As used in this part:

    (a) "Costs" means 1 or more of the following costs that may be chargeable to the waste management project as a capital cost under generally acceptable accounting principles:

    (i) The cost or fair market value of the acquisition or construction of lands, property rights, utility extensions, disposal facilities, buildings, structures, fixtures, machinery, equipment, access roads, easements, and franchises.

    (ii) Engineering, architectural, accounting, legal, organizational, marketing, financial, and other services.

    (iii) Permits and licenses.

    (iv) Interest on the financing of the waste management project during acquisition and construction and before the date of commencement of commercial operation of the waste management project, but for not more than 1 year after that date.

    (v) Operating expenses of the waste management project before full earnings are achieved, but for not more than 1 year after that date.

    (vi) A reasonable reserve for payment of principal and interest on an indebtedness to finance the cost of a waste management project.

    (b) "Local authority" means an authority created under Act No. 179 of the Public Acts of 1947, being sections 123.301 to 123.310 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

    (c) "Municipality" means a county, city, township, village, or local authority, or a combination thereof.

    (d) "Note" means a note issued by a municipality pursuant to this part.

    (e) "Person" means an individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, unincorporated joint venture, or trust, organized, permitted, or existing under the laws of this state or any other state, including a federal corporation, or a combination thereof, but excluding a municipality, special district having taxing powers, or other political subdivision of this state.

    (f) "Revenue" means money or income received by a municipality as a result of activities authorized by this part, including loan repayments and interest on loan repayments; proceeds from the sale of real or personal property; interest payments on investments; rentals and other payments due and owing on account of an instrument, lease, contract, or agreement to which the municipality is a party; and gifts, grants, bestowals, or other moneys or payments to which a municipality is entitled under this part or other law.

    (g) "Waste" means a discarded solid or semisolid material, including garbage, refuse, rubbish, ashes, liquid material, and other discarded materials generated by residential, commercial, agricultural, municipal, or industrial activities, including waste from sewage collected and treated in a municipal sewage system.

    (h) "Waste management project" means 1 or more parts of a waste collection, transportation, disposal, or resource recovery system, including plants, works, systems, facility or transfer stations planned, designed, or financed under this part. Waste management project includes the extension or provision of utilities, steam generating and conveyance facilities, appurtenant machinery, equipment, and other capital facilities, other than off-site mobile vehicular equipment, if necessary for the operation of a project or portion of a project. Waste management project also includes necessary property rights, easements, interests, permits, and licenses.

     A municipality may do any of the following:

    (a) Acquire by gift, purchase, or lease, construct, improve, remodel, repair, maintain, and operate, individually or jointly with a municipality or person, a waste management project; acquire private or public property by purchase, lease, gift, or exchange; and acquire private property when necessary by condemnation for public purposes pursuant to Act No. 149 of the Public Acts of 1911, being sections 213.21 to 213.25 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, or other applicable law or charter.

    (b) Impose rates, charges, and fees, and enter into contracts relative to the rates, charges, and fees with persons using a waste management project; and assign, convey, encumber, mortgage, pledge, or grant a security interest in the rates, charges, and fees or the right to impose rates, charges, and fees to a person or municipality for the purpose of securing a contract with a person or municipality or for the purpose of providing security or a source of payment for an indebtedness of a person or municipality, including bonds or notes, issued pursuant to the following acts, to finance the cost of a waste management project or in anticipation of revenues from a waste management project:

    (i) The industrial development revenue bond act of 1963, Act No. 62 of the Public Acts of 1963, being sections 125.1251 to 125.1267 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

    (ii) The economic development corporation act, Act No. 338 of the Public Acts of 1974, being sections 125.1601 to 125.1636 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

    (iii) The Derezinski-Geerlings job development authority act, Act No. 301 of the Public Acts of 1975, being sections 125.1701 to 125.1770 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

    (1) A municipality may enter into a contract with a person or municipality, providing for the acquisition, construction, financing, and operation of a waste management project or for the use of the services of a project. Notwithstanding the requirements of its municipal charter or ordinances, the municipality, following the receipt from persons of bids or proposals for a contract referred to in this section, may negotiate with 1 or more persons who have submitted the bids or proposals, permit those persons to modify their bids or proposals, and enter into a contract with 1 or more of those persons on the basis of a bid or proposal as modified. A contract executed pursuant to this section, regardless of whether the bidding on the contract occurred before July 12, 1978, shall be valid and binding on the parties. The municipality is authorized, but is not required, to pledge its full faith and credit for the payment of the obligation in the manner and times specified in the contract.

