§ 99-O — Transfer and lease of mass commuting vehicles by the county of Suffolk

§ 99-o. Transfer and lease of mass commuting vehicles by the county of\nSuffolk. 1. As used in this section the term "county" shall mean the\ncounty of Suffolk. The term "mass commuting vehicle" means any bus,\nsubway car, rail car, locomotive, or similar equipment used or to be\nused to provide mass commuting services, whether or not operated by a\nprivate operator under agreement with the county.\n 2. Any other law, general, special or local notwithstanding, the\ncounty, acting through its chief executive officer or its chief fiscal\nofficer without further approval, except, in case the legislature has\ndeclared that a state of financial emergency exists in the county, the\napproval of any emergency financial control board or similar body\nestablished by state law for such county, may (a) sell or transfer any\ninterest in any or all of its mass commuting vehicles, except to the\nextent of any portion of any mass commuting vehicles financed by federal\ngrants, for consideration and on such terms and conditions as it may\ndeem appropriate, and obtain a lease from the transferee on such terms\nand conditions and for such period as it may deem appropriate pursuant\nto which it may operate such mass commuting vehicles, provided (i) such\nlease contains an option to the county to repurchase such interest at\nthe expiration of the scheduled lease term for nominal consideration and\n(ii) the aggregate of the regularly scheduled rental payments which the\ncounty is obligated to make pursuant to such lease during each twelve\nmonth period of the lease term shall not exceed the aggregate amount\nreceivable, whether in the form of principal or interest, by the county\nfrom its transferee during each twelve month period. Without limitation\nof the foregoing, any lease entered into pursuant hereto may also\ncontain provisions requiring the county to indemnify the transferee for,\namong other things, any loss resulting from the loss or destruction of\nany property which is the subject of such lease and requiring the county\nto undertake to replace, repair or restore any such property, but such\nobligations shall not be deemed regularly scheduled rental payments for\npurposes of the preceding sentence and (b) provide compensation to one\nor more third parties for services rendered by them in connection with\nany such transaction.\n 3. Proceeds from any transaction described in this section may be used\nby the county only for the operation, maintenance or acquisition of mass\ncommuting vehicles or expended on the making of any capital improvements\nto be used in connection with mass commuting vehicles, but may be held\nand invested alone or with and in the same manner as other revenues of\nthe county pursuant to law before application to such purposes.\n 4. The lessor of such property, during the term of any lease thereof\nto the county, shall, if the lessor shall have assigned to the county\nall manufacturers' and other warranties, if any furnished to the lessor\nin connection with its purchase of such property, and except as the\nlease may otherwise provide, have no liability or responsibility to the\ncounty or to third parties for damages to real or personal property or\nfor the destruction thereof, or for personal injuries or death, based\nupon the use, condition or state of such property, or any part thereof.\n