§ 7-34-104 — Powers of municipalities

(a) In addition to powers that it may now have, any municipality has the power under this chapter to: (1) Construct, acquire by gift, purchase, or exercise the right of eminent domain, reconstruct, improve, better or extend any public works, within or without the municipality, or partially within or partially without the municipality, and acquire by gift, purchase, or exercise the right of eminent domain, lands, rights in land or water rights in connection with lands, rights in land or water rights; (2) Operate and maintain any public works for its own use or for the use and benefit of its inhabitants, and also operate and maintain such public works for the use and benefit of persons, firms, and corporations, including municipal corporations and inhabitants of municipal corporations whose residences or places of business are located outside the territorial boundaries of the municipality; (3) Lease any public works to, or operate and maintain any public works, either wholly or partially, for the use and benefit of the United States or the state of Tennessee or any agency, instrumentality or authority of either the United States or the state of Tennessee, all under such terms and conditions as may be mutually agreed upon, including the transfer of title to such public works after all bonds issued to finance the acquisition or construction of such public works and the interest on all bonds have been paid or provision made for the payment of the bonds; provided, that any public works may, in the discretion of the governing body, be so leased or operated and maintained as a unit separate and distinct from any other public works of the municipality, and the governing body may pledge the revenues and rentals of the public works exclusively for the payment of the principal and interest of any bonds issued to finance the acquisition or construction of such public works, but nothing contained in this subdivision (a)(3) shall prohibit the governing body from pledging the revenues of other public works for the payment of the principal and interest of such bonds and it is hereby given full authority to do so; (4) Issue its bonds to finance in whole or in part the cost of the acquisition, purchase, construction, reconstruction, improvement, betterment or extension of any public works. The governing body of the municipality in determining the cost may include all cost and estimated cost of the issuance of the bonds, all engineering, inspection, fiscal and legal expenses, and interest that it is estimated will accrue during the construction period and six (6) months thereafter on money borrowed or that it is estimated will be borrowed pursuant to this chapter; (5) Prescribe and collect rates, fees, and charges for the services, facilities and commodities furnished by such public works; (6) Pledge to the punctual payment of the bonds and interest on the bonds an amount of the revenues of such public works, including improvements, betterments, or extensions to the public works thereafter constructed or acquired, or of any part of such public works, sufficient to pay the bonds and interest as the bonds and interest shall become due and create and maintain reasonable reserves for the payment of the bonds and interest. The amount may consist of all or any part or portion of such revenue; (7) Contract with any person, municipality, the United States, the president of the United States, the Tennessee valley authority, and any and all other authorities, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States, and, in connection with any such contract, stipulate and agree to such covenants, terms and conditions as the governing body may deem appropriate, including, but not limited to, covenants, terms and conditions with respect to the resale rates, financial and accounting methods, services, operation and maintenance practices, and the manner of disposition of the revenues of the public works, operated and maintained by the municipality; (8) Use any right-of-way, easement or other similar property right necessary or convenient in connection with the acquisition, improvement, operation or maintenance of a public works, held by the state or any other political subdivision of the state; provided, that the governing body of such other political subdivision shall consent to such use; and (9) Issue bonds pursuant to this chapter to finance, in whole or in part, the cost of the acquisition of electrical power purchased from the Tennessee valley authority or similar government agencies on a current or long-term prepaid purchase basis and pledge to the punctual payment of any such bonds and interest on the bonds its rights in such contracts and an amount of the revenues of its public works, including improvements, betterments, or extensions to such public works thereafter constructed or acquired, or of any part of such public works, sufficient to pay the bonds and interest as the bonds and interest become due and create and maintain reasonable reserves for the payment of the bonds and interest. The amount shall consist of all or any part or portion of such revenue. The governing body of the municipality, in determining the cost of the acquisition of electrical power under this subsection (a), may include all costs and estimated costs of the issuance of the bonds, all engineering, inspection, fiscal and legal expenses. (b) Any municipality authorized by chapter 52, part 4 of this title, to provide any of the services described in chapter 52, part 4 shall have the power and is hereby authorized to borrow money, contract debts and issue its bonds or notes pursuant to the terms of this subsection (b) to finance in whole or in part the cost of the acquisition, purchase, construction, reconstruction, improvement, betterment or extension of a system or systems, or any part thereof, to provide any of such services, including the acquisition of land or rights in land and the acquisition and installation of all equipment necessarily incident to the provision of such services; provided, that: (1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, such services shall not constitute "public works" as defined in § 7-34-102 ; (2) For regulatory purposes, a municipality issuing bonds or notes for the purposes set forth in this subsection (b) shall allocate to the costs of providing any of the services authorized by § 7-52-401 payments of principal of, interest on and amortized costs incurred in connection with the issuance of such bonds or notes; provided, that if any of such bonds or notes are issued in such a way that interest on the bonds is excludable from gross income for federal income tax purposes, the municipality shall allocate to costs, in lieu of the actual interest being paid on such bonds or notes, an amount equal to interest that would be payable on the bonds or notes if the bonds or notes were bearing interest at rates equal to the average of the most recently published Moody's Long-Term Corporate Bond Yield Averages and Intermediate Corporate Bond Yield Averages for AAA Public Utilities; (3) Nothing in this subsection (b) shall be read to diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the Tennessee public utility commission over municipalities that provide any of the services described in chapter 52, part 4 of this title; (4) To the extent that they do not conflict with subdivisions (b)(1)-(3), the provisions of this chapter relating to the authorization, issuance and sale of bonds or notes, the use and application of revenues of the system or systems being financed, powers to secure such bonds and notes, covenants and remedies for the benefit of bond or note holders with respect to such bonds or notes, validity with respect to such bonds or notes, and powers to refund and refinance such bonds or notes shall apply to any bonds or notes issued for the purposes described in this subsection (b) and the system or systems financed by the issuance and sale of bonds or notes; and (5) Section 7-52-402 shall apply to the use and application of revenues authorized and permitted by this section.

Legislative History

Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 94, s 9, eff. 4/4/2017. Acts 1935 (Ex. Sess.), ch. 33, § 4; 1937, ch. 230, § 2; 1949, ch. 211, § 1; C. Supp. 1950, § 4406.45 (Williams, § 4406.37); modified; Acts 1955, ch. 216, § 1; modified; 1975, ch. 5, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 6-1304; Acts 1987, ch. 158, § 3; 1998, ch. 1004, § 1; 2003 , ch. 20, § 2.