§ 5251 -   Definitions

§ 5251. Definitions

The following definitions shall apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(1) "Authority" means the Vermont independent school financing authority established by section 5255 of this title.

(2) "Bonds" means bonds of the authority issued under this chapter.

(3) "Cost" as applied to any facilities may embrace the cost of construction, the cost of acquisition, including the acquisition of all lands, structures, property, rights, rights-of-way, franchises, easements and interests in land required for the construction or operation of any facilities, the cost of demolishing or removing any buildings or structures upon land acquired hereunder, including the cost of acquiring any lands to which the buildings or structures may be moved, the cost of all furnishings, equipment and machinery, financing charges, interest prior to and during construction or acquisition and, if deemed advisable by the authority, for a period not exceeding two years after completion of construction or acquisition, provision for reserves, the cost of architectural, engineering, financial and legal services, plans and specifications, studies, surveys, estimates of cost and of revenue, administrative expenses, expenses necessary or incident to determining the feasibility of the facilities, and any other expenses as may be necessary or incident to the construction or acquisition of the facilities, the financing thereof and the placing of the facilities in operation. Any obligation or expense incurred by the authority prior to the issuance of bonds for the facilities in connection with any of the foregoing items may be included as part of the cost. There may be included as part of the cost the payment or reimbursement to an educational institution of its expenditures for any of the foregoing items and the refinancing of indebtedness of an educational institution incurred to pay any of the foregoing items.

(4) "Educational institution" means an independent school as defined by subdivision 11(a)(8) of Title 16 that serves as the public high school for the region, which is principally supported by public taxation or tuition payments derived from public funds, and demonstrates a significant history of meeting fiscal obligations. "Educational institution" shall include the Austine School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

(5) "Facilities" means all or any part of any building, improvements to real property, equipment, furnishings, appurtenances, utilities and other property, real or personal, determined by the authority to be necessary or convenient in the operation of any educational institution, including facilities previously acquired or constructed by such educational institution.

(6) "General fund" means the fund established under section 5289 of this title.

(7) "Financing agreement" means the agreement or agreements between the authority and any educational institution in respect of any facilities for such educational institution, under which the payments to the authority shall be at least sufficient to pay all of the principal of and interest and any redemption premiums on, and to provide and maintain any reserves for, the bonds or notes that shall be issued by the authority to pay the cost of such facilities, and to pay the expenses of the authority in connection therewith, and without limiting the generality thereof, may consist of an agreement of lease, an installment sale contract, a purchase agreement, a security agreement, a conditional sale agreement, a loan agreement, a mortgage of real property, a purchase money mortgage, a lease and a lease-back, a lease or leases directly or indirectly with the educational institution, or such other financing agreement or any combination of the foregoing, as the authority may determine.

(8) "Issue," when used in reference to bonds or notes, means the physical delivery thereof or the effectuation thereof in book entry form, in each case against payment therefor.

(9) "Maximum debt service" means, as of any date of computation, the largest amount of money required by the terms of all contracts between the authority and its bondholders to be raised in any succeeding calendar year for the payment of interest on and maturing principal of outstanding bonds and payments required by the terms of any contracts to sinking funds established for the payment or redemption of bonds, all calculated on the assumption that the bonds will cease to be outstanding after date of the computation by reason of the payment of the bonds at their respective maturities and the payments of the required moneys to sinking funds and the application thereof in accordance with the terms of all contracts to the retirement of bonds.

(10) "Notes" means any notes of the authority issued under this chapter.

(11) "Reserve fund" means the Vermont school financing authority reserve fund established by section 5284 of this title.

(12) "Required debt service reserve" means, as of any date of computation, the amount or amounts required to be on deposit in the reserve fund as provided by resolution of the authority. Required debt service reserve shall not be required by resolution of the authority to exceed maximum debt service.

(13) "Revenues" means all fees, charges, moneys, profits, payments of principal of or interest on loans and other investments, gifts, grants, contributions, appropriations and all other income derived or to be derived by the authority under this chapter. (Added 1999, No. 121 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)