A.R.S. tit. 11 ch. 5 — Arizona Revised Statutes Title 11 Chapter 5 — County Authorities

11-701. Formation of authority A. The board of supervisors of a county may establish a county sports authority to include the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county. To establish the authority the board of supervisors shall adopt a resolution stating: 1. The name of the proposed authority. 2. The boundaries of the proposed authority, which shall be coterminous with the boundaries of the county. 3. The necessity for the authority, including a statement that the public interest, convenience and necessity will be promoted by establishing the authority. 4. A general statement of the sports facilities and the services to be provided by the authority. 5. Such other matters as the board deems necessary. B. The resolution shall set a date for a hearing on the resolution, not less than twenty-one nor more than forty days from the date of the resolution. The notice of the hearing shall contain substantially all the information contained in the resolution and shall be published once each week for at least three consecutive weeks before the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. The board shall meet at the time and place fixed for the hearing. At the hearing the board shall hear all persons who wish to appear in favor of or against establishing the authority. C. If, after the hearing, it appears to the board that the public interest, convenience and necessity will be served by establishing the authority the board shall declare its findings and order the formation of the authority under the designated corporate name. The board shall file a certified copy of the proceedings with the county recorder. D. A party aggrieved by the action of the board under this section may bring an action in the superior court in the county in which the authority is located to set aside the action of the board. The action must be instituted not more than thirty-five days after entry of the order forming the authority. E. The board of supervisors may pay the necessary costs incurred in connection with the formation of the authority from any monies available for that purpose. F. If established, the authority is a body corporate with the powers and immunities of a municipal corporation for the purposes of implementing this chapter, including exemption of its property and bonds from taxation. 11-702. Board of directors; conflict of interest prohibited; violation; classification; powers and duties A. The authority shall be governed by a board of directors consisting of fifteen members. In counties having a population of over one million five hundred thousand persons according to the most recent United States decennial census, the board of supervisors shall appoint five members, the president of a state university within the county shall appoint one member and the mayors of the seven most populous cities in that county shall each appoint one member, except that the mayor of the most populous city shall appoint three members. In counties having a population of one million five hundred thousand persons or less according to the most recent United States decennial census, the board of supervisors shall appoint the fifteen members. Directors must be qualified electors of the county. In counties having a population of one million five hundred thousand persons or less according to the most recent United States decennial census, the board of supervisors shall appoint eight members of the initial board of directors to terms of two years and seven members to terms of four years. In counties having a population of over one million five hundred thousand persons according to the most recent United States decennial census, the board of supervisors shall appoint five members of the initial board of directors to terms of four years, the mayor of the most populous city shall appoint three members of the initial board of directors to terms of four years, the president of a state university within the county shall appoint one member of the initial board of directors to a term of two years and the remainder of the appointing cities shall appoint one member of the initial board to a term of two years. All subsequent members shall be appointed to terms of four years. A director may not be appointed to more than two consecutive terms. B. Members of the board of directors shall not have any direct or indirect financial interest in, or be employed in any capacity by, an entity with which the authority has a contractual or lessor-lessee relationship other than the Arizona board of regents or an institution under the jurisdiction of the board of regents. A violation of this section is a class 1 misdemeanor. C. The board of directors may on behalf of the authority: 1. Adopt and use a corporate seal. 2. Sue and be sued. 3. Enter into contracts, including intergovernmental agreements under chapter 7, article 3 of this title as necessary to carry out the purposes and requirements of this chapter. 4. Adopt administrative rules as necessary to administer and operate the authority and any facility under its jurisdiction. 5. Employ an executive director and administrative and clerical employees and prescribe the terms and conditions of their employment as necessary to carry out the purposes of the authority. 6. Acquire by any lawful means, except by eminent domain, and operate, maintain, encumber and dispose of real and personal property and interests in property. 7. Administer trusts declared or established for the authority, receive and hold in trust or otherwise property located in or out of this state and, if not otherwise provided, dispose of the property for the benefit of the authority. 8. Promote events in the public interest that are approved and listed in the budget under section 11-705, subsection A, paragraph 3, subdivision (d). 9. Accept gifts. D. The board of directors shall: 1. Appoint from among its members a chairman, secretary and treasurer and such other officers as may be necessary to conduct its business. 2. Keep and maintain a complete and accurate record of all of its proceedings. All proceedings and records of the board shall be open to the public as required by title 38, chapter 3, article 3.1 and title 39, chapter 1. 3. Actively promote the use of the authority's property and lease or sublease the property for professional and amateur sports events and for other suitable activities for the benefit of the public. 