lands of the South
Carolina Electric and Gas Company, thence north and east along a
spur track to S.C. 107, thence along S.C. 107 where it joins S.C. 271
and along S.C. 271 where it joins S.C. 356, thence northerly along
S.C. 356 to Irmo City limits running along and including Irmo City
line to I-26, thence along I-26 to the point of beginning."
SECTION 2. Section 4 of Act 387 of 1963, as last amended by Act
794 of 1978, is further amended to read:
"Section 4. After the creation of the Irmo Fire District,
there is established a board of fire control for the district to be
composed of five members who shall be appointed by the Governor
upon the recommendation of a majority of the Lexington County
Legislative Delegation. Terms of office shall be for six years and
until successors are appointed and qualify except that of those
appointed in 1978 two shall be appointed for terms of six years, two
shall be appointed for four years and one shall be appointed for two
years. The members of the board shall serve without pay and shall
file annually a report with the Lexington County Board of
Commissioners not later than the first of November of each year,
showing all activities and disbursements made by the board during
the year. If at least twenty percent of the qualified electors residing
in the district petition the commissioners of election by the first of
September of any general election year, the commissioners shall call
an election to be held at the following general election for the
purpose of electing a member to the board to succeed the member
whose term shall expire during each year, for a six-year term.
Thereafter, members shall be elected in each succeeding general
election for terms of six years.
(A) At the general election of 2000, the County
Election Commission of Lexington County shall provide for an
election for the purposes of electing five commissioners to serve as
members of the board of commissioners. These commissioners must
be residents of the district and shall serve terms of four years without
compensation. However, at the first election the three candidates
receiving the highest number of votes shall serve terms of four years
and the two candidates receiving the lowest number of votes shall
serve terms of two years. At expiration of the terms of members
serving terms of two years, an election must be held at the General
Election of 2002 and successors to the seats must be elected for
terms of four years.
(B) The terms of those members elected pursuant to
the provisions of this section are effective beginning the second
Tuesday of January, 2001, at which time members must be
administered an oath of office.
Any vacancy occurring in the office of commissioner by reason
of death, resignation, or otherwise must be filled for the remainder of
the unexpired term by appointment by the Governor upon
recommendation by a majority of the legislative delegation. For the
purpose of determining what constitutes the legislative delegation,
any member of the House or Senate whose district embraces a portion
of the territory of the Irmo Fire District."
SECTION 3. Section 5 of Act 387 of 1963, as last amended by Act
177 of 1995, is further amended to read:
"Section 5. The board shall have the following duties
and responsibilities:
(a) To buy such fire fighting equipment as the
board deems necessary for the purpose of controlling fires within the
money allocated or made available to the board for such purposes.
(b) To select the sites or places within the area
where the fire fighting equipment shall be kept.
(c) To provide and select the drivers and other
firemen to man the equipment who shall serve with compensation as
the board determines.
(d) To procure and supervise the training of the
firemen selected to ensure that the equipment must be utilized for the
best interest of the area.
(e) To be responsible for the upkeep, maintenance
and repairs of the trucks and other fire fighting equipment and to that
end shall, as often as is deemed necessary, inspect such equipment.
(f) To promulgate such rules and regulations as it
may deem proper and necessary to insure that the equipment is being
used to the best advantage of the area.
(g) To construct, if necessary, buildings to house
the equipment authorized herein.
(h) To borrow not exceeding fifty thousand dollars
on such terms and for such a period as to the fire control board may
seem most beneficial for the fire district, in anticipation of taxes. The
indebtedness shall be evidenced by a note or notes issued by the
members of the board and the county treasurer. The full faith, credit
and taxing power of the Irmo Fire District is hereby irrevocably
pledged for the payment of the indebtedness.
The commission may:
(1) have perpetual succession;
(2) sue and be sued;
(3) adopt, use, and alter a corporate seal;
(4) make bylaws for the management and regulations of its affairs,
a quorum for its meetings being a majority of the members of the
commission;
(5) receive and deposit monies derived from revenue-producing
facilities and to withdraw the monies for the purposes of operating
and maintaining the facilities and other purposes as provided in this
section;
(6) prescribe such regulations with respect to the use of any
property or any facilities owned by the district, and relating to the
services to be provided by the district as is considered necessary;
(a) No regulation may be adopted unless a certified copy of the
resolution has been recorded in the office of the clerk of court for
Lexington County and posted in at least two public places in the
district, and notice of the intent to adopt the regulation has been
published at least once during each of three successive weeks in a
newspaper published in and having general circulation in Lexington
County. The notice shall give the time, date, and place at which a
public hearing is to be held. The notice shall further specify, in brief,
the scope of the regulation and state the date on which it is proposed
that the regulation becomes effective and place at which a public
hearing is to be held. The notice shall further specify, in brief, the
scope of the regulation and state the date on which it is proposed that
the regulation becomes effective.
