Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 262

APPROPRIATION - REVOLVING FUND FOR SCHOOL SITES, ARCHITECTS FEES, ETC.

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 17, TITLE 14, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO STATE APPROPRIATIONS TO PROVIDE FOR REVOLVING FUNDS FOR SCHOOL SITES, SCHOOL ARCHITECTS' FEES AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:

Section 1. Chapter 17, Title 14, Delaware Code, is amended by adding a new section as follows:

§ 1715. Acquisition of school sites, revolving fund; purchase; sale; repayment

There shall be a revolving fund established under the State Board of Education to be used for the acquisition of school sites in anticipation of the need for construction of school buildings. From this fund the State Board of Education shall purchase in the name of The State of Delaware upon request from a school district any needed school site. The State Board shall make no payments to any school district from the revolving fund unless the acquisition of a school site and the approximate cost of the proposed new construction thereon have first been approved by a referendum held among the voters in the school district concerned. In the event land is purchased within a school district and no school construction is started thereon within five years of such purchase or in the event plans to use the site are abandoned, then the State Board of Education may sell the land at a public sale and shall deposit the receipts in the General Fund of the State of Delaware.

When a school district within which such a site has been purchased has sold bonds and deposited construction funds with the State Treasurer in compliance with any school construction act, or when, in the event of construction based entirely upon State funds, the Treasurer has in his command construction funds for such site the Board of Education or Board of School Trustees of the district shall present to the appropriate authorities an invoice against such construction funds of that District payable to the State Board of Education for deposit in the revolving fund and the funds used to purchase the site shall be returned to the revolving fund.

Section 2. In order to establish the revolving fund created by Section 1, there is appropriated to the State Board of Education an amount of $250,000.00. These funds shall not revert to the General Fund at the close of the fiscal year, but remain in a revolving fund as described in Chapter 17, Title 14, Delaware Code.

Section 3. Chapter 17, Title 14, Delaware Code, is amended by adding a new section as follows:

§ 1716. Payment for architects' services, revolving fund

There shall be a revolving fund established under the State Board of Education to be used for the payment of architects' fees for actual work done when architects are asked to do advanced planning by school districts or special school districts prior to the organization of a school construction program or presentation of a construction program to a session of the General Assembly when such prior planning is requested by a school district or a special school district.

No fee so paid shall exceed ten per cent of the total anticipated architect's fee for the construction project planned.

When a school district for which such fees have been paid sells bonds to provide for a capital improvement program and deposits funds with the State Treasurer in compliance with any school construction act, or when, in the event of capital improvements based entirely upon State funds, the Treasurer has in his command capital improvement funds, the Board of Education or Board of School Trustees of the district shall present to the appropriate authorities an invoice against such funds of that district payable to the State Board of Education for deposit in the revolving fund and the funds advanced or used for architect's fees shall be returned to the revolving fund.

In no instance shall the Board of School Trustees or Board of Education make payment a second time to the architect whose fee was collected under the provisions of this section for that portion of the fee already paid, however, nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a school district from changing the architect assigned to plan its construction.

Section 4. In order to establish the revolving fund created by Section 3, there is appropriated to the State Board of Education an amount of $100,000.00. These funds shall not revert to the General Fund at the close of the fiscal year, but remain in a revolving fund as described in Chapter 17, Title 14, Delaware Code.

Section 5. This Act is a supplementary appropriation, and the money hereby appropriated shall be paid out of the General Fund of the State of Delaware.

Approved July 22, 1957.