48-540. List of unpaid assessments; issuance of bonds; denominations; coupons; due date
A. When the city council has determined that improvement bonds shall be issued, and after the expiration of the thirty day period provided for from the date of publication of the notice that assessments are due, as provided in section 48-525, the superintendent of streets shall make and certify to the clerk a complete list of all assessments unpaid which amount to fifty dollars or over upon any assessment.
B. If any person before certification of the list to the clerk presents to the superintendent his affidavit that he is the owner of a lot in the list, accompanied by the certificate of a searcher of records that the person is the owner of record, and notifies the superintendent in writing that he desires no bond to be issued for the assessment upon the lot, then the assessment shall not be included in the list and shall remain collectible as provided by this article. Omission to file the notice shall bar any defense against the bonds except the defense that the council did not have authority to issue the bonds.
C. The clerk shall present the list to the council at its next meeting, and the council shall thereupon, by resolution, direct improvement bonds to be issued for the amount of the assessments remaining unpaid, prescribing the number and denomination of the bonds, and the times when payable, which shall be so fixed that an approximately equal amount of the total sum shall be paid each year until the whole amount is paid, not exceeding twenty-five years and three months from the date of the bonds, but any fractional amounts may be added to the amount due in any year, so that the amounts due in all other years shall be in equal multiples of one hundred dollars each. Except for a bond to represent any odd amount due in any year, the denominations of the bond shall be fixed at one hundred dollars or some multiple thereof, not exceeding one thousand dollars. The resolution shall also fix the place, if any other than the office of the treasurer, at which the bonds and interest thereon shall be payable.
D. The bonds shall be issued as of the date of the recording of the assessment and diagram provided for in section 48-523 and shall bear interest from such date at the rate specified in the resolution of intention or the resolution determining that improvement bonds shall be issued. The bonds shall have semiannual interest coupons attached, the first of which shall be payable on January 1 or July 1, as the case may be, occurring no earlier than ninety days after the date of the bond or the expected completion of the work, whichever is later, and shall be for the interest accrued at that time.
E. The due date of all bonds shall be January 1 in the years in which they respectively become due.
F. The bonds shall be signed by the mayor, attested by the clerk and sealed with the corporate seal of the city or town, and the interest coupons shall bear the facsimile signature of the mayor and clerk.
G. The bonds shall be substantially in the following form: " City (or town) of . . . . . . . . . . . . improvement bond, Know all men by these presents: That the city (or town) of . . . . . . . . . . . , Arizona, a duly organized municipal corporation, promises to pay as hereinafter stated to the bearer hereof, on the . . . . . . day of . . . . . . . . . . . , the sum of . . . . . . . . . . . dollars, together with interest on said sum at the rate of . . . . . . . . . per cent per annum, payable semiannually on the first day of January and July of each year, as evidenced by and upon the presentation and surrender of the interest coupons hereto attached as they severally become due. Both principal and interest are payable at the office of the city (or town) of . . . . . . . . . . . . or at . . . . . . . . , at the option of the holder. This bond is issued in pursuance of law, and is one of a series of . . . . . . . . . . bonds of like tenor and date for the total sum of . . . . . . . . . . . dollars issued for that certain improvement in said municipality consisting of (briefly describing improvement), initiated by resolution no. . . . . . . of (name of municipality), and is payable only out of the special fund to be collected from special assessments imposed on the lots or parcels of land benefited by said improvement. Said special fund is set apart by law for the payment of said bonds, and can be used for no other purpose. It is hereby certified and declared that the improvement for which this series of bonds is issued is authorized by law, that all of the acts, conditions and things required to be done, precedent to and in the issuance of this series of bonds, have been done and performed in regular and due form as required by the laws of the state of Arizona, the charter of (name of municipality), and all ordinances and resolutions thereof, that the special assessments out of which said bonds are to be paid are first liens on the property assessed, subject only to the lien for general taxes and prior special assessments, and any bona fide purchaser for value of this bond has the right to rely on the recitals herein contained. For the assessment or reassessment, collection and payment of said special assessments, the full faith and diligence of said municipality are hereby irrevocably pledged."