S.C. Code Ann. § 11-27-110 – Lease purchase or financing agreement subject to constitutional debt limit

(A) As used in this section:
1. (1) "asset" means any real property and permanent improvements thereon including structures, buildings, and fixtures;
2. (2) "bond act" means:
  1. (a) the county bond act, as contained in Chapter 15 of Title 4;
  2. (b) the municipal bond act, as contained in Article 5, Chapter 21 of Title 5;
  3. (c) the school bond act as contained in Article 1, Chapter 71 of Title 59;
  4. (d) the provisions contained in Articles 3 and 5 of Chapter 11 of Title 6 pertaining to special purpose districts;
  5. (e) any provision of law by which the State may issue obligations secured in whole or in part by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the State; and
  6. (f) any other law, general or special, providing for the issuance of general obligation bonds by the State or any of its political subdivisions;
3. (3) "constitutional debt limit" for the State or any political subdivision of the State which has the power to incur general obligation bonded indebtedness, means the limitation of the principal amount of general obligation bonded indebtedness specified in Article X of the Constitution;
4. (4) "enterprise charge" means a local accommodations tax or a local hospitality tax, or both of them, imposed by one or more governmental entities, the proceeds from which may be used only for limited purposes which either (i) has been imposed within the two fiscal years prior to the date of an enterprise financing agreement, or (ii) to the extent a governmental entity pledges such a charge in connection with an enterprise financing agreement, the governmental entity covenants and agrees not to increase disbursements from its general fund to pay for costs which could have been paid from the charge for a period of two fiscal years after the date of the acquisition or completion of the asset provided by the enterprise financing agreement;
5. (5) "enterprise financing agreement" means a financing agreement entered into to provide an asset for a governmental enterprise (i) the revenues from which are expected to be sufficient to pay the amounts due under the financing agreement, or (ii) for which an enterprise charge has been imposed in an amount expected to be sufficient to pay the amounts due under the financing agreement, or (iii) a combination of revenues described under (i) and (ii) are expected to produce an amount sufficient to pay the amounts due under the financing agreement;
6. (6) "financing agreement" means, with respect to any governmental entity, any contract entered into after December 31, 1995, under the terms of which a governmental entity acquires the use of an asset which provides:
  1. (a) for payments to be made in more than one fiscal year, whether by the stated term of the contract or under any renewal provisions, optional or otherwise;
  2. (b) that the payments thereunder are divided into principal and interest components or which contain any reference to any portion of any payment under the agreement being treated as interest;
  3. (c) that title to the asset will be in the name of or be transferred to the governmental entity if all payments scheduled or provided for in the financing agreement are made; and
  4. (d) for any contract entered into after December 31, 2006, pursuant to which installment payments of the purchase price are to be paid by a school district or other political subdivision to a nonprofit corporation, political subdivision, or any other entity in order to finance the acquisition, construction, renovation, or repair of school buildings or other school facilities. This item shall apply to any contracts entered into after August 31, 2006, pursuant to which installment payments of the purchase price are to be paid by a school district or other political subdivision to a non-profit corporation, political subdