Delaware Code Title 17 Sec. 323 – Power to collect and pledge tolls; sinking fund
The Department may make and enforce such rules and regulations and establish, levy and collect (or may authorize by contract, franchise, lease or otherwise, the establishment, levy and collection of) such tolls, rents, rates and other charges in connection with the Bridge and any improvements or extensions thereof as it may deem necessary, proper, desirable and reasonable. The Department may pledge such tolls, rates, rents and other revenues, or any part thereof, either presently received or to be received in the future, or both, as security for the repayment with interest of any moneys borrowed by it or advanced to it for any of the purposes of the Bridge and as security for the satisfaction of any other obligation assumed by it in connection with the construction, extension, maintenance and repair of such Bridge.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 17 Sec. 323
- Bridge: means the Delaware Memorial Bridge over the Delaware River and all approaches thereto and approach highways and all other buildings or structures connected with the Bridge and all equipment essential to the operation thereof and also all property rights, easements and franchises relating thereto and deemed necessary or convenient for the construction or operation thereof and may include any highways connecting the Bridge with a state road. See Delaware Code Title 17 Sec. 301
- Construction: means the first complete building or rebuilding of a highway after it has been converted into a state highway upon a modern engineering design with a permanent foundation of cement, concrete or other equally hard and permanent material and a top dressing of suitable material to economically withstand the wear of the particular traffic to which such highway will probably be subject with an adequate drainage system so that such highway, with reasonable maintenance, can reasonably be expected to endure for upwards of 40 years. See Delaware Code Title 17 Sec. 101
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Department: means the Department of Transportation or if the Department is abolished, any board, commission or officer succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to whom the powers given by this chapter to the Department shall be given by law. See Delaware Code Title 17 Sec. 301
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- United States: includes its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
Such tolls, rents, rates and other charges shall be so fixed and adjusted as to provide a fund sufficient, which, with other revenues of the Bridge, will pay (1) the cost of maintaining, repairing and operating such Bridge, unless such cost shall be otherwise provided for, and (2) the bonds and the interest thereon as the same shall become due, subject, however, to any applicable law or regulation of the United States of America. Such tolls and all other revenues derived from the Bridge shall not revert to the General Fund of the State Treasury but shall at all times remain available to the Department for the purposes herein set out. Such tolls, rates, rents or other charges shall not be subject to supervision or regulation by any other commission, board, bureau or agency of the State. The tolls and all other revenues derived from the Bridge, except such part thereof as may be required to pay the cost of maintaining, repairing and operating the Bridge and to provide such reserves therefor as may be provided for in the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds or in the trust indenture, shall be set aside, at such regular intervals as may be provided in such resolution or such trust indenture, in a sinking fund which is pledged to and charged with the payment of (1) the interest upon such bonds as such interest shall fall due, (2) the principal of the bonds as the same shall fall due, (3) the necessary fiscal agency charges for paying principal and interest and (4) any premium upon bonds retired by call or purchase as herein provided. The use and disposition of such sinking fund shall be subject to such regulations as may be provided in the resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds or in the trust indenture, but, except as may otherwise be provided in such resolution or trust indenture, such sinking fund shall be a fund for the benefit of all bonds without distinction or priority of one over another. Subject to the resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds or of the trust indenture, any moneys in such sinking fund in excess of an amount equal to 1 years interest on all bonds then outstanding may be applied to the purchase or redemption of bonds. All bonds so purchased or redeemed shall forthwith be cancelled and shall not again be issued.
Code 1935, c. 166; 45 Del. Laws, c. 275, § ?5; 17 Del. C. 1953, § ?323;