A municipality or governing board of a municipality may not issue bonds without being first
authorized to do so, at a primary or general election if the municipality is a county, city, public
school district, or park district, by a vote equal to sixty percent of all the qualified voters of the
municipality voting upon the question of issuing the bonds except:
1. As otherwise provided in section 21-03-04.
2. The governing body may issue bonds of the municipality for the purpose and within the
limitations specified by subdivision e of subsection 1 of section 21-03-06, subdivision g
of subsection 2 of section 21-03-06, and subsections 4.1 and 7 of section 21-03-06
without an election.
3. The governing body of any municipality may issue bonds of the municipality for the
purpose of providing funds to meet its share of the cost of any highway project
undertaken under an agreement entered by the governing body with the United States
government, the director of the department of transportation, the board of county
commissioners, or any of them, including the cost of any construction, improvement,
financing, planning, and acquisition of right of way of a bridge eligible for matching
funds, highway routed through the municipality and of any bridges and controlled
access facilities thereon and any necessary additional width or capacity of the bridge
or roadway thereof greater than that required for federal or state bridge or highway
purposes, and of any necessary relaying of utility mains and conduits, curbs and
gutters, and the installation of utility service connections and streetlights.
a. The portion of the total cost of the project to be paid by the municipality under the
agreement, including all items of cost incurred directly by the municipality and all
amounts to be paid by it for work done or contracted for by other parties to the
agreement, may not exceed a sum equal to thirty percent of the total cost,
including engineering and other incidental costs, of all construction and
reconstruction work to be done plus fifty percent of the total cost of all right of way
to be acquired in connection therewith.
b. The initial resolution authorizing issuance of bonds under this subsection must be
published in the official newspaper of the municipality. Within sixty days after
publication, an owner of taxable property within the municipality may file with the
auditor or chief fiscal officer of the municipality a written protest against adoption
of the resolution.
c. A protest must describe the property that is the subject of the protest. If the
governing body finds protests have been signed by the owners of taxable
property having an assessed valuation equal to five percent or more of the
assessed valuation of all taxable property in the municipality, as most recently
finally equalized, all further proceedings under the initial resolution are barred.
d. Nothing in this section may be deemed to prevent any municipality from
appropriating funds for or financing out of taxes, special assessments, or utility
revenues any work incidental to the project, in the manner and to the extent
otherwise permitted by law, and the cost of any work so financed may not be
included in computing the portion of the project cost payable by the municipality,
within the meaning of this subsection, unless the work is actually called for by the
agreement between the municipality and the other governmental agencies
involved.
4. a. The governing body of any city may, by resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote,
authorize and issue general obligation bonds of the city for the purpose of
providing funds to pay the cost of any improvement of the types stated below, to
the extent that the governing body determines that the cost should be paid by the
city and should not be assessed upon property specially benefited thereby;
provided that the initial resolution authorizing the bonds must be published in the
official newspaper, and any owner of taxable property within the city may, within
sixty days after the publication, file with the city auditor a protest against the
adoption of the resolution. If the governing body finds the protests to have been
signed by the owners of taxable property having an assessed valuation equal to
five percent or more of the assessed valuation of all taxable property within the
city, as last finally equalized, all further proceedings under the initial resolution are
barred. This procedure is authorized for the financing of the following types of
improvements:
(1) Any street improvement, as defined in subsection 2 of section 40-22-01, to
be made in or upon any federal or state highway or any other street
designated by ordinance as an arterial street.
(2) The construction of a bridge, culvert, overpass, or underpass at the
intersection of any street with a stream, watercourse, drain, or railway, and
the acquisition of any land or easement required for that purpose.
(3) Any improvement incidental to the carrying out of an urban renewal project,
the issuance of bonds for which is authorized by subsection 4 of section
40-58-13.
b. This section may not be deemed to prevent a municipality from appropriating
funds for or financing out of taxes, special assessments, or utility revenues any
work incidental to an improvement, in the manner and to the extent otherwise
permitted by law.
