§ 21-2A-14 — College district lease-purchase arrangements; tax levy;

terms of lease-purchase arrangements; refunding or refinancing. A. The officials charged by law with the duty of levying ad valorem taxes for the payment of bonds and interest shall, in the manner provided by law, make an annual levy sufficient to meet the payments due on lease-purchase arrangements. Annual payments due on lease-purchase arrangements may be combined with other college district general obligation debt when determining the annual debt service tax levy pursuant to Section 7-37-8 NMSA 1978 and the College District Tax Act. This annual debt service tax levy shall not exceed five dollars ($5.00) per one thousand dollars ($1,000) of taxable value; provided, however, that this limitation may be exceeded in any year in which the valuation of property in the college district declines to a level lower than the valuation of property in the year in which the applicable debt was issued. Nothing in the College District Tax Act shall be so construed as to prevent a college district from applying any other legally available funds, including funds that may be in its general fund or investment income actually received from investments, to the payments due on or any prepayment premium payable in connection with such lease-purchase arrangements as the same become due, and, upon such payments, the levy or levies provided for in this section may, to that extent, be reduced. B. Lease-purchase arrangements may: (1) have interest, appreciated principal value, or any part thereof, payable at intervals or at maturity as may be determined by the board; (2) be subject to prior redemption or prepayment at the option of the board at such time or times and upon such terms and conditions with or without the payment of such premium or premiums as may be determined by the board; (3) have a final payment date or mature at any time or times not exceeding five years after the date of issuance; (4) be payable at one time or in installments or may be in such other form as may be determined by the board; (5) be priced at, above or below par and at a price that results in a net effective interest rate that does not exceed the maximum permitted by the Public Securities Act [6-14-1 to 6-14-3 NMSA 1978]; and (6) be sold or issued at public sale, negotiated sale or private sale to the New Mexico finance authority. C. The board shall not adopt a resolution for or approve a lease-purchase arrangement that exceeds five years or creates a total general obligation indebtedness in the college district which, when combined with other outstanding college district general obligation debt, exceeds three percent of the assessed valuation of the taxable property within the college district as shown in the preceding general assessment. D. College districts are authorized to enter into lease-purchase arrangements for the purpose of refunding or refinancing any lease-purchase arrangements then outstanding, including the payment of any prepayment of redemption premiums thereon and any interest accrued or to accrue to the date of purchase, prepayment, redemption or maturity of the outstanding lease-purchase arrangements. Until the proceeds of the lease-purchase arrangements issued for the purpose of refunding or refinancing outstanding lease-purchase arrangements are applied to the purchase, prepayment, redemption or retirement of the outstanding lease-purchase arrangements, the proceeds may be placed in escrow and invested and reinvested. The interest, income and profits, if any, earned or realized on any such investment may, in the discretion of the board, also be applied to the payment of the outstanding lease-purchase arrangements to be refunded or refinanced by purchase, prepayment, redemption or retirement, as the case may be. After the terms of the escrow have been fully satisfied and carried out, any balance of such proceeds and interest, if any, earned or realized on the investments thereof may be returned to the board to be used for payment of the refunding or refinancing lease-purchase arrangement. All such refunding or refinancing lease-purchase arrangements shall be entered into under, secured and subject to the provisions of the College District Tax Act in the same manner and to the same extent as any other lease-purchase arrangements entered into pursuant to that act.

Legislative History

Laws 2019, ch. 252, § 3.