Quasi-Governmental – Authority, Special District, Public Nonprofit Sample Clauses

Quasi-Governmental – Authority, Special District, Public Nonprofit. The formation of a wastewater or combined water and wastewater authority provides a quasi- governmental management alternative that generally qualifies for all of the financial benefits offered by municipal ownership and carries many of the same procurement and management characteristics. The governing body of an authority is generally appointed by the participating municipal governments or county government, as appropriate, and secures independent financing by loans and bonds that are backed by the general obligation of the municipality’s or county’s taxing power. Under this alternative, the assets must be fully financed by the revenue from rate payers and the debt is generally outside of the municipal spending caps. This approach has the advantage of being somewhat independent of the political climate of the municipality but this sometimes presents difficulties if the authority develops ambitions that differ from those of the governing bodies. The operating charter of the authority is defined in the initial formation but then is difficult to change once bonds and loans are secured. It is therefore not a flexible asset management mechanism unless defined as such initially. Quasi- governmental entities generally follow the same civil service labor and operating characteristics of governmental entities and thus bear similar cost characteristics. The ability to create service territories that cross municipal boundaries is an advantage, but requires good cooperation of the participating entities to define and meet all competing goals and objectives.