The Florida Senate

In order to effectuate the purposes of this part and as authorized herein, the authority may enter into a lease-purchase agreement with the department relating to and covering the Pasco County Expressway System.

Such lease-purchase agreement shall provide for the leasing of the Pasco County Expressway System by the authority, as lessor, to the department, as lessee; prescribe the term of such lease and the rentals to be paid thereunder; and provide that upon the completion of the faithful performance thereunder and the termination of such lease-purchase agreement, title in fee simple absolute to the Pasco County Expressway System, as then constituted, shall be transferred in accordance with law by the authority to the state, and the authority shall deliver to the department such deeds and conveyances as shall be necessary or convenient to vest title in fee simple absolute in the state.

Such 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 the Pasco County Expressway System; the expenses and cost of operation of said authority; the charging and collection of tolls, rates, fees, and other charges for the use of the services and facilities thereof; the application of federal or state grants or aid which may be made or given to assist the authority in the completion, extension, improvement, operation, and maintenance of the Pasco County Expressway System, which the authority is hereby 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, such lease-purchase agreement.

The department, as lessee under such lease-purchase agreement, is hereby authorized to pay, as rentals thereunder, any rates, fees, charges, funds, moneys, receipts, or income accruing to the department from the operation of the Pasco County Expressway System and the Pasco County gasoline tax funds and may also pay, as rentals, any appropriations received by the department pursuant to any act of the Legislature heretofore or hereafter enacted. However, nothing herein or in such lease-purchase agreement is intended to require, 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.

No pledge of Pasco County gasoline tax funds as rentals under such lease-purchase agreement shall be made without the consent of Pasco County, 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 the county. The resolution, among other things, shall provide that any excess of the pledged gasoline tax funds which is not required for debt service or reserves for such debt service for any bonds issued by the authority shall be returned annually to the department for distribution to Pasco County as provided by law. Before making any application for such pledge of gasoline tax funds, the authority shall present the plan of its proposed project to the Pasco County planning council for its comments and recommendations. The department shall have 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 the system, and any part of the cost of completing the system to the extent that the proceeds of bonds issued therefor are insufficient, from sources other than the revenues derived from the operation of the system and the Pasco County gasoline tax funds. The department may also agree to make such other payments from any moneys available to Pasco County, in connection with the construction or completion of the system, as shall be deemed by the department to be fair and proper under any such covenants heretofore or hereafter entered into.

The system shall be a part of the state road system, and the department is hereby 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. However, the aggregate amount of moneys expended for said purpose by the department shall not exceed the sum of $500,000.