NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1971 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 737

SENATE BILL 623

 

 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE A MECHANISM FOR A VOTE BY THE AFFECTED CITIZENS ON WHETHER TO INCORPORATE A MUNICIPALITY IN THE AREA OF A SANITARY DISTRICT AND TO SIMULTANEOUSLY DISSOLVE THE SANITARY 'DISTRICT AND TRANSFER ITS ASSETS AND LIABILITIES TO THE MUNICIPALITY.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  General Statutes Chapter 130 is amended by adding a new section thereto, to read as follows:

"§ 130-156.3.  Incorporation of municipality and simultaneous dissolution of sanitary district, with transfer of assets and liabilities from the district to the municipality. — (a) The General Assembly may incorporate a municipality, subject to a favorable vote by the residents of the proposed municipality, which includes within its boundaries or is coterminous with a sanitary district and provide for the simultaneous dissolution of the sanitary district and the transfer of the districts assets and liabilities to the municipality, in the following manner:

(1)        The act incorporating the municipality shall define the boundaries of the proposed municipality; shall set the date for and provide for the conduct of a referendum on the incorporation of the proposed municipality and dissolution of the sanitary district; shall provide for a new registration of voters in the area of the proposed municipality; shall set the effective date for the incorporation of the municipality and the dissolution of the sanitary district, subject to a favorable vote in the referendum; shall establish the form of government of the proposed municipality and the composition of its governing board, and provide for transitional arrangements from the sanitary district to the municipality; and may include any other matter appropriate to a municipal charter.

(2)        The referendum on whether to incorporate the proposed municipality and dissolve the sanitary district shall be conducted by the Board of Elections of the county in which the proposed municipality is located. If the proposed municipality is located in more than one county, the Board of Elections of the county in which reside the greatest number of residents of the proposed municipality shall conduct the election. The appropriate Board of Elections shall conduct the election in accord with this section and the provisions of the act incorporating the municipality.

(3)        The form of the ballot for a referendum under this section shall be substantially as follows:

FOR incorporation of the Town (City) of ____________ and the simultaneous dissolution of the ___________ Sanitary District, with transfer of the District's assets and liabilities to the Town (City), and assumption of the District's indebtedness by the Town (City).

AGAINST incorporation of the Town (City) of __________ and the simultaneous dissolution of the ___________ Sanitary District, with transfer of the District's assets and liabilities, to the Town (City), and assumption of the District's indebtedness by the Town (City).

(4)        If a majority of those voting in the referendum vote in favor of incorporating the proposed municipality and dissolving the sanitary district, the Board of Elections shall so notify the North Carolina State Board of Health and the North Carolina Local Government Commission, giving the date on which the municipality will be incorporated and the sanitary district dissolved and stating that all assets and liabilities of the sanitary district will be transferred to the municipality, and that the municipality will assume the district's indebtedness.

(5)        If a majority of those voting in the referendum vote in favor of incorporating the proposed municipality and dissolving the sanitary district, the municipality shall be incorporated and the sanitary district shall be simultaneously dissolved at twelve o'clock noon on the date set for incorporation in the act incorporating the municipality. At that time

a.         the sanitary district shall cease to exist as a body politic and corporate;

b.         all property, real and personal and mixed, belonging to the sanitary district vests in, belongs to and is the property of the municipality;

c.         all judgments, liens, rights of liens and courses of action of any nature in favor of the sanitary district vest in and remain and inure to the benefit of the municipality;

d.         all rentals, taxes, assessments and any other funds, charges or fees owing to the sanitary district are owed to and may be collected by the municipality;

e.         any action, suit, or proceeding pending against, or having been instituted by, the sanitary district shall not be abated by its dissolution, but shall be continued and completed in the same manner as if dissolution had not occurred. The municipality shall be a party to all these actions, suits and proceedings in the place and stead of the sanitary district and shall pay or cause to be paid any judgment rendered against the sanitary district in any of these actions or proceedings. No new process need be served in any of the actions, suits or proceedings;

f.          all obligations of the sanitary district, including outstanding indebtedness, is assumed by the municipality, and all the obligations and outstanding indebtness are constituted obligations and indebtedness of the municipality. The full faith and credit of the municipality is deemed to be pledged for the punctual payment of the principal of and interest on all general obligation bonds and bond anticipation notes of the sanitary district, and all the taxable property within the municipality shall be and remain subject to taxation for these payments;

g.         all rules, regulations and policies of the sanitary district shall continue in full force and effect until repealed or amended by the governing body of the municipality.

(6)        The transition between the sanitary district and the municipality shall otherwise be provided for in the act incorporating the municipality.

(b)        This section shall not be construed to require the dissolution of any sanitary district included within or contiguous with any municipality in existence on the effective date of the section or thereafter.

Sec. 2.  This act shall be effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 2nd day of July, 1969.