331.442  General county purpose bonds.
  1.  A county which proposes to carry out any general county purpose within or without its boundaries, and to contract indebtedness and issue general obligation bonds to provide funds to pay all or any part of the costs of a project, shall do so in accordance with this part.
  2.  a.  The board shall publish notice of the proposal to issue the bonds, including a statement of the amount and purpose of the bonds and a statement of the estimated cost of the project for which the bonds are to be issued. The notice shall be published as provided in section 331.305 with the minutes of the meeting at which the board adopts a resolution to call a county special election to vote upon the question of issuing the bonds. The cost of the project, as published in the notice pursuant to this paragraph, is an estimate and is not intended to be binding on the board in later proceedings related to the project.
  b.  Before the board may institute proceedings for the issuance of bonds for a general county purpose, it shall call a county special election to vote upon the question of issuing the bonds. At the election the proposition shall be submitted in the following form:
  Shall the county of ...................., state of Iowa, issue its general obligation bonds in an amount not exceeding the amount of $............ for the purpose of ................................................?
  3.  Notice of the election shall be given by publication as specified in section 331.305. At the election the ballot used for the submission of the proposition shall be in substantially the form for submitting special questions at general elections.
  4.  The proposition of issuing bonds for a general county purpose is not carried or adopted unless the vote in favor of the proposition is equal to at least sixty percent of the total vote cast for and against the proposition at the election. If the proposition of issuing the general county purpose bonds is approved by the voters, the board may proceed with the issuance of the bonds.
  5.  a.  Notwithstanding subsection 2, a board, in lieu of calling an election, may institute proceedings for the issuance of bonds for a general county purpose by causing a notice of the proposal to issue the bonds, including a statement of the amount and purpose of the bonds, and the right to petition for an election, to be published as provided in section 331.305 at least ten days prior to the meeting at which it is proposed to take action for the issuance of the bonds subject to the following limitations:
  (1)  In counties having a population of twenty thousand or less, in an amount of not more than one hundred thousand dollars.
  (2)  In counties having a population of over twenty thousand and not over fifty thousand, in an amount of not more than two hundred thousand dollars.
  (3)  In counties having a population of over fifty thousand, in an amount of not more than three hundred thousand dollars.
  b.  If at any time before the date fixed for taking action for the issuance of the bonds, a petition is filed with the auditor in the manner provided by section 331.306 asking that the question of issuing the bonds be submitted to the registered voters of the county, the board shall either by resolution declare the proposal to issue the bonds to have been abandoned or shall direct the county commissioner of elections to call a special election upon the question of issuing the bonds. Notice of the election and its conduct shall be in the manner provided in subsections 2, 3 and 4.
  c.  If no petition is filed, or if a petition is filed and the proposition of issuing the bonds is approved at an election, the board may proceed with the authorization and issuance of the bonds.
[C31, 35, §5903-c5; C39, §5903.05; C46, 50, §330.7; C54, 58, §330.7; C62, 66, §111A.6, 330.7; C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §111A.6, 313A.35, 330.7, 346A.3; S81, §331.442; 81 Acts, ch 117, §441; 82 Acts, ch 1104, §47]
95 Acts, ch 67, §53; 2007 Acts, ch 109, §3; 2009 Acts, ch 2, §1, 3, 4
2009 amendment to subsection 2 applies retroactively to validate projects authorized by ballot proposition that approved the issuance of county general obligation bonds at elections held prior to February 16, 2009, if, on February 16, 2009, the cost of the project does not exceed one hundred ten percent of the project cost stated on the ballot; board of supervisors action to adopt resolution stating compliance; 2009 Acts, ch 2, §3, 4