(a) For the purpose of providing funds for the design, construction, establishment, purchase, or condemnation of water, sewerage, drainage, and solid waste systems in Frederick County pursuant to this chapter, the County is hereby authorized and empowered, in addition to the authority and power conferred by § 2-13-13 of this chapter, to borrow money in such amounts as may be needed for said purpose and to evidence such borrowing by the issuance and sale of its revenue bonds, payable as to principal and interest solely from the proceeds of special benefit assessments and other charges imposed and made by the County on the project or projects so financed with the proceeds of the bonds, which revenues the County is hereby authorized to pledge to such payment. The County is hereby authorized and empowered to fix and determine the form and tenor of said revenue bonds, the denominations thereof, the rate or rates of interest payable thereon, the maturity date or dates thereof, the place or places of payment thereof, the method and manner of sale thereof and all other matters related to the form, terms, conditions, issuance, sale, and delivery of the revenue bonds, all as provided in § 2-13-13 of this chapter. The amount of such revenue bonds which may be issued by the County shall be limited only by the cost of the project or projects to be financed thereby. Such revenue bonds shall not constitute an obligation of, or a pledge of the faith and credit of, the County or the State of Maryland, but on the contrary, the principal and interest thereof are payable solely from the revenues prescribed therein or in the resolution or trust indenture authorizing the same and each revenue bond shall so state.
(b) The County is hereby authorized and empowered, in its discretion, to secure any revenue bonds issued hereunder by an appropriate trust indenture by and between the County and a corporate trustee, which may be any trust company, or bank having trust powers, within or outside the state. Every such trust indenture shall clearly recite that such bonds are limited obligations of the County, payable solely from the revenues therein prescribed, and do not constitute general obligations of the County or of the State of Maryland and that the faith and credit and taxing power of the County or the State of Maryland are not pledged to the payment of the bonds. Any such trust indenture may contain covenants on the part of the county, not contrary to law, deemed necessary or appropriate by the County for the proper security of the purchasers of any such bonds, but the County shall not enter into any covenant which will permit the trustee or bondholders in any manner to sell or otherwise divest the County of its title to any project or projects financed with the proceeds of any such bonds, without the prior written consent of the County. Subject to the foregoing limitation, any such trust indenture may contain covenants for the protection of bondholders relating to all or any of the following:
(1) The nature, extent and procedure for acquiring or constructing any project or projects and the supervision thereof;
(2) The maintenance and operation of any such project or projects and the supervision thereof and the employment of consulting engineers, auditors, attorneys and other experts in connection with any such acquisition, construction, maintenance or operation;
(3) The terms and provisions of the bonds and the securing of the proceeds thereof, the imposition and collection of assessments, charges and rentals for the use of any such project or projects and the use, application and security of any revenues so collected, including the establishment, deposit and securing from any such revenues for debt service on, or prior redemption of, any such revenue bonds, or for the maintenance, operation and improvement of any such project or projects;
(4) The insurance on any such project or projects;
(5) The issuance of additional revenue bonds for any such project or projects and the limitations thereon;
(6) The powers, duties and indemnification of any trustee, or its successor party to any such trust indenture;
(7) The rights and remedies of said trustee and of bondholders in the event of any default by the County under any such trust indenture, which rights and remedies may include the taking over of any operation by said trustee or by a receiver appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction of the project or projects financed with the proceeds of any such issue of revenue bonds secured by such trust indenture, and the marshaling of the revenues from any such project or projects for the use and benefit of bondholders. In addition to the covenants enumerated above but subject to the limitations herein contained, the County is hereby authorized and empowered to make such further additional covenants in any such trust indenture, of like or different character as, in its judgment, may be necessary, convenient or desirable for the better security of any issue of its revenue bonds secured by any such trust indenture or as will, in its judgment, tend to make any such bonds more marketable.
(Code 1959, § 10A-21; 1968, Chapter 609, § 1; 1979, Chapter 723, § 1) (Bill No. 22-21, 10-25-2022)
Editor’s note:
Ch. 723 of the 1979 Acts designated the above section as section 10A-21 of the 1959 county code; however, such section constitutes an amendment and renumbering of former section 10A-17 of the 1969 Code.