§266-19.5  Private financing of harborimprovements.  (a)  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the departmentof transportation may enter into a capital advancement contract with a privateparty for any public improvement to or construction of a state harbor,commercial harbor, roadstead, or other waterfront improvement belonging to orcontrolled by the State, if the director of transportation determines that acapital advancement contract promotes the best interest of the State by findingthat:

(1)  Private development is likely to be less costlythan any other type of contract;

(2)  Private development provides needed publicimprovements on a significantly more timely basis; or

(3)  Public financing for the public improvements isnot available on a timely basis.

(b)  A capital advancement contract undersubsection (a) may be financed by legislative appropriation to reimburse theprivate party or by credit against the private party's future rental or tariffpayments to the State; provided that the terms of the contract shall ensurethat the State benefits financially from the arrangement and that public use ofthe facility is maintained; provided further that capital advancement contractsunder this section shall not be general obligations of the State for which thefull faith and credit of the department is pledged and the legislature shallhave no obligation to appropriate funds to reimburse a private party to acapital advancement contract.

(c)  A capital advancement contract undersubsection (a) shall be subject to the requirements of chapters 103 and 103Dand be subject to the approval of the department of transportation; providedthat all related transactions shall be subject to state audit.

(d)  The department of transportation mayexecute capital advancement contracts pursuant to subsection (a) with a totalcontract value of $2,000,000 or less without legislative approval.  If thetotal value of a capital advancement contract pursuant to subsection (a) isgreater than $2,000,000 then the department of transportation shall obtainlegislative approval in the form of the adoption of a concurrent resolutionaffirming the purpose, project, and contract issuance prior to executing thecapital advancement contract.  The total aggregate value of all capitaladvancement contracts entered into by the department pursuant to this sectionshall not exceed $5,000,000 in any calendar year.

(e)  For the purposes of this section:

"Capital advancement contract" meansan agreement between the department of transportation and a private partywhereby the private party agrees to furnish capital, labor, or materials for apublic improvement to or construction of a state harbor, commercial harbor,roadstead, or other waterfront improvement belonging to or controlled by theState and in return for which the private party may be reimbursed in a mannerto be determined by the department.

"Total value" includes any contractextension, project redesign, add-ons, or any other occurrence, act, or materialcost that may increase the cost of the contracted project. [L 2001, c 285, §3;am L 2002, c 16, §11]

 

Cross References

 

  Private financing of small boat harbor improvements, see§200-19.