Article 5. Bonds of California Education Code >> Division 1. >> Title 1. >> Part 11. >> Chapter 9. >> Article 5.

The board of trustees of any library district may, when in their judgment it is deemed advisable, and shall upon a petition of 50 or more taxpayers and residents of the library district, call an election and submit to the electors of the district the question of whether the bonds of the district shall be issued and sold for the purpose of raising money for any or all of the following:
  (a) The purchase of suitable lots.
  (b) Procuring plans and specifications and erecting a suitable building.
  (c) Furnishing and equipping the building, and fencing and ornamenting the grounds, for the accommodation of the public library.
  (d) Any or all of the purposes of this chapter.
  (e) Liquidating any indebtedness incurred for the purposes.
  (f) Refunding any outstanding valid indebtedness, evidenced by bonds or warrants of the district.

The election shall be called by posting notices, signed by the board, in three of the most public places in the district, for not less than 20 days before the election, and by publishing the notice not less than once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper published in the district if there is one, or if there is none, in a newspaper published in the county.

The notice shall contain:
  (a) Time and place of holding the election.
  (b) The names of inspectors and judges to conduct the election.
  (c) The hours during the day in which the polls will be open.
  (d) The amount and denomination of the bonds, the rate of interest, and the number of years, not exceeding 40, the whole or any part of the bonds are to be run.

The election shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions relating to the election of trustees, insofar as they are applicable to the election for bonds.

Voting shall be by ballot, without reference to the general election law in regard to form of ballot, or manner of voting, except that the words to appear on the ballot shall be, "Bonds--Yes," and "Bonds--No." Persons voting at the bond election shall put a cross (+) upon their ballots, with pencil or ink, after the words, "Bonds--Yes," or "Bonds--No," as the case may be, to indicate whether they have voted for or against the issuance of the bonds. The ballot shall be handed by the elector voting to the inspector, who shall then, in his presence, deposit the ballot in the ballot box, and the judges shall enter the elector's name on poll list.

On the seventh day after the election, at 8 o'clock p.m., the returns having been made to the board of trustees, the board shall meet and canvass the returns, and if it appears that more than one-half of the votes cast at the election are in favor of issuing the bonds, then the board shall cause an entry of the fact to be made upon its minutes and shall certify to the board of supervisors, all the proceedings had in the premises. Thereupon the board of supervisors shall issue the bonds of the district, to the number and amount provided in the proceedings, payable out of the building fund of the district, naming the district.

The money shall be raised by taxation upon the taxable property in the district, for the redemption of the bonds and the payment of the interest thereon.

The total amount of bonds issued shall not exceed 5 percent of the taxable property of the district, as shown by the last equalized assessment book of the county.

The board of supervisors by an order entered upon its minutes shall prescribe the form of the bonds and of the interest coupons attached thereto, and shall fix the time when the whole or any part of the principal of the bonds shall be payable, which shall not be more than 40 years from the date thereof.

The bonds shall not bear a greater amount of interest than 6 percent, to be payable annually or semiannually. The bonds shall be sold in the manner prescribed by the board of supervisors, but for not less than par, and the proceeds of the sale thereof shall be deposited in the county treasury to the credit of the building fund of the library district, and shall be drawn out for the purposes for which the bonds were issued as other library moneys are drawn out.

The board of supervisors, at the time of making the levy of taxes for county purposes, shall levy a tax for that year upon the taxable property in the district, at the equalized assessed value thereof for that year, for the interest and redemption of the bonds. The tax shall not be less than sufficient to pay the interest of the bonds for that year, and such portion of the principal as is to become due during the year. In any event the tax shall be high enough to raise, annually, for the first half of the term the bonds have to run, a sufficient sum to pay the interest thereon, and during the balance of the term, high enough to pay the annual interest and to pay, annually, a proportion of the principal of the bonds equal to a sum produced by taking the whole amount of the bonds outstanding and dividing it by the number of years the bonds then have to run.

All money levied, when collected, shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the library district, and shall be used for the payment of principal and interest on the bonds, and for no other purpose. The principal and interest on the bonds shall be paid by the county treasurer, upon the warrant of the county auditor, out of the fund provided therefor. The county auditor shall cancel and file with the county treasurer the bonds and coupons as rapidly as they are paid.

Whenever any bonds issued under this article remain unsold for the period of six months after having been offered for sale in the manner prescribed by the board of supervisors, the board of trustees of the library district for or on account of which the bonds were issued, or of any library district composed wholly or partly of territory which, at the time of holding the election authorizing the issuance of the bonds, was embraced within the district for or on account of which the bonds were issued, may petition the board of supervisors to cause the unsold bonds to be withdrawn from market and canceled.

Upon receiving the petition, signed by a majority of the members of the board of trustees, the supervisors shall fix a time for hearing the petition, which shall be not more than 30 days thereafter, and shall cause a notice, stating the time and place of hearing, and the object of the petition in general terms, to be published for 10 days prior to the day of hearing, in some newspaper published in the library district, if there is one, and if there is no newspaper published in the library district, then in a newspaper published at the county seat of the county in which the library district or part thereof is situated.

At the time and place designated in the notice for hearing the petition, or at any subsequent time to which the hearing is postponed, the supervisors shall hear any reasons that are submitted for or against the granting of the petition, and if they deem it for the best interests of the library district that the unsold bonds be canceled, they shall make and enter an order in the minutes of their proceedings that the unsold bonds be canceled. Thereupon the bonds, and the vote by which they were authorized to be issued, shall cease to be of any validity whatever.