(b) The commission is expressly authorized to apply to any
court of general jurisdiction for the enforcement of the regulation
through the means of mandatory injunctions and such other remedial
orders as shall appear to the courts to be just and equitable.
(7) acquire, purchase, hold, use, lease, mortgage, sell, transfer, and
dispose of any property, real, personal, or mixed, or any interest in it;
(8) conduct or have conducted, investigations, and surveys needed
as a basis for decisions on the type, size, and scope of public works
needed in the district, to have prepared estimates of construction
costs, and to have prepared detailed plans and specifications required
to secure construction and equipment bids on public facilities to be
owned by the district;
(9) acquire and operate facilities and equipment as is required for
the protection of lives and property against fire and other hazards
arising;
(10) impose a schedule of rates and charges for the use of fire
service facilities, public buildings, and any other facilities as the
commission may place into effect, and to revise, whenever it so
wishes or may be so required, a schedule of rates for fire service, use
of public buildings, and any other facilities made available by it to
persons, firms, and corporations within the district. However, no
schedule of rates and charges may be adopted unless a certified copy
of the schedule has been recorded in the office of the clerk of court
for Lexington County and posted in at least two public places in the
district, and notice of the intent to adopt the schedule once during
each of three successive weeks in a newspaper published in and
having general circulation in Lexington County. The notice shall
give the time, date, and place at which a public hearing is to be held.
The notice shall specify the date on which it is proposed that the
schedule of rates and charges are effective;
(11) make use of city, county, and state highway rights-of-way in
which to lay pipes and lines in the manner and under conditions as
the appropriate officials in charge of the rights-of-way approve;
(12) appoint officers, hire agents, employees, servants, and
firefighters, prescribe their duties, fix their compensation, and
determine if and to what extent they must be bonded for the faithful
performance of their duties. These persons may be employed full or
part time, or under such special conditions as the commission may
determine;
(13) make contracts for construction, engineering, and other
services;
(14) in addition to the taxes which may be levied for the purpose of
retiring bonded indebtedness as provided in this section, the
commission may levy annually an ad valorem tax not to exceed 9.4
mills for corporate purposes, provided that this amount may be
increased by a vote of a majority of the qualified electors of the
district voting in a referendum. The commission shall annually
notify the County Auditor and the County Treasurer of Lexington
County the tax levy millage to be assessed against the real and
personal property in the district; these public officers of Lexington
County shall then assess and collect the tax as requested, and the
treasurer shall hold the funds and disburse them as directed by the
commission, including deposits to the commission's operating
account as provided in item (5) above. All taxes constitute a lien
upon the property against which they are levied, on a parity with the
lien of county taxes, and the provisions of law relating to penalties
for the nonpayment or tardy payment of county taxes, and the
provisions relating to sale of property for delinquent county taxes
shall apply to taxes levied pursuant to this act;
(15) do all other acts and things necessary or convenient to carry
out any function or power committed or granted to the district;
(16) enter into a management contract with a qualified person or
firm to operate and maintain the district."
SECTION 4. Act 387 of 1963 is amended by adding:
"Section 9. For the purposes of raising money to acquire,
enlarge, improve, and maintain public works authorized by this act
and required for the district, the commission, pursuant to resolution
duly adopted, may issue general obligation bonds not exceeding one
million dollars whose proceeds may be used for purposes, including
the payment of such interest on the bonds as may be capitalized. All
or any general obligation bonds issued pursuant to this paragraph
must be additionally secured by a pledge of all of the net revenues to
be derived from the operation of district services and other net
revenues from other facilities constructed for the district, it being
specifically recognized that the commission may wish to provide for
further obligations of the district secured by a pledge on a parity with
the pledge required by this section. If, pursuant to this section,
general obligation bonds are issued:
(1) They must be issued as a single issue or, from time to time, as
several separate issues. They must bear such date as the commission
determines and the bonds of any issue mature in such equal or
unequal annual installments as may be determined by the
commission. They must be made payable at a place the commission
prescribes and bear interest at a rate payable in the manner as the
commission determines. The bonds must be issued in fully registered
form as to both principal and interest and are transferable in
accordance with the terms of the resolution authorizing the issuance
of them. Any bond issued pursuant to this paragraph may be made
subject to redemption prior to its stated maturity on the terms and
conditions, and with the redemption premium, as the commission
prescribes.
