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Before borrowing any money or issuing any bonds pursuant to the authority conferred on the county by any law, the county executive shall pass an order describing the public facility for which such borrowing or indebtedness is intended and the amount needed to finance the public facility, and determining to borrow money or incur indebtedness for all or a part of the amount so needed and to issue the county’s bonds to evidence such borrowing or indebtedness. Each series or group of bonds shall be issued to mature in annual serial installments, not exceeding thirty (30) and beginning not more than one (1) year from the date of such bonds, as may be determined by the order of the county executive authorizing such bonds, and no one of such installments shall be less than fifty (50) percent of any other installment. The county executive shall have and is hereby granted full and complete authority and discretion to fix and determine, in the order the form and tenor of any such bonds, the rate of interest payable thereon or the method of arriving at the same, the date upon which the bonds shall respectively mature and be payable, the manner of selling the bonds at public sale and generally all matters incident or necessary to the issuance, sale and delivery thereof. The bonds of each such issue shall be dated, shall bear interest payable semi-annually, shall mature at such time as may be determined by the county executive by order, and such bonds may be made redeemable before maturity, at the option of the county, at such price and under such terms and conditions as may be fixed by the county executive, either in the order authorizing the issuance of the bonds, or in a subsequent order but prior to the issuance of the bonds. The principal of and the interest of such obligations may be made payable in lawful medium. The county executive in such order shall determine the form of such bonds, including any interest coupons to be attached thereto, and the manner of executing and sealing the same, which may be by facsimile, and shall fix the denomination of the bonds and the place of payment of the principal and interest thereon, which may be at any bank or trust company within or without the state. In case any officer whose signature shall appear on any such bond or on coupons attached thereto shall cease to be such officer before the delivery thereof, such signature shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as if he had remained in office until such delivery. Such bonds may in the discretion of the county executive be issued in coupon or in registered form or both, and provision may be made for the registration of the bonds having coupons attached, as to principal alone and also as to both principal and interest, and for the reconversion of the bonds into coupon form, if any of such bonds shall have been registered as to both principal and interest. Such bonds shall not be subject to the provisions of sections 9, 10 and 11 of article 31 of the Annotated Code of Maryland, 1957, as amended from time to time, but the county executive shall offer such bonds only by solicitation of competitive bids therefore at public sale. Such bonds may be sold for such price as may be determined to be for the best interests of the county, either at, above or below the par value of any such bonds.
In addition to making provision for the above described terms and conditions of any group or series of bonds issued hereunder, the order of the county executive shall likewise fix the terms and conditions of the public sale of such group or series of bonds and shall adopt a suitable form of notice of sale which shall briefly outline the terms and conditions in accordance with the provisions hereof. Such notice shall be published at least twice in one (1) or more daily or weekly newspapers having a general circulation in the county and may also be published in one (1) or more journals having a circulation primarily among banks and investment bankers. The sale of such bonds shall be held not sooner than ten (10) days following the first publication of such notice. Such notice shall offer the bonds to the highest bidder or bidders therefor and shall state how such highest bidder or bidders will be determined. The notice of sale shall specify the date, place and hour at which bids for the bonds will be received and opened and the bonds awarded. It shall also specify that each bid shall be made in writing by a sealed proposal and shall be accompanied by a good faith deposit in a fixed or determinable amount as security for compliance by the bidder with his bid. The notice shall refer to the authority for the bonds and shall state the date of issue of the bonds offered, the total aggregate par amount thereof, the schedule of maturities thereof, the interest payable thereon or the method of determining the same, the purpose to which the proceeds thereof will be devoted and the general form thereof, including a statement whether such bonds will be redeemable or will be in coupon or registered form, and whether the same will be registerable as to principal or as to both principal and interest. Each such notice of sale shall also contain a brief summary of the current financial condition of the county or shall indicate where such a statement may be obtained and, finally, shall reserve unto the county the right to reject any or all bids received. In lieu of publishing the entire notice of sale, the county executive may, if he shall so elect in the order, publish a brief summary of the notice which summary need not contain all the information required by law to be contained in the notice but which shall state where interested parties may obtain a complete copy thereof. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 2-113; 1969 L.M.C., ch. 15, § 1; 1971 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 3.)
