Sec. 19. (a) To raise the necessary revenues to pay for the bonds issued, and interest on the bonds, the board:

(1) may levy a special benefit tax upon all the property of the waterworks district in the amount necessary to meet and pay the principal of the bonds as they severally mature, together with all accruing interest; and

(2) shall certify the tax levied each year to the fiscal officers of the municipality and of the county in which the waterworks district is located, at the same time the levy of the municipality is certified.

The tax levied and certified shall be estimated and entered upon the tax duplicate and shall be collected and enforced in the same manner as state and county taxes are estimated, entered, collected, and enforced.

(b) In fixing the amount of the necessary levy, the board:

(1) shall consider the amount of revenues derived by the board from the operation of the waterworks plant and system under its jurisdiction above the amount of revenues required to pay the cost of operation and maintenance of the waterworks plant and system; and

(2) may, in lieu of making the levy in this section, set aside, by resolution, a specific amount of the surplus revenues to be collected before maturity of the principal and interest of the bonds payable in the following calendar year.

(c) The special tax shall be accumulated and kept in a separate fund to be known as the "waterworks district bond fund", and applied to the payment of the district bonds and interest as they severally mature and are payable. All accumulations in the fund before their use for the payment of bonds and interest shall be deposited at interest with the depository of other public funds of the municipality, and all interest collected belongs to that fund.

(d) If the board adopts the resolution, the board may not use any part of the amount set aside out of its net revenues for any purpose other than the monthly payment of the bonds and interest to the sinking fund. Any amount of net revenues derived from the operation of the waterworks plant and system under the jurisdiction of the board, not required for the payment of the principal and interest on the outstanding waterworks district bonds, shall be paid over to the municipality and deposited in the sinking fund established for the purpose of redeeming and retiring outstanding bonds that the municipality may have issued for the benefit of its waterworks plant. This section does not relieve the municipality from the obligation to pay outstanding bonds according to their terms and conditions.

As added by Acts 1982, P.L.74, SEC.1.