Maryland County Commissioners Section 90
§ 90.
(a) As an alternate plan for raising funds necessary to carry out the plan of drainage improvements described in the report of the drainage viewers and confirmed by the county commissioners, as provided in § 87, the board of managers shall have the power to issue and sell bonds or notes for an amount not exceeding the total cost of the improvements as hereinafter provided.
(b) The board of managers shall give once a week for three weeks by publication in some newspaper published in the county in which the drainage area or some part thereof is situated, if there be such a newspaper, and also by posting a notice at the door of the courthouse of such county and at five conspicuous places in the drainage area, reciting the fact that they propose to issue bonds or notes for the payment of the cost of the improvement, giving the amount of bonds or notes to be issued, the rate of interest that they are to bear or the method of determining the same, and the time when payable. Any taxable may within fifteen days after the publication or posting of such notice pay to the county treasurer the full amount for which his land is liable, to be ascertained from the report of the drainage viewers, and have his lands and himself relieved from further liability for this particular improvement. Prior to issuing any bonds or notes under this section, the board of managers shall deduct from the estimated amount of bonds or notes to be issued, the amount or amounts so paid in advance, and shall issue bonds or notes only in this decreased amount. Any amount or amounts so paid in advance to the county treasurer shall be held by him in a separate fund, to be added to the proceeds of the bonds or notes issued and to be expended with such proceeds to carry out the plan of drainage improvements.
(c) The board of managers shall certify to the county commissioners the amount of bonds or notes which are to be issued. Along with such certification the board of managers shall submit a drainage tax roll, of all properties for which payments have not been made, showing for each taxable the full amount, less interest, for which his land is liable. The total of these amounts for the several taxables shall equal the amount so certified to the county commissioners.
(d) The board of managers shall thereupon proceed to issue bonds or notes, in the amount which has been certified to the county commissioners. All bonds or notes issued under this section shall be sold under the serial maturity plan and shall have a maturity date not over twelve years from the date of issue, and no such bonds or notes shall be sold for a price less than par. Such bonds or notes may be sold at either public or private sale, and the form, date, interest rate or rates, and all other details incident to the offering, sale, execution and delivery of the bonds, within the limitations above set forth, shall be within the discretion of the board of managers. Bonds issued under the provisions of this section shall be exempt from the provisions of Article 31, §§ 9 to 11 inclusive, of the Code. The proceeds therefrom shall be paid over by the board of managers to the county treasurer, who shall retain them in a special fund to be disbursed only upon warrant of the board of managers. The proceeds therefrom shall be devoted entirely to carrying out the plan of drainage improvements, except that any surplus resulting therefrom shall be used in the redemption of said bonds.
(e) The board of managers shall certify to the county commissioners and to the county treasurer the total amount due each year for the redemption of the bonds or notes so issued, including all payments of principal and interest. The county treasurer shall compute each year the amount due from each individual taxable, based upon the amounts shown in the drainage tax roll, in such manner that the total of amounts individually due shall equal in any year the aggregate sum required in that year for the redemption of the bonds or notes and interest. The county treasurer shall include in his regular tax bill for each taxable, the sum as so computed. Such drainage taxes shall be due and collectible at the same time and in the same manner as county taxes, and shall be liable to the same interest and penalties for late payment or nonpayment.
(f) Except as provided in this section, the provisions of §§ 52 through 102 shall apply in all respects to drainage improvements made under this section as if made from funds procured by assessments without issuing bonds or notes.
(g) The board of managers, in lieu of carrying out the plan of drainage improvements as hereinbefore provided, may take over or adopt as the whole or as part of the drainage improvements to be provided under this subtitle, any ditch or ditches, drains or drainage improvements already constructed, and may pay from the proceeds of any bonds issued under the provisions of this section the amount necessary to acquire such ditch or ditches, drains or drainage improvements, or to reimburse any landowners for any amounts expended by them in the construction thereof.
(h) The county treasurer shall report to the board of managers, at regular intervals, whatever amounts he may have collected as drainage taxes during such periods, with a list showing the amount received from each taxable. The board of managers shall order all such moneys to be paid by the county treasurer for the redemption of the bonds or notes issued and the interest thereon.
(i) If any installment of principal and/or interest represented by the said bonds or notes shall not be paid at the time and in the manner the same shall become due and payable, and such default shall continue for a period of six months, the holder or holders of such bond or note or bonds or notes in default shall have a right of action against the board of managers. The circuit court of the county may issue a writ of mandamus against the board of managers, directing the levying of a tax or special assessment against the taxables in default, and the collection of the same, in such sum as may be necessary to meet any unpaid instalments of principal and interest and the costs of the action. The amount of the tax or special assessment shall be certified by the board of managers to the county treasurer, who shall proceed immediately to collect the same from the taxables so in default, according to the procedure provided in §§ 87, 89, 90, and 93 of this article, and when such sums have been collected the county treasurer shall, upon order of the board of managers, pay the said unpaid instalments of principal and interest in default and the costs of the action. The official bonds of the county treasurer and the other officers shall be liable for the faithful performance of the duties assigned to them under this subtitle. The holder or holders of any bond or note or bonds or notes in default are hereby authorized to institute suit against any officer on his official bond for failing to perform any of the duties required of him pursuant to this section.
