AMENDMENT 80 RATIFIED
Huntsville Special School Tax.
(A) In addition to any taxes now authorized, or that may be hereafter authorized, by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, there is hereby levied a special school tax of fifty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in the school tax district of the city of Huntsville in Madison county to be used solely for public school purposes; provided such tax and the time it is to continue shall have been first submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the said school tax district in which such tax is to be collected and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election, otherwise said tax shall not be collected. A special separate election is hereby called on the first Tuesday after sixty days following the date this amendment becomes effective in the school tax district of the city of Huntsville in Madison county, at which election the qualified voters in the said school tax district of Madison county may vote as to whether said special school tax herein levied shall be effective; and if the majority of those voting at said election vote in favor of said special school tax such school tax shall immediately be levied and collected annually thereafter on the first day of October by the tax collector of Madison county and paid to the city of Huntsville. The proceeds of the tax are hereby pledged solely to the payment of the principal and interest of the bonds hereinafter provided for. This section shall be self-executing.
(B) After said tax has been voted, and without further authorization the city of Huntsville shall issue and sell interest bearing bonds with principal and interest to be paid from the proceeds of the tax herein levied. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds shall be used for the sole purpose of constructing and improving school buildings and acquiring sites therefor; provided, the net proceeds of the bonds shall be paid immediately to the board of education of the city of Huntsville. The principal amount of the bonds shall in no event exceed the sum of five hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($575,000). All bonds issued hereunder shall be payable in annual installments, the first of which shall be payable not more than two years after the date of the bonds, and the last within the period of usefulness of the improvements for which the bonds are issued. Such bonds shall be callable at any time upon the payment of the principal amount thereof plus a premium equal to one year's interest thereon. The bonds shall not be a general obligation of the city of Huntsville or of Madison county and shall not be charged to the constitutional debt limit of the city of Huntsville or Madison county.
(C) If sufficient revenue has been produced by the tax levied in paragraph (A) of this amendment to pay the principal amount of the bonds issued hereunder with interest thereon prior to the expiration of the period for which the tax was levied, the tax shall immediately cease and shall no longer be collected or enforced, and the bonds shall be redeemed forthwith.
(D) Except as herein otherwise provided the election hereinabove provided for shall be called, held and conducted as provided by law for calling, holding and conducting of district school tax elections. The governing body of the city of Huntsville shall appoint and designate the officers, managers, clerks and returning officers and shall call, canvass, tabulate, and declare the result of the election provided for in the city of Huntsville. The election shall otherwise be conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared as general elections are conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared in Alabama.
