County debt service money must be placed in the debt service fund, and the board may spend that fund only for listed debt service items.
1. Except as otherwise provided by state law, county revenues from taxes and other sources for debt service shall be credited to the debt service fund of the county. However, moneys pledged or available to service general obligation bonds, and received from sources other than property taxes, shall be deposited in the fund from which the debt is to be retired. 2. The board may make appropriations from the debt service fund for the following debt service: a. Judgments against the county, except those authorized by law to be paid from sources other than property tax. b. Interest as it becomes due and the amount necessary to pay, or to create a sinking fund to pay, the principal at maturity of all general obligation bonds issued by the county. c. Payments required to be made from the debt service fund under a lease or lease-purchase agreement. d. Payments authorized to be made from the debt service fund to a flood project fund under section 418.14, subsection 4. 3. A tax levied for the debt service fund is not invalid if it raises moneys in excess of those needed for a specific purpose. Only excess moneys remaining after retirement of all indebtedness payable from the debt service fund may be transferred from the fund to the fund most closely related to the project for which the indebtedness arose, or to the general fund, subject to the terms of the original bond issue. This subsection shall not be construed to give a county board of supervisors authority to increase the debt service levy for the purpose of creating excess moneys in the fund to be used for purposes other than those related to retirement of debt. 4. When the amount in the hands of the treasurer belonging to the debt service fund, after setting aside the sum required to pay interest maturing before the next levy, is sufficient to redeem one or more bonds which by their terms are subject to redemption, the treasurer shall notify the owner of the bonds. If the bonds are not presented for payment or redemption within thirty days after the date of notice, the interest on the bonds shall cease, and the amount due shall be set aside for payment when presented. Redemptions shall be made in the order of the bond numbers. 5. For the purposes of this section, warrants issued by a county in anticipation of revenue, refunding or refinancing of such warrants, and judgments based on a default in payment of such warrants shall not be considered debt payable from the debt service fund. 6. The taxes realized from the tax levy imposed under section 346.27, subsection 22, for a joint county-city building shall be deposited into a separate account in the county’s debt service fund for the payment of the annual rent and shall be disbursed pursuant to section 346.27, subsection 22. 83 Acts, ch 123, §14, 209; 84 Acts, ch 1178, §11; 85 Acts, ch 156, §2; 97 Acts, ch 25, §1, 2; 2010 Acts, ch 1069, §119, 120; 2012 Acts, ch 1060, §2, 7; 2012 Acts, ch 1094, §2, 18 Referred to in §331.432, 331.441, 331.447