348.97 Lease-purchase agreement.
348.97 Lease-purchase agreement.
(1) In order to effectuate the purposes of this part and as authorized herein, the authority may, but shall not be required to, enter into a lease-purchase agreement with the department relating to and covering all or any part of the system.
(2) Any lease-purchase agreement may provide for the leasing and ultimate sale of all or any part of the system by the authority, as lessor, to the department, as lessee, and shall prescribe the terms of such lease and the rentals to be paid thereunder.
(3) The lease-purchase agreement may include such other provisions, agreements, and covenants as the authority and the department deem advisable or required, including, but not limited to, provisions as to the bonds to be issued under and for the purposes of this part; the completion, extension, improvement, operation, and maintenance of all or any part of the system and the expenses and cost of operation of the authority; the charging and collection of tolls, rates, fees, rentals, or other charges for the use of the services and facilities thereof; the application of grants, aid, contributions, or advances which may be made or given to assist the authority in the completion, extension, improvement, operation, and maintenance of all of any part of the system, which the authority is authorized to accept and apply to such purposes; the enforcement of payment and collection of tolls, rates, fees, and rentals; and any other terms, provisions, or covenants necessary, incidental, or appurtenant to the making of, and full performance under, such lease-purchase agreement.
(4) The department, as lessee under such lease-purchase agreement, is authorized to pay, as rentals thereunder, any tolls, rates, fees, charges, funds, moneys, receipts, or income accruing to the department from the operation of the system and may also pay, as rentals, any appropriations received by the department pursuant to any act of the Legislature heretofore or hereafter enacted in which the appropriations are expressly authorized to be used as rentals for the system; however, nothing herein or in such lease-purchase agreement is intended to, nor shall this part or such lease-purchase agreement require the making or continuance of such appropriations, nor shall any holder of bonds issued pursuant to this part ever have any right to compel the making or continuance of such appropriations.
(5) The department has the power to covenant in any lease-purchase agreement that it will pay all or any part of the cost of the operation, maintenance, repair, renewal, and replacement of all or any part of the system and any part of the cost of completing all or any part of the system to the extent that the proceeds of bonds issued therefor are insufficient, from sources other than receipts of the authority.
(6) Whether or not the authority enters into a lease-purchase agreement with the department relating to the system or any part thereof, the system shall be a part of the State Highway System as defined in s. 334.03; and the department is authorized, upon the request of the authority, to expend, out of any funds available for the purpose, such moneys, and to use such of its engineering and other forces as may be necessary and desirable in the judgment of the department, for the operation of the authority and for traffic surveys, borings, surveys, preparation of plans and specifications, estimates of cost, and other preliminary engineering and other studies.
History. s. 1, ch. 84-354; s. 139, ch. 92-152.