AMENDMENT 152 RATIFIED

Amendment of Amendment No. 18.

Amendment XVIII [18]. Mobile county may at any time and from time to time issue its bonds for construction and improvement, or either, of hard surfaced roads, hard surfaced bridges, and surface water drainage facilities, or any thereof, in said county and, to provide for payment of the principal of and interest on such bonds, may levy and collect a special annual ad valorem tax on the taxable property in said county at a rate not exceeding one-half of one per centum (1/2 of 1%) of the assessed valuation of the taxable property in said county; provided, that the total principal amount of each series of bonds at any time issued hereunder, when added to the principal amount of all then outstanding bonds theretofore issued hereunder and of all then outstanding bonds theretofore issued under any other constitutional amendment that are payable from or secured by the said special tax, shall not exceed six and one-half per centum (6 1/2 %) of the assessed valuation of the taxable property situated in said county, as assessed for state taxation for the then preceding state tax year; provided, further, that the rate of the said special tax levied for payment of the bonds at any time issued hereunder and all other bonds at any time issued pursuant to any other constitutional amendment and payable out of or secured by said special tax shall not exceed said rate of one-half of one per centum (1/2 of 1%) hereinabove specified; and provided, further, that any bonds may be issued hereunder and said special tax for payment thereof may be levied and collected only after a majority of the qualified electors of said county voting at an election called for that purpose by the governing body of said county shall have voted in favor of the issuance of such bonds and the levy of such tax therefor. Each such election shall be called, held, conducted, and canvassed, and notice thereof shall be given, in the manner provided by the general laws of Alabama respecting elections on the issuance of bonds by counties, as such laws may exist at the time such election is called; provided, that prior to the holding of any election hereunder, the governing body of Mobile county shall cause to be prepared engineering maps and reports respecting the proposed work on roads, bridges and drainage facilities, or any thereof, shall adopt a resolution containing a brief description, including the name if any, of each proposed item of construction or improvement, a statement of the length or location of each such item and of the estimated cost thereof, and a statement of the total amount of the bonds proposed to be issued for all work of construction or improvement described in said resolution, and shall cause said resolution to be published in a newspaper published in the county one time not less than thirty days before such election. Any number of items of construction or improvement may be described in one resolution; and the question of the issuance of bonds and the levy and collection of said tax with respect to all of the work described in each resolution shall be submitted to the voters in one single proposition at any election held hereunder. Any number of such resolutions may be adopted on the same day, and any number of propositions may be submitted to the voters on the same day. Each engineering report prepared in accordance with the provisions hereof shall be accompanied by a certificate of the engineer preparing such report that the material proposed to be used for any road or bridge work described in such report meets the then existing specifications of the Alabama highway department applicable to the same type of construction or improvement.

The limitation of six and one-half per centum (6 1/2 %) of the assessed value of taxable property in the county, hereinabove provided for, is applicable only to the amount of bonds that may be outstanding immediately following the delivery of each series of bonds issued hereunder and shall not restrict the total amount of bonds that may be from time to time issued hereunder.

The bonds issued hereunder shall be general obligations of Mobile county secured by a pledge of its full faith and credit, and in addition thereto, the governing body of said county shall in the proceedings providing for the issuance of such bonds specially pledge for payment of the principal thereof and the interest thereon, so much of the said special tax as may be necessary to pay said principal and interest at their respective maturities. Each such pledge of the special tax made for the benefit of the bonds issued hereunder shall be on a parity with all valid pledges of said special tax theretofore or thereafter made for the benefit of bonds issued hereunder or under any other constitutional amendment, to such extent as shall not impair the obligations of any then existing valid pledges. The principal of each series of said bonds shall mature in annual installments, the first of which installments shall mature not later than three (3) years after the date of the bonds of said series and the last of which shall mature not later than thirty (30) years after the date of the bonds of said series; provided, that the maturities of each series of bonds issued hereunder shall be so arranged at the time of the issuance of such series of bonds that (a) no annual installment of principal of the bonds of such series maturing during any fiscal year of said county shall be more than four times as great as the smallest installment of principal of any series of bonds maturing during any prior fiscal year, and (b) the aggregate amount of principal and interest that will mature in any one fiscal year with respect to that series of bonds, and all other bonds then outstanding that are payable out of or secured by a pledge of the aforesaid special tax, shall not exceed the amount of the proceeds collected from the said tax during the then next preceding tax year. Except as herein otherwise provided, all bonds issued hereunder shall be issued in accordance with, and shall be subject to, the provisions of the general laws of Alabama respecting the sale, execution, issuance, and redemption of bonds by counties, as such laws may exist at the time of the delivery of such bonds.

The provisions of this amendment shall be self-executing, and the enactment of local legislation shall not be a prerequisite to the taking of any action hereunder by the said county and its governing body; and no local legislation at any time adopted with respect to this amendment shall be effective, and all such local legislation is hereby repealed.

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