Fla. Stat. § 348.757 — Florida Code / Title XXVI / Chapter 348 / Part III / Section 348.757
348.757 Lease-purchase agreement.
Status: in_force

(1) The authority may enter into a lease-purchase agreement with the department relating to and covering the former Orlando-Orange County Expressway System.

(2) The lease-purchase agreement must provide for the leasing of the former Orlando-Orange County Expressway System, by the authority, as lessor, to the department, as lessee, and must prescribe the term of such lease and the rentals to be paid.

(3) The lease-purchase agreement may include other provisions, agreements, and covenants that 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 the former Orlando-Orange County Expressway System and the expenses and the cost of operation of the authority, the charging and collection of tolls, rates, fees, and other charges for the use of the services and facilities of the system, the application of federal or state grants or aid that may be made or given to assist the authority in the completion, extension, improvement, operation, and maintenance of the former Orlando-Orange County Expressway System, which the authority is authorized to accept and apply to such purposes, the enforcement of payment and collection of rentals and any other terms, provisions, or covenants necessary, incidental, or appurtenant to the making of and full performance under the lease-purchase agreement.

(4) The department as lessee under the lease-purchase agreement may pay as rentals under the agreement any rates, fees, charges, funds, moneys, receipts, or income accruing to the department from the operation of the former Orlando-Orange County Expressway System and the Orange County gasoline tax funds and may also pay as rentals any appropriations received by the department pursuant to any act of the Legislature of the state heretofore or hereafter enacted; however, this part or the lease-purchase agreement is not intended to and does not require the making or continuance of such appropriations, and any holder of bonds issued pursuant to this part does not have any right to compel the making or continuance of such appropriations.

(5) A pledge of the Orange County gasoline tax funds as rentals under a lease-purchase agreement may not be made without the consent of the County of Orange evidenced by a resolution duly adopted by the board of county commissioners of said county at a public hearing held pursuant to due notice thereof published at least once a week for 3 consecutive weeks before the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in Orange County. The resolution, among other things, must provide that any excess of the pledged gasoline tax funds which is not required for debt service or reserves for the debt service for any bonds issued by the authority shall be returned annually to the department for distribution to Orange County as provided by law. Before making any application for a pledge of gasoline tax funds, the authority shall present the plan of its proposed project to the Orange County planning and zoning commission for its comments and recommendations.

(6) The department may 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 the system, and any part of the cost of completing the system to the extent that the proceeds of bonds issued are insufficient, from sources other than the revenues derived from the operation of the system and the Orange County gasoline tax funds. The department may also agree to make such other payments from any moneys available to the commission, the county, or the city in connection with the construction or completion of the system as shall be deemed by the department to be fair and proper under any covenants entered into.

(7) The system must be a part of the state road system and the department may, upon the request of the authority, expend out of any funds available for the purpose the moneys, and use its engineering and other forces, as may be necessary, 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; provided, however, that the aggregate amount of moneys expended for the purposes by the department do not exceed the sum of $375,000.

(8) The only lease-purchase agreement authorized by this section is the lease-purchase agreement between the department and the authority dated December 23, 1985, as supplemented by a first supplement to the lease-purchase agreement dated November 25, 1986, and a second supplement to the lease-purchase agreement dated October 27, 1988.

(9) Upon the earlier of the defeasance, redemption, or payment in full of the authority bonds issued before July 1, 2012, or the earlier date to which the purchasers of the authority bonds have consented: (a) The obligations of the department under the lease-purchase agreement with the authority, including any obligation to pay any cost of operation, maintenance, repair, or rehabilitation of the expressway system, terminate; (b) The lease-purchase agreement terminates; (c) The expressway system remains the property of the authority and may not be transferred to the department; and (d) The authority remains obligated to reimburse the department in accordance with the terms of the memorandum of understanding between the authority and the department as ratified by the authority board on February 22, 2012.

History: s. 7, ch. 63-573; ss. 23, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 103, ch. 77-104; s. 38, ch. 2012-128; s. 103, ch. 2012-174; s. 12, ch. 2014-171; s. 3, ch. 2016-193.