Pennsylvania Statutes Title 53 P.S. Municipal and Quasi-Municipal Corporations § 16990. Exclusion of debts for revenue producing improvements in determining borrowing capacity;  petition to court

Whenever the city of Philadelphia shall have incurred any debt or debts for, and the proceeds thereof shall have been invested in, any public improvements of any character which shall be yielding to the said city an annual current net revenue, the said city may, at any time and from time to time, present its petition to any of the courts of common pleas of the county in which such city is situated for the purpose of having determined the amount of its debt which may be deducted from its indebtedness in ascertaining the borrowing capacity of the said city as provided in section eight, article nine of the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, as amended.  The said petition shall contain an enumeration of any public improvement or improvements yielding such annual current net revenue, the amount of indebtedness which shall have been incurred for, and the proceeds thereof invested in, such public improvement or improvements, the gross revenue from each of said improvements during the year immediately preceding the time of filing such petition, and the average rate of interest and sinking-fund charges payable upon the indebtedness incurred by said city as to each of such improvements;  and it may, at the option of the petitioner, also contain a statement of the deductions deemed proper to be made from the gross revenue therefrom in order or ascertain the current net revenue from each improvement during the preceding year, together with such details with regard to the said gross revenue and deductions therefrom as may be, in the opinion of the petitioner, necessary for making such computation, as well as a calculation of the capitalization of such annual current net revenue at the average rate of interest and sinking-fund charges payable upon the indebtedness incurred by the said city for the purpose of the said public improvements, and together with such other information as may be pertinent to the ends of the inquiry.  The petition, hereinabove provided for, shall be made and sworn or affirmed to by the mayor, and shall be filed by the city solicitor, having first been attested by the city controller and by the head of the department or other branch of the city government having the management of such improvements and by the chief of the bureau in immediate charge thereof, as to the matters within their special knowledge or control, respectively.