5. The governing body of any city may, by resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote,
dedicate the mill levy authorized by section 57-15-42 and authorize and issue general
obligation bonds to be paid by the dedicated levy for the purpose of providing funds for
the purchase, construction, reconstruction, or repair of public buildings or fire stations;
provided, that the initial resolution authorizing the mill levy dedication and general
obligation bonds must be published in the official newspaper, and any owner of taxable
property within the city may, within sixty days after publication, file with the city auditor
a protest against the adoption of the resolution.
a. Protests must be in writing and must describe the property that is the subject of
the protest.
b. If the governing body finds the protests to have been signed by the owners of
taxable property having an assessed valuation equal to five percent or more of
the assessed valuation of all taxable property within the city, as last finally
equalized, all further proceedings under the initial resolution are barred.
6. The governing body of any county may, by resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote,
dedicate the tax levies authorized by section 57-15-06.6 and subsection 5 of section
57-15-06.7 and authorize and issue general obligation bonds to be paid by the
dedicated levy for the purposes identified under section 57-15-06.6 and subsection 5
of section 57-15-06.7; provided, that the initial resolution authorizing the tax levy
dedication and general obligation bonds must be published in the official newspaper,
and any owner of taxable property within the county may, within sixty days after
publication, file with the county auditor a protest against the adoption of the resolution.
a. Protests must be in writing and describe the property that is the subject of the
protest.
b. If the governing body finds the protests to have been signed by the owners of
taxable property having an assessed valuation equal to five percent or more of
the assessed valuation of all taxable property within the county, as last finally
equalized, all further proceedings under the initial resolution are barred.
7. The governing body of any public school district may, by resolution adopted by a
two-thirds vote, dedicate the tax levies as authorized by section 15.1-09-47,
15.1-09-49, or 57-15-16 and authorize and issue general obligation bonds to be paid
by these dedicated levies for the purpose of providing funds for the purchase,
construction, reconstruction, or repair of public school buildings or for the construction
or improvement of a project under section 15.1-36-02 or 15.1-36-08.
a. The initial resolution authorizing the tax levy dedication and general obligation
bonds must be published in the official newspaper of the school district, and any
owner of taxable property within the school district may, within sixty days after
publication, file with the business manager of the school district a protest against
the adoption of the resolution.
b. Protests must be in writing and describe the property that is the subject of the
protest.
c. If the governing body finds the protests have been signed by the owners of
taxable property having an assessed valuation equal to five percent or more of
the assessed valuation of all taxable property within the school district, as last
finally equalized, all further proceedings under the initial resolution are barred.
8. The governing body of any city having a population of twenty-five thousand persons or
more may use the provisions of subsection 3 to provide funds to participate in the cost
of any construction, improvement, financing, and planning of any bypass routes,
interchanges, or other intersection improvements on a federal or state highway system
which is situated in whole or in part outside of the corporate limits of the city; provided,
that the governing body of the city shall determine by resolution that the undertaking of
the work is in the best interest of the city for the purpose of providing access and
relieving congestion or improving traffic flow on municipal streets.
9. The governing body of a municipality or other political subdivision, located at least in
part within a county that is included within a disaster or emergency executive order or
proclamation of the governor under chapter 37-17.1, may by resolution adopted by a
two-thirds vote authorize and issue general obligation bonds of the political subdivision
without an election for the purpose of providing funds to pay costs associated with the
emergency condition. The political subdivision may dedicate and levy taxes for
retirement of bonds under this subsection and the levies are not subject to limitations
as otherwise provided by law.
10. The governing board of any county, city, public school district, park district, or township
may, by resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote, dedicate the tax levy authorized by
section 57-15-41 and authorize and issue general obligation bonds to be paid by the
dedicated levy for the purpose of providing funds to prepay outstanding special
assessments made in accordance with the provisions of title 40 against property
owned by the county, city, public school district, park district, or township.
11. The governing body of any park district that constitutes a distinct municipality may
issue general obligation bonds of the park district for the purpose of providing funds to
acquire, lay out, and improve parks, parkways, boulevards, and pleasure drives, and
to acquire land for these purposes, but the indebtedness may not at any time exceed
one percent of the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the park district.
a. The initial resolution authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds under
this subsection must be published in the official newspaper of the park district,
and any owner of taxable property within the park district may, within sixty days
after publication, file with the clerk of the park district a protest against the
adoption of the resolution.
b. Protests must be in writing and describe the property that is the subject of the
protest.
c. If the governing body finds the protests have been signed by the owners of
taxable property having an assessed valuation equal to five percent or more of
the assessed valuation of all taxable property within the park district, as last
finally equalized, all further proceedings under the initial resolution are barred.