(a) Each authority is authorized to provide for the issuance, at one time or from time to time, of bonds of the authority for the purpose of paying all or any part of the cost of any project. The principal of, the interest on and any premium payable upon the redemption of the bonds shall be payable solely from the funds authorized in this Article for their payment. The bonds of each issue shall bear interest as may be determined by the Local Government Commission with the approval of the authority and the obligor irrespective of the limitations of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 24-1.1, as amended, and successor provisions. The bonds of each issue shall be dated, shall mature at any time or times not exceeding 35 years after the date of their issuance, and may be made redeemable before maturity at any price or prices and under any terms and conditions, as may be fixed by the authority before the issuance of the bonds. The authority shall determine the form and the manner of execution of the bonds, including any interest coupons to be attached to them, and shall fix the denomination or denominations of the bonds and the place or places of payment of principal and interest. In case any officer whose signature or a facsimile of whose signature appears on any bonds or coupons ceases to be that officer before the delivery of the bonds, the signature or the facsimile shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as if the officer had remained in office until the delivery. The authority may also provide for the authentication of the bonds by a trustee or fiscal agent. The bonds may be issued in coupon or in fully registered form, or both, as the authority may determine, and provision may be made for the registration of any coupon bonds as to principal alone and also as to both principal and interest, and for the reconversion into coupon bonds of any bonds registered as to both principal and interest, and for the interchange of registered and coupon bonds.

(a1) A county or city that receives an allocation to issue recovery zone facility bonds within the meaning of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 to finance recovery zone property may designate any authority as the governmental entity authorized to issue recovery zone facility bonds.

(b) The proceeds of the bonds of each issue shall be used solely for the payment of the cost of all or part of the project for which the bonds were issued, and shall be disbursed in any manner and under any restrictions, as the authority may provide in the financing agreement and the security document. If the proceeds of the bonds of any issue, by reason of increased construction costs or error in estimates or otherwise, are less than this cost, additional bonds may in like manner be issued to provide the amount of the deficiency.

(c) The proceeds of bonds shall not be used to refinance the cost of an industrial project or a pollution control project. For the purposes of this section, a cost of an industrial project or a pollution control project is considered refinanced if both of the following conditions are met:

(1) The cost is initially paid from sources other than bond proceeds, and the original expenditure is to be reimbursed from bond proceeds.

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(2) The original expenditure was paid more than 60 days before the authority took some action indicating its intent that the expenditure would be financed or reimbursed from bond proceeds.

(d) Notwithstanding subsection (c) of this section, preliminary expenditures that are incurred prior to the commencement of the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of an industrial project or a pollution control project, such as architectural costs, engineering costs, surveying costs, soil testing costs, bond issuance costs, and other similar costs, may be reimbursed from bond proceeds even if these costs are incurred or paid more than 60 days prior to the authority’s action. This exception that allows preliminary expenditures to be reimbursed from bond proceeds, regardless of whether or not they are incurred or paid within 60 days of the authority’s action, does not include costs that are incurred incident to the commencement of the construction of an industrial project or a pollution control project, such as expenditures for land acquisition and site preparation. In any event, an expenditure in connection with an industrial project or a pollution control project originally paid before the authority took some action indicating its intent that the expenditures would be financed or reimbursed from bond proceeds may be reimbursed from bond proceeds only if the authority finds that reimbursing those costs from bond proceeds will promote the purposes of this Chapter.

(e) An authority may make loans to an obligor to refund outstanding loans, obligations, deeds of trust, or advances issued, made, or given by the obligor for the cost of a special purpose project.

(f) The authority may issue interim receipts or temporary bonds, with or without coupons, exchangeable for definitive bonds when the bonds have been executed and are available for delivery. The authority may also provide for the replacement of any bonds that become mutilated or are destroyed or lost.

(g) Bonds may be issued under the provisions of this Chapter without obtaining, except as otherwise expressly provided in this Chapter, the consent of the State or of any political subdivision or of any agency of either, and without any other proceedings or the happening of any conditions or things other than those proceedings, conditions, or things that are specifically required by this Chapter and the provisions of the financing agreement and security document authorizing the issuance of the bonds and securing the bonds. (1975, c. 800, s. 1; 1979, c. 109, s. 1; 1997-111, s. 1; 1997-463, s. 1; 2000-179, s. 5; 2009-140, s. 7.)