Marvin Mandel, Governor                           351

faith and credit, the sums necessary to make the grants authorized
by subsection (b) hereof. However, the total amount of bonds or
other certificates of indebtedness which may be issued and out-
standing at any one time shall not exceed One Million Two Hundred
Fifty Thousand Dollars ($1,250,000.00).

2.    The bonds hereby authorized to be issued shall be known as
"Economic Development Bonds" and they shall be the general obli-
gation of the County and shall be exempt, both as to principal and
interest, from all forms of taxation imposed by the State, County,
or municipal authorities within the State of Maryland. The County
Commissioners of Allegany County, before the issuance of the bonds,
shall by formal resolution prescribe their form and tenor; bonds;
the date of issue; the date or dates of maturity; and the time and
place at which interest is to be paid. The bonds shall bear a SUCH
rate OR RATES of interest not exceeding six per cent (6%) per
annum, and shall be of whatever denomination or denominations,
callable or non-callable and of whatever type or form, and of what-
ever period of maturity, as the County Commissioners of Allegany
County may deem advisable. However, the period of maturity shall
not exceed thirty (30) years from the date of issue.

3.    The governing body of the county shall levy annually at the
time taxes are levied for general county purposes a tax upon all
property assessed for county tax purposes within the county in an
amount sufficient to meet the principal and interest of the bonds or
other certificates of indebtedness for so long as any of them shall
be outstanding. However, if the interest matures on any one or more
of the issues of bonds or other certificates of indebtedness before
an annual levy or before sufficient amount of taxes levied for the
purpose of paying whatever interest is collected, the county may
pay the interest out of the proceeds of the sale of any such issue.

4. The governing body of the County shall offer the bonds for
sale to the highest bidder by sealed bids delivered at a place and
time mentioned and described in one or more advertisements in-
serted in at least two newspapers published in the county and in
whatever additional newspapers as the governing body of the County
may direct. The governing body of the County may adopt whatever
rules and regulations that relate to the bonds and the offering
thereof as it may deem advisable.

(d) The authority to borrow money and issue bonds conferred on
the County by this section shall be deemed to provide an additional
and alternative authority for borrowing money and shall be regarded
as supplemental and additional to powers conferred upon the County
by other laws and shall not be regarded as in derogation of any
power now existing. All Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland
heretofore passed authorizing the County to borrow money are
hereby continued to the extent that the powers contained in them
have not heretofore been exercised, and nothing herein contained
shall be construed to impair in any way whatsoever the validity of
any bonds which may have been issued by the County under the
authority of any of the Acts, and the validity of the bonds is hereby
ratified, confirmed, and approved.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
July 1, 1971.

Approved April 23, 1971.