Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 79 - APPROPRIATION FOR PURCHASE AND CONSTRUCTION OF IMPROVED BUILDINGS, GROUNDS AND EQUIPMENT FOR CERTAIN STATE INSTITUTIONS, THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE PURCHASE AND CONSTRUCTION OF NEW AND IMPROVED BUILDINGS, GROUND AND EQUIPMENT FOR CERTAIN STATE INSTITUTIONS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS OF THIS STATE AND RELATING TO THE COST THEREOF, MAKING APPROPRIATION AND PROVIDING FOR THE MEANS OF PAYMENT.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. For the purposes of providing for the purchase and construction of buildings, grounds and equipment for certain state institutions and to provide aid by this state for the purchase and construction of school buildings, grounds and equipment or additions thereto, there is hereby appropriated the total amount of Nine Hundred Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($915,000.00) to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of bonds of this state, as otherwise provided by an act entitled "An Act Authorizing the State of Delaware to Borrow $1,165,000.00 and Issue Bonds Therefor for the Purpose of Purchasing and Erecting New and Improved Buildings, Grounds and Equipment for certain State Institutions and the University of Delaware and School Districts and for the Purpose of Constructing Roads, Bridges and Highways," by the State Treasurer upon written certification of the Governor, the Secretary of State and the State Treasurer or a majority of them, setting forth that the terms and conditions shall not exceed such portion of said appropriation as is hereinafter provided for the several state institutions and school districts out of the said total appropriation provided in this Section.

Section 2. Of the total amount appropriated in Section 1 of this act, the sum of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) is hereby appropriated to be used for the construction and/or the replacement of building and/or equipment at the Ferris Industrial School of Delaware.

Section 3. Of the total amount appropriated in Section 1 of this act, the sum of Sixty Thousand Dollars ($60,000.00) is hereby appropriated to be used for the construction and/or equipment of buildings at the Delaware State Hospital.

Section 4. Of the total amount appropriated in Section 1 of this act, the sum of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) is hereby appropriated to be used for the construction and/or equipment for the Delaware Commission for the Feeble-Minded.

Section 5. Of the total amount appropriated in Section 1 of this act, the sum of Forty-five Thousand Dollars ($45,000.00) is hereby appropriated to be used for the construction and/or equipment of buildings for the State Welfare Commission of the State Welfare Home.

Section 6. Of the total amount appropriated in Section 1 of this Act, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) is hereby appropriated to be used for the purchase of land and construction of a Sub-station in Sussex County for agricultural research purposes by the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware.

Section 7. Of the total amount appropriated in Section 1 of this act, the sum of Seven Hundred, Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000.00) is hereby appropriated to be made available to the State Board of Education for use and aid in a school building program, provided that all of the sums appropriated under this act shall be made available only out of moneys borrowed under the terms of an act entitled "An Act Authorizing the State of Delaware to Borrow $1,165,000.00 and Issue Bonds Therefor for the Purpose of Purchasing and Erecting New and Improved Buildings, Grounds and Equipment for Certain State Institutions and the University of Delaware and School Districts and for the Purpose of Constructing Roads, Bridges and Highways;" and

Provided, further, that the following amounts listed in the column headed "Requested" shall be considered as requested by the school districts hereinafter named and no appropriation to such school district shall be allocated in excess of the amount appearing opposite the name of the school district or school in the column headed "Maximum State Appropriation" and shall be granted only upon condition that the said school district shall contribute the respective amount shown in the column headed "Local Contribution" or in such proportion as said maximum state appropriation bears to the amount appearing opposite the name of the respective school district or school in the column headed "Local Contribution" and such amounts shall be allocated as the State Board of Education shall determine, but the total amount allocated shall not exceed the sum of Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000.00):

And further provided that if the total of requests shall be reduced by the Trustees of the Schools or School Districts hereinabove named to the extent that the total state appropriation shall not equal in amount the maximum state appropriation made available under this act of Seven Hundred, Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000.00), all or any part of such unused portion of said appropriation not applied for and accepted by the School Districts hereinbefore named on or before September 1, 1941 shall be considered to be not otherwise appropriated, and such unused portion of said appropriation, but in no case to exceed One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00), shall be then appropriated and made available to the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware for the construction and equipment of an Athletic Field House and all or any of said unused portion of said appropriation thereafter remaining shall revert to the General Fund of the State of Delaware.

