AMENDMENT 262 RATIFIED
Hospital Tax in Districts 1, 2 and 3 of Franklin County.
In addition to any taxes now authorized or that may be hereafter authorized by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, the governing body of Franklin county shall levy and cause to be collected annually a special district tax, not exceeding 50 cents on each 100 dollars assessed valuation of taxable property in districts one, two, and three of Franklin county, Alabama, to be used exclusively for public hospital purposes (as the term "public hospital purposes" is defined in amendment LXXVI [76] to the Constitution proposed by Acts of 1949, page 897, submitted December 13, 1949, and proclaimed ratified December 21, 1949) within said districts one, two, and three; provided that the time during which such tax is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have been first submitted to a vote of the qualified electors in districts one, two, and three of Franklin county and voted for by a majority of such electors voting at such election. The governing body of Franklin county may call an election at any time, and it shall be the duty of such governing body to call an election to be held within ninety days after receipt by it of a petition signed by not less than 5% of the qualified electors of said districts one, two, and three, requesting that such election be called. The governing body may call such election to be held at the same time that this amendment is submitted to the electors of the state for ratification and such election shall be effective to require the levy and collection of such tax in the event that this amendment shall be ratified. The notice of such election, ballots to be used at such election and procedures for holding and determining the results of such election shall be prescribed by the governing body of Franklin county. No election shall be held hereunder within one year from the date of the last election so held.
Whenever such tax shall have been authorized by vote of such qualified electors, and levied by the governing body of Franklin county, such governing body may anticipate the proceeds therefrom for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall have been voted, by issuing, without further election, interest-bearing tax anticipation bonds, warrants, or certificates of indebtedness of said county payable solely from and secured by a pledge of a sufficient amount of the annual proceeds from said tax received by the county.
The governing body of Franklin county shall have power to designate as the agency of the county, to construct, acquire, equip, operate and maintain public hospital facilities for said districts one, two, and three, any public corporation heretofore or hereafter organized for hospital purposes in the county. When a public corporation shall have been so designated, the proceeds of said tax thereafter collected shall be paid to it and shall be used by it for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall have been voted; provided, that payments of the proceeds of said tax to said public corporation shall be made only to such extent as will not result in the impairment of the obligation of any contract theretofore made with respect to said tax. Said public corporation may anticipate the proceeds from said tax so required to be paid to it by issuing, for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall have been voted, the bonds, warrants, or certificates of indebtedness of said corporation, and may pledge for the payment of the principal thereof and interest thereon a sufficient amount of the annual proceeds from said tax so paid to it.
No securities issued or contracts made by Franklin county under the authority of this amendment, which are payable solely out of the proceeds of said tax, and no securities issued or contracts made by any such public corporation, whether or not issued or made under the authority of this amendment, shall be construed to be bonds of Franklin county or of a political subdivision thereof within the meaning of section 222 of the Constitution, or construed to create or constitute an indebtedness of the county within the meaning of section 224 of the Constitution. Said securities shall be construed to be negotiable instruments notwithstanding the fact that they may be payable solely from a limited source. All pledges of said tax and all contracts made with respect thereto pursuant to the provisions of this amendment shall take precedence in the order in which they are made and shall create a charge on the proceeds of said tax prior to the expenses of operating and maintaining any public hospital facilities.
Districts one, two, and three of Franklin county herein referred to are the commissioners districts one, two, and three now established in Franklin county as authorized by law.