4. Provide for the maintenance and operation of the properties, facilities, franchises and interests controlled by the authority. 11-703. Using university property The board of directors may enter into one or more intergovernmental agreements pursuant to chapter 7, article 3 of this title with the Arizona board of regents or with any institution under its jurisdiction in the county to lease university real or personal property. Any such lease may authorize the authority to sublease the property for any activity suited to the property, including sporting events. In addition, the board of directors, pursuant to section 11-702, subsection C, paragraph 6, may acquire ownership of or an ownership interest in any such property. Subject to the provisions of title 4, the board of directors may permit and regulate the sale, use and consumption of alcoholic beverages at events held on property acquired, leased or subleased under this section. 11-704. County sports authority fund A. The authority treasurer shall maintain a county sports authority fund consisting of all monies received by the authority, including: 1. Payments received from leasing, subleasing or renting facilities. 2. Revenues received by the authority from admissions and concessions and other proceeds from events held at facilities leased by the authority. 3. Monies received from issuing and selling bonds under article 2 of this chapter. 4. Interest and other income received from investing monies in the fund. 5. Gifts, grants and donations received for that purpose from any private source. B. Monies in the fund may be used only for the following purposes: 1. Ordinary and necessary administration and operation expenses of the authority, including: (a) Reasonable salaries and employee related expenses of employees of the authority. (b) Reasonable reimbursement of expenses of members of the board of directors. 2. Making all payments required under any lease or sublease of facilities by the authority. 3. Repaying and redeeming bonds issued by the authority, including interest and redemption charges. 4. Academic scholarships, established by the board of directors at the end of the fiscal year, to any college or university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona community college board or the Arizona board of regents. These scholarships shall be funded from unexpended and unencumbered monies remaining in the fund at the end of the fiscal year which are not otherwise required as reserves. C. The treasurer of the authority may invest any unexpended monies in the fund as provided in title 35, chapter 2, including in the local government investment pool, if authorized by the state treasurer. Interest and other income from investments shall be credited to the fund. The treasurer of the authority shall invest the monies so as to mature at the times when the fund assets will be required for the purposes of this article. If the liquid assets in the fund become insufficient to meet the authority's obligations, the board of directors shall direct the treasurer of the authority to liquidate sufficient securities to meet all of the current obligations and immediately notify the board of supervisors, the attorney general and the auditor general of the insufficiency, and the attorney general and auditor general shall investigate and audit the circumstances surrounding the depletion of the fund and report their findings to the board of supervisors. D. The board of directors shall cause an annual audit to be conducted of the fund by an independent certified public accountant within thirty days after the end of the fiscal year. The board shall immediately file a certified copy of the audit with the auditor general. The auditor general may make such further audits and examinations as he deems necessary, but if he takes no official action within thirty days after the audit is filed, the audit is deemed sufficient. The board of directors shall pay all fees and costs of the certified public accountant and auditor general under this subsection from the fund. 11-705. Annual budget A. Not later than June 30 each year the board of directors shall hold a public hearing to adopt and submit to the board of supervisors a budget for the following fiscal year which shall include: 1. Receipts during the past fiscal year. 2. Expenditures during the past fiscal year. 3. Estimates of amounts necessary for administration and operation expenses during the following fiscal year including amounts proposed for: (a) Recurring items of expense. (b) Capital items. (c) Unanticipated contingencies and emergencies. (d) Events to be promoted by the authority in the following fiscal year. 4. Anticipated revenue to the authority in the following fiscal year. 5. A complete asset and liability statement. 6. A statement of profit or loss from operations. 7. Cash on hand as of the date the budget is adopted and the anticipated balance at the end of the current fiscal year. 8. An itemized statement of commitments, reserves and anticipated obligations for the following fiscal year. 9. The amount budgeted for scholarships. B. The budget may be amended during the year to account for unanticipated revenues received after the budget is adopted. 11-706. Termination of the authority The board of supervisors may terminate an authority established under this chapter if it determines that the authority is no longer in the public interest, convenience or necessity. The termination procedures are the same as prescribed in section 11-701 for establishing the authority. The termination is effective from and after the following June 30. On termination the county assumes all outstanding liabilities and obligations and acquires all assets of the authority. 11-721. County sports authority bonds A. The authority, through the board of directors, may issue negotiable county sports authority bonds in a principal amount as in its opinion is necessary to provide sufficient monies for its activities under section 11-702, maintaining sufficient reserves in the county sports authority fund to secure the bonds, to pay the necessary costs of issuing, selling and redeeming the bonds and to pay the other expenditures of the authority incidental to and necessary and convenient to carry out the purposes of this chapter. B. The board must authorize the bonds by resolution. The resolution shall prescribe: 1. The rate or rates of interest and the denominations of the bonds. 