The award of any bonds issued pursuant to this article shall be made by the county executive or by the chief administrative officer of the county, acting with the authority of the county executive, to the bidder submitting the most favorable bid for the county upon a certification by the director of finance, and such order shall fix the interest rate payable on any such bonds.
The money so borrowed or the indebtedness incurred, in evidence of which the bonds shall be issued, shall be paid to the director of finance of the county and shall be used by the county exclusively and solely for the public facility described in the order of the county executive, and in the event the amounts so borrowed shall prove inadequate for the financing of any such public facility, at any time additional obligations may be issued for the purpose of evidencing the borrowing of additional funds for any such public facility, within limitations provided by law. If the funds derived from the sale of any issue of any such bonds shall exceed the amount needed to finance the public facility so described, the excess funds so borrowed may be set apart by the county and applied in payment of the first principal maturity of the obligations so issued or to the redemption of any part of such bonds, if the same shall have been made redeemable; but the excess funds shall in no event be used for any other county function nor for any other public facility except upon the passage of an order of the county executive to that effect. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 2-114; 1971 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 4.)
Bonds heretofore or hereafter authorized and issued pursuant to this article shall constitute, and they shall so recite, an irrevocable pledge of the full faith and credit and unlimited taxing power of the county to the payment of the maturing principal and interest of such bonds as and when the same respectively mature. In each and every fiscal year that any of such bonds are outstanding, the county shall levy or cause to be levied ad valorem taxes upon all the assessable property within the corporate limits of the county in rate and amount sufficient to provide for the payment, when due, of the interest and principal of all such bonds maturing in each such fiscal year, and in the event the proceeds from the taxes so levied in any such fiscal year shall prove inadequate for the above purposes, additional taxes shall be levied in the succeeding fiscal year to make up any such deficiency. Such pledge of the full faith and credit and unlimited taxing power of the county shall constitute a covenant of the county to levy and collect the taxes hereinabove prescribed. The county may apply to the payment of principal and interest of any bonds issued for any of the above described public facilities, any funds received by it from the state, the United States of America, any agency of instrumentality thereof or any other source, if such funds are granted for the purpose of assisting the county in obtaining any such public facility, and to the extent of any such funds received or receivable in any fiscal year the taxes hereby required to be levied may be reduced proportionately.
In addition to the pledge of the full faith and credit and unlimited taxing power of the county to the payment of any bonds issued pursuant to this article, the county may secure such payment by the additional pledge of any assessments, taxes, fees or charges which the county is authorized and empowered to levy, impose and collect, and to the extent any such revenues received or receivable in any fiscal year are available for debt service, the ad valorem taxes hereinabove required to be levied may be reduced proportionately in such fiscal year. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 2-115; 1971 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 5.)
All such bonds shall have, and are hereby declared to have, as between successive holders, all the qualities and incidents of negotiable instruments under the negotiable instruments law of the state to the extent provided in section 8 of article 31 of the Annotated Code of Maryland, 1957, as amended from time to time and in title 8 of the Commercial Law Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, 1957, as amended from time to time. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, §2-116; 1971 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 6.)
Any and all such bonds and the interest thereon and the income derived therefrom, in the hands of the holders thereof from time to time, shall be and are hereby declared to be exempt from state, county and city taxation of every kind and nature whatsoever in the state. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 2-117.)
The powers granted by this article are additional and cumulative and the bonds authorized by this division may be issued notwithstanding that other bond acts or laws may provide for the issuance of other bonds or the borrowing of money for the same or similar purposes on the same or other terms and conditions. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 2-119.)
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