CHAPTER 68
S.P. 751 - L.D. 2029
An Act to Amend the Charter of the Van Buren Light and Power District
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. P&SL 1917, c. 182, §1, as repealed and replaced by P&SL 1983, c. 15, is amended to read:
Sec. 1. Territorial limits; name; purposes; bond issue authorized. The following described territory and the people within the territory, namely all of the Town of Van Buren, excepting that area contained by original Lots 237 through 246, inclusive; and so much of the Town of Hamlin as is included in original Lots 306 through 308, inclusive; is hereby created a body politic and corporate under the name of the Van Buren Light and Power District; with the right of making, generating, purchasing, selling, distributing and supplying gas or electricity, or both, for lighting, heating, manufacturing or mechanical purposes, and to sell the gas or electricity for street lighting purposes and to light all public and private buildings, houses, stores, warehouses, mills and business places in the district, and likewise for heating, domestic and power purposes. The district may construct and operate fiber-optic cable telecommunications facilities or the equivalent of those facilities within the territory of the district. The district may build such system as may be required to carry out the purposes stated in this section, or acquire by purchase or the right of eminent domain any existing system or systems and enlarge or extend the system or systems as circumstances require. The district may not take by eminent domain the property or facilities of another public utility used or acquired for use in providing service to the public or in the performance of a public duty unless the district applies to the Public Utilities Commission and the commission finds that the taking is in the public interest. The district may also issue bonds in such amount as may appear necessary to fully accomplish these purposes with a view to furnishing the inhabitants of the district with gas and electricity and other services for all purposes to which the same may be advantageously applied.
Sec. 2. P&SL 1917, c. 182, §9, as amended by P&SL 1983, c. 76, is further amended to read:
Sec. 9. Rates and purposes for which money may be expended. All individuals, firms, and corporations, whether private, public or municipal, shall pay to the treasurer of the Van Buren Light and Power District the rates established by the board of trustees for the electricity and other services used by them either for light, heat, power or other purposes, and the rates shall must be uniform within the district. The rates shall be are subject to approval of the Public Utilities Commission, and shall must be so established as to provided for the following purposes:
1. Expenses. To pay the current running expenses for maintaining the light and power system and other systems contemplated by this Act, and interest on all indebtedness;
2. Sinking fund, serial debt. To provide each and every year after April 1, 1920, a sum equal to not less than 1/2%, nor more than 3%, and after April 1, 1925, a sum of not less than 1% nor more than 5% of the entire term indebtedness of the Van Buren Light and Power District, which sum shall must be set aside as a sinking fund to provide for the final extinguishment of the funded debt. The money set aside for the sinking fund shall must be devoted to the retirement of the long term long-term and short term short-term obligations of the district or invested in such securities as savings banks are allowed to hold. In addition to the establishment of a sinking fund, the board of trustees may issue long-term bonds or notes payable in such annual installments as the board, subject to the approval of the Public Utilities Commission, may determine and, in that event, the rates shall must provide for the payment in each year of the annual installments of principal due in each such year; and
3. Surplus. Any surplus may, at the discretion of the aforesaid board of trustees, be transferred in whole or in part to the treasurer of the Town of Van Buren for the use of the inhabitants thereof.
Effective June 30, 1998.
| Revisor of Statutes Homepage | Subject Index | Search | 118th Laws of Maine | Maine Legislature |