2. The date or dates of the bonds and maturity, not exceeding twenty years from their respective dates. 3. The coupon or registered form of the bonds. 4. The manner of executing the bonds. 5. The medium and place of payment. 6. The terms of redemption. C. The bonds shall be sold at public or private sale at the price and on the terms determined by the board. D. The board shall publish a notice of its intention to issue bonds under this article for at least five consecutive days in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. The last day of publication must be at least ten days before issuing the bonds. The notice shall state the amount of the bonds to be sold and the intended date of issuance. A copy of the notice shall be hand delivered or sent, by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the clerk of the board of supervisors on or before the last day of publication. E. In order to secure the principal and interest on the bonds the board may by resolution: 1. Provide that bonds issued under this section shall be secured by a first lien on all or part of the monies paid into the county sports authority fund. 2. Pledge or assign to or in trust for the benefit of the holder or holders of the bonds any part of the county sports authority fund monies as is necessary to pay the principal and interest of the bonds as they come due. 3. Set aside, regulate and dispose of reserves and sinking funds. 4. Provide that sufficient amounts of the proceeds from the sale of the bonds may be used to fully or partly fund any reserves or sinking funds set up by the bond resolution. 5. Prescribe the procedure, if any, by which the terms of any contract with bondholders may be amended or abrogated, the amount of bonds the holders of which must consent to and the manner in which consent may be given. 6. Provide for payment from the proceeds of the sale of the bonds of all legal and financial expenses incurred by the board in the issuance, sale, delivery and payment of the bonds. 7. Do any other matters which in any way may affect the security and protection of the bonds. F. Any pledge made under this article is valid and binding from the time when the pledge is made. The monies so pledged and received by the treasurer of the authority to be placed in the county sports authority fund are immediately subject to the lien of the pledge without any future physical delivery or further act, and any such lien of any pledge is valid or binding against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the board irrespective of whether the parties have notice of the lien. The official resolution or trust indenture or any instrument by which this pledge is created, when placed in the board's records, is notice to all concerned of the creation of the pledge, and those instruments need not be recorded in any other place. G. Neither the members of the board of directors nor any person executing the bonds is personally liable for the payment of the bonds. The bonds are valid and binding obligations notwithstanding that before the delivery of the bonds any of the persons whose signatures appear on the bonds cease to be members of the board. From and after the sale and delivery of the bonds, they are incontestable by the board. H. The board, out of any available monies, may purchase bonds, which may thereupon be canceled, at a price not exceeding either of the following: 1. If the bonds are then redeemable, the redemption price then applicable plus accrued interest to the next interest payment date. 2. If the bonds are not then redeemable, the redemption price applicable on the first date after purchase on which the bonds become subject to redemption plus accrued interest to such date. 11-722. Bond obligations of the authority Bonds issued under this article are obligations of the county sports authority, are payable only according to their terms and are not obligations general, special or otherwise of this state or the county. The bonds do not constitute a legal debt of this state or the county and are not enforceable against this state or the county. Payment of the bonds is not enforceable out of any monies other than the income and revenue pledged and assigned to, or in trust for the benefit of, the holder or holders of the bonds. 11-723. Certification of bonds by county attorney The board shall submit any bonds issued under this article to the county attorney after all proceedings for their authorization have been completed. On submission the county attorney shall examine and pass on the validity of the bonds and the regularity of the proceedings. If the proceedings comply with this article, and if he determines that, when delivered and paid for, the bonds will constitute binding and legal obligations of the board, the county attorney shall certify on the back of each bond, in substance, that it is issued according to the constitution and laws of this state. 11-724. County sports authority bonds as legal investments County sports authority bonds issued under this article are securities in which public officers and bodies of this state and of municipalities and political subdivisions of this state, all companies, associations and other persons carrying on an insurance business, all financial institutions, investment companies and other persons carrying on a banking business, all fiduciaries and all other persons who are authorized to invest in obligations of the county may properly and legally invest. The bonds are also securities which may be deposited with public officers or bodies of this state and municipalities and political subdivisions of this state for purposes which require the deposit of state or county bonds or obligations. 11-731. Limitation on powers and duties of a county sports authority A. All jurisdiction, powers, duties and authority of all cities located within any county which establishes a county sports authority pursuant to section 11-701 shall continue in full force and effect and shall remain unchanged and undiminished by virtue of the creation of the county sports authority. B. To the extent any conflict exists between the jurisdiction, power, duties and authority of a county sports authority and any city located within the county which established such county sports authority pursuant to section 11-701, the jurisdiction, powers, duties and authority of such city shall prevail, control and be superior.