N.Y. General Municipal Law § 99-n: Transfer and lease of ferry boats and buses

§ 99-n. Transfer and lease of ferry boats and buses. 1. As used in

this section the term "municipality" shall mean a county, city, town or

village.

2. Notwithstanding any other law, general, special or local, a

municipality, acting through its chief executive officer and its chief

fiscal officer, without further approval, except, in the case of any

municipality with respect to which the legislature has declared that a

state of financial emergency exists, the approval of any emergency

financial control board or similar body established by state law for

such municipality, may (a) sell or transfer all interest in any or all

of its ferry boats and buses, except to the extent of any portion of any

ferry boat or bus financed by federal grants, for consideration and on

such terms and conditions as it may deem appropriate, and obtain a lease

from the transferee on such terms and conditions and for such period as

it may deem appropriate pursuant to which it may operate such ferry

boats or buses, as the case may be, provided (i) such lease contains an

option to the municipality to repurchase such interest at the expiration

of the scheduled lease term for nominal consideration and (ii) the

aggregate of the regularly scheduled rental payments which the

municipality is obligated to make pursuant to such lease during each

twelve month period of the lease term shall not exceed the aggregate

amount receivable, whether by principal or interest, by the municipality

from its transferee during each such twelve month period. Without

limitation of the foregoing, any lease entered into pursuant hereto may

also contain provisions requiring the municipality to indemnify the

transferee for, among other things, any loss resulting from the loss or

destruction of any property which is the subject of such lease and

requiring the municipality to undertake to replace, repair or restore

any such property, but such obligations shall not be deemed regularly

scheduled rental payments for purposes of the preceding sentence; and

(b) provide compensation to one or more third parties for services

rendered by them in connection with any such transaction.

3. Notwithstanding any other law, general, special or local, the

proceeds from any transaction described in this section may be used by

such municipality for any lawful municipal purpose.

4. The lessor of such property, during the term of any lease thereof

to a municipality, shall, if the lessor shall have assigned to the

lessee all manufacturers' and other warranties furnished to the lessor

in connection with its purchase of such property, and except as the

lease may otherwise provide, have no liability or responsibility to the

lessee or to third parties for damages to real or personal property or

for the destruction thereof, or for personal injuries or death, based

upon the use, condition or state of such property, or any part thereof,

except to the extent such lessor may have any such responsibility or

liability by virtue of its being the manufacturer of such property, or

any part thereof.

5. With respect to any transaction described in this section, a

municipality shall comply with the following standards and procedures:

(i) notice of intention to negotiate a transaction described in this

section shall be published in at least one newspaper of general

circulation, and a copy thereof shall be mailed to all parties who have

requested notification from the municipality of its intent to engage in

transactions of this type. Such notice shall describe the nature of the

proposed transaction and the factors subject to negotiation which shall

include, but not be limited to, the price to be paid to the

municipality; (ii) the municipality shall consider each proposal which

complies with the requirements set forth in the notice; and (iii) the

municipality shall determine, on the basis of relevant factors, that the

transaction negotiated will provide maximum available financial

benefits, consistent with other defined objectives and requirements.