(2) They must be sold at not less than par and accrued interest to
the date of their respective deliveries at public sale, and at least seven
days prior to any sale, notice announcing the intention to receive bids
for the sale of the bonds must be published in a newspaper of general
circulation in this State. In offering the bonds for sale, the
commission may reserve the right to reject any and all bids and if all
bids are rejected, the commission may negotiate privately for the
disposition of the bonds.
(3) The bonds and all interest to become due on them have the tax
exempt status prescribed by Section 12-2-50 of the 1976 Code.
(4) The bonds must be executed in the manner as may be
prescribed by the commission; however, no person signing the
obligations is personally liable on them.
(5) There is irrevocably pledged for the payment of the general
obligation bonds and interest on them as they mature, the full faith,
credit, and resources of the district, and the auditor and treasurer of
Lexington County, respectively, are authorized and directed to levy
and collect annually a tax upon all taxable property within the district
sufficient to pay the bonds and interest on them as they respectively
mature, and to create the sinking fund as may be necessary for the
redemption of the bonds and interest at their respective maturities.
Net revenues from facilities described in Section 1 which are pledged
to bond payments must be delivered to the Treasurer of Lexington
County prior to the occasion when the auditor fixes the annual levy.
The annual ad valorem tax in this act directed to be levied may be
reduced in each year by the amount of net revenues as mentioned
earlier actually in the hands of the Treasurer of Lexington County at
the time the tax for the year is required to be levied, and the tax may
be entirely suspended for any year in case the monies on hand,
applicable as mentioned earlier, are sufficient to pay both principal
and interest then due or falling due in such year and remaining
unpaid. If, pursuant to the authorizations of this act, front foot
assessments are imposed upon properties abutting water distribution
mains or water lines making water available to the lots with the
proceeds of bonds issued pursuant to this act, then in those instances,
the proceeds derived from the assessments must be paid into the
sinking fund created pursuant to this paragraph and must be applied
solely to the payment of principal and interest of bonds issued
pursuant to this act. To the extent that monies from this source are
available, then in those instances the tax levy ordered by this section
must be reduced or omitted. Provided, that the Treasurer of
Lexington County shall in his discretion, be empowered to appoint
any banking institution in this State maintaining offices in Lexington
County, and having an established trust department, as corporate
trustee of funds derived from front foot assessments. In that instance,
it is the duty of the corporate trustee to keep the same invested and
reinvested in obligations of the United States or any agency thereof,
or obligations guaranteed by the United States or any agency of it,
having maturities of not longer than five years from the occasion of
the investment. It is the duty of the corporate trustee, at the direction
of the Treasurer of Lexington County, to make all or any part of the
proceeds in its hands available for the payment of principal and
interest on the bonds, in accordance with the directives, from time to
time, issued by the Treasurer of Lexington County.
(6) The pledge of revenue, authorized by this section is not, in the
discretion of the commission, exclusive, and the commission may
reserve the right to issue further bonds, payable in whole or in part,
from these revenues, on a parity with the bonds authorized by this
section, under conditions as the commission may prescribe.
(7) The proceeds derived from the sale of the bonds must be
deposited with the Treasurer of Lexington County, in a separate and
special fund, and expended upon the warrants or orders of the
commission for the purposes for which they are issued and no other,
except that any premium received must be deposited with the
Treasurer of Lexington County and by him applied to the first
installment of principal becoming due on the bonds and any accrued
interest received must be applied by the Treasurer of Lexington
County to the first installment of interest becoming due on the bonds.
Neither the purchasers of the bonds nor any subsequent holders of
them is responsible for the proper application of the proceeds of sale.
(8) The Treasurer of Lexington County is authorized to invest the
special funds held for district purposes in United States Government
bonds or obligations, and in state or national banks serving as
depositories of funds for instrumentalities of the State of South
Carolina, in interest bearing accounts whenever practical. All interest
earned must be credited to the accounts of the Irmo Fire
District."
SECTION 5. The present governing board serving on the effective
date of this act of the district shall continue with full power and
authority until such time as a new board is established under the
procedure outlined in this section and shall continue to serve the term
for which they were elected until their successors have been elected
and qualified.
SECTION 6. If any section, provision, or the application of any
provision of this act is held invalid, the invalidity applies to this act
in its entirety, to any and all provisions of the act, and the application
of this act or any provision of this act, and to this end the provisions
of this act are not severable.
SECTION 7. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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