16-607. Property; condemnation for other public purposes; bonds; issuance; approval by electors.

(1) Payment of damages assessed for the appropriation of private property for any of the purposes provided in section 19-709 but not provided for in section 16-606 may be made by the sale of the negotiable bonds of the city, and for that purpose the mayor and city council shall have power to borrow money and to pledge the property and credit of the city upon its negotiable bonds or otherwise in an amount not exceeding in the aggregate two hundred thousand dollars.

(2) No such bonds, referred to in subsection (1) of this section, shall be issued by the city council until the question of issuing the same shall have been submitted to the electors of the city at an election called and held for that purpose, notice of which election shall have been given by publication once each week three successive weeks prior thereto in a legal newspaper in or of general circulation in such city, and a majority of the electors voting on the proposition shall have voted in favor of issuing such bonds. The proposition shall not be submitted until after the appraisers referred to in section 76-710 have made their report fixing the amount of the damages for the property appropriated. If the proposition fails to carry, it shall be equivalent to a repeal of the ordinance authorizing the appropriation proceedings, and the city shall not be bound in any way on account of the appropriation proceedings referred to in section 19-709.

(3) When the bonds, referred to in subsections (1) and (2) of this section, are for the purpose of purchasing any system or portion of a system already in existence, it shall not be necessary for the city engineer to make or the city council to adopt any plans or specifications for the work already in existence, but only for proposed changes or additional work.

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