(A) Two or more municipal corporations, one or more municipal corporations and one or more other political subdivisions, or two or more political subdivisions other than municipal corporations may enter into an agreement for the joint construction or management, or construction and management, of any public work, utility, or improvement, benefiting each municipal corporation or other political subdivision or for the joint exercise of any power conferred on municipal corporations or other political subdivisions by the constitution or laws of this state, in which each of the municipal corporations or other political subdivisions is interested. Any such agreement shall be approved by ordinance or resolution, as applicable, passed by the legislative body of each municipal corporation or other political subdivision that is a party to the agreement. The ordinance or resolution shall set forth the agreement in full and, when approved, shall be a binding contract.

(B) Any agreement entered into as provided in this section shall provide for the following:

(1) The method by which the work, utility, or improvement specified in it shall be jointly constructed or managed;

(2) The method by which any specified power shall be jointly exercised;

(3) Apportioning among the contracting municipal corporations or other political subdivisions any expense of jointly constructing, maintaining, or managing any work, utility, or improvement or jointly exercising any power.

(C) Any agreement entered into as provided in this section may provide for either of the following:

(1) Assessing the cost, or any specified part of the cost, of the joint construction, maintenance, or management of any public work, utility, or improvement upon abutting property specially benefited thereby;

(2) Assessing the cost, or any specified part of the cost, of constructing, maintaining, or managing any such public work, utility, or improvement upon the property within any district clearly specified in the agreement, in proportion to benefits derived by that property from the work, utility, or improvement.

(D) Each municipal corporation or other political subdivision may issue bonds for its portion of the cost of any such public work, utility, or improvement, if Chapter 133. of the Revised Code would authorize the issuance of those bonds if the municipal corporation or other political subdivision alone were undertaking the construction of the work, utility, or improvement, and subject to the same conditions and restrictions which would then apply.

Effective Date: 03-14-2003 .