If voter approval of any bond issue by a locality is required by the Constitution of Virginia or this chapter or any charter provision, a copy of the resolution or ordinance adopted by the governing body of the locality, certified by the clerk of the governing body, requesting that a referendum on the question of the issuance of the bonds be held, shall be filed with the circuit court for the locality or in the case of a town the circuit court for the county in which the town is located. The circuit court shall order a special election, in accordance with § 24.2-681 et seq., requiring the election officers of the locality on the day fixed in the order to open the polls and take the sense of the voters of the locality on the question of contracting the debt and issuing bonds for the purpose or purposes set forth in the resolution or ordinance. When any town is situated partly in two or more counties, the certified copy of the resolution or ordinance may be presented to the circuit court for any of the counties and the court shall order an election to be held in the town in accordance with the provisions of §§ 24.2-601 and 24.2-681 et seq. Notice of the election in the form prescribed by the court shall be published at least once but not less than seven days before the election in a newspaper published or having general circulation in the locality. Where voter approval is required by the Constitution of Virginia, this chapter or any charter provision, a locality may, at its option, provide in the ordinance or resolution that any two or more purposes and amounts of the bonds proposed to be issued for such purposes be combined into a single question for the election and referred to as “capital improvement bonds” in an aggregate principal amount equal to the sum of the amounts for the purposes so combined.