And be it further provided as terms and conditions of any appropriation made for the purpose of any school building program that on and after January 1, 1943 where the local cost of school building in any district and the state cost of school building in such district bear the appropriate relationship to the other as shown in the Basic Table, hereinafter set forth, under column one and two of said table, any appropriation by this state to any district building program shall be deemed to be and shall be such percentage of any request as the ratio set forth in the appropriate column (of those opposite said columns one and two) under the heading "Contributions Permissible", and said appropriation shall be in accordance with the ratios of column three where the amount of requested improvements equal or exceed 75 per cent of the cost of improvements existing and in use immediately preceding the submission of a building program, and in like manner shall the ratios in column four determine the amount of the state contribution where the total amount of any requested building program is 25 per cent or more but not more than 75 per cent of the cost of improvements existing and in use immediately preceding the submission of said requested building program, and in like manner shall the ratio in column five govern the state distribution where the total amount of any requested building program is less than 25 per cent of the cost of improvements existing and in use immediately preceding submission of any said requested building program, as follows:

BASIC TABLE

For the purposes of this act, where the exact percentages of costs incurred by the state and by the district do not appear in the said Basic Table, the percentage figure appearing in column one which the state cost most nearly approximates shall govern for purposes of determining the appropriate opposite columns for ascertaining the amount of Contributions Permissible for any requested building program.

The term "local cost" shall be and include the amount paid since January 1, 1900 for land and buildings, in use in said district for school purposes at the time a requested school program is submitted, provided that amounts paid were derived from the proceeds of sale of bonds which have been paid since January 1, 1919, or provision made for payment on or before June 30, 1942 by the state shall not be included as local costs.

The term "state cost" shall be and include all amounts paid out of moneys appropriated to a school district for building purposes on and after January 1, 1919 up to and including June 30, 1942, and shall include all amounts appropriated or otherwise provided for a school district for the purposes of redeeming, or of causing to be redeemed between January 1, 1919 and June 30, 1942 all bonds issued as an obligation of a school district.

Whenever costs not allocable to either state or local costs have been otherwise provided by private contributions or Federal aid or in like manner, said costs shall be allocated for purposes of this act evenly between state and local costs.

"Permissible Contributions" shall refer specifically to those amounts resulting from the application of appropriate percentages included in said Basic Table which shall be payable by the State Board of Education in accordance with this act, provided that no state contribution shall be permissible unless the appropriate or complementary percentage for local contributions to make a total of 100 per cent of amounts requested by any district shall be made available to pay for any requested building program.

The term "state contribution" shall mean all money properly payable to any school district for proposed school building purposes as provided in this act.

The term "local contribution" shall mean all moneys contributed in amounts and/or by percentages specified to render permissible any state contribution under this act by the State Board of Education from whatever source said money may be received by any Board of Trustees of a school district or any Board of Trustees of a special school district or of the Board of Education of the City of Wilmington.

Where used in this act, the term "improvement" shall for local cost, state cost and other cost purposes and for state contribution and local contribution purposes to be deemed and construed to embrace costs of or contributions to school buildings, and/or school grounds, and/or additions to, alterations or remodeling changes of old school buildings, or additional grounds, and the furnishing and equipping of school buildings.

Section 8. For the purpose of making effective the provisions of Section 7 of this act as it relates to the administering of school building programs, and insofar as the provisions of Chapter 206 of Volume 36, Laws of Delaware, 1929, are not in conflict with this act, said provisions of said Chapter 206 shall be given full force and effect; provided that any conflict which may arise shall be submitted to and resolved by the decision of the Governor; and further provided that membership upon any school building commission which is provided for by election in said Chapter 206, Volume 36, shall be deemed amended to authorize the Governor to appoint three members and to authorize the designation of two members from among and by the members of the State Board of Education.

Section 9. Any school district, including special school districts and consolidated school districts, to which any appropriation is made under the terms of Sections 7 and 8 of this act shall provide therefrom an amount not more than 10 per cent for the employment of engineers and architects for services in connection with any school building program and not less than 1 per cent for use to employ a state inspector whose duties shall be prescribed by the Governor to ascertain, determine and report the failure of any contractor or subcontractor or employee of any school district to perform in accordance with the terms of any building contract or upon the failure of any material, supplies or labor to meet with standards and specifications of any contract for any school building program or any part thereof.

Section 10. Wherever in this act the term "school" or "school district" is used, it shall be construed to include all and any of the Boards of Trustees of the several School Districts, the Boards of Trustees of the several Special School Districts and the Board of Education of the City of Wilmington.

Section 11. If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this Act shall, for any reason, be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of this Act but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. No caption of any Article, Section or set of Sections shall in any way effect the interpretation of this Act or any part thereof.

Approved May 24, 1941.