    (2) To pay its pledged share of the costs of a waste management project or to secure its contract for the use of project services, a contracting municipality may use or pledge 1 or more, or a combination, of the following methods of raising necessary funds:

    (a) If the full faith and credit of the municipality is pledged, the levy of a tax on taxable property by a municipality having the power to tax, which tax may be imposed without limitation as to rate or amount and may be imposed in addition to other taxes that the municipality is authorized to levy, but for not more than a rate or amount that is sufficient to pay its share or secure its contract.

    (b) The levy and collection of rates or charges to users and beneficiaries of the service furnished by the waste management project.

    (c) From money received or to be received from the imposition of taxes by the state and returned to the municipality, unless the use of the money for that purpose is expressly prohibited by the state constitution of 1963.

    (d) From any other funds which may be validly used for that purpose.

     A municipality may do any of the following:

    (a) Include in a contract with a municipality or person provisions to the effect that the municipality will require all residential waste subject to its jurisdiction and police power under applicable law or charter and collected within its limits, whether by a municipality or person operating under contract with the municipality, to be disposed of at the waste management project. If so included, the municipality shall enact legislation with appropriate penalties to make the requirement effective. However, a township, by resolution, may disapprove the collection of waste within the township boundaries by a county.

    (b) Provide by contract with a municipality or person for the ownership of a waste management project after all indebtedness with respect to the project has been retired.

    (c) Provide that rates or charges to users and beneficiaries of the service furnished by the waste management project shall be a lien on the premises for which the services have been provided, and that amounts delinquent for 3 months or more may be certified annually to the proper tax assessing officer or agency of the municipality, to be entered upon the next tax roll against the premises to which the services have been rendered. The charges shall be collected and the lien enforced in the same manner as provided for the collection of taxes assessed upon the tax roll and the enforcement of a lien for unpaid taxes. The time and manner of certification and other details in respect to the collection of the rates and charges and the enforcement of the lien shall be prescribed by the governing body of the municipality. The municipality may authorize a person or municipality to impose, levy, and collect rates or charges against users and beneficiaries of the service furnished by the waste management project. The municipality may agree with a municipality or person that the rates and charges shall be a lien on the premises serviced, and may further agree that the collection of the rates and charges imposed may be collected and the lien enforced in the same manner as provided in this subsection for the collection of rates and charges and the enforcement of a lien by the municipality.

     A contract by a municipality with a person or municipality may provide for any and all matters relating to the acquisition, construction, financing, and operation of the waste management project as are considered necessary. The contract may provide for appropriate remedies in case of default, including the right of the contracting municipality to authorize the state treasurer or other official charged with the disbursement of unrestricted state funds returnable to the municipality under the state constitution of 1963 or other laws of this state to withhold and apply sufficient funds from those disbursements to make up a default or deficiency.

    (1) A municipality desiring to enter into a contract under section 11902 or 11903 shall authorize, by resolution of its governing body, the execution of the contract. After the adoption of the resolution, if the full faith and credit of the municipality is pledged, a notice of the adoption of the resolution shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. The notice shall state all of the following:

    (a) That the governing body has adopted a resolution authorizing execution of the contract.

    (b) The purpose and the expected cost of the contract to the municipality.

    (c) The source of payment for the municipality's contractual obligation.

    (d) The right of referendum on the contract.

    (e) Other information the governing body determines to be necessary to adequately inform interested electors of the nature of the obligation.

    (2) A contract pledging the full faith and credit may be executed and delivered by the municipality upon approval of its governing body without a vote of the electors on the contract, but the contract shall not become effective until the expiration of 45 days after the date of publication of the notice required by subsection (1). If, within the 45-day period, a petition requesting a referendum upon the contract, signed by not less than 5% or 15,000 of the registered electors residing within the limits of the municipality, whichever is less, is filed with the clerk of the municipality, the contract shall not become effective until approved by the vote of a majority of the electors of the municipality qualified to vote and voting at a general or special election.

    (3) A special election called for pursuant to subsection (2) shall not be included in statutory or charter limitation as to the number of special elections to be called within a specified period of time. Signatures on the petition shall be verified by an elector under oath as the actual signatures of the electors whose names appear on the petition, and the clerk of the municipality shall have the same power to reject signatures as city clerks under section 25 of the home rule city act, Act No. 279 of the Public Acts of 1909, being section 117.25 of the Michigan Compiled Laws. The number of registered electors in a municipality shall be determined from the municipality's registration books.

     A municipality may exercise the powers conferred by this part regardless of the requirements, including the competitive bidding requirement, of its municipal charter.

     This part shall not apply to municipalities having a population of more than 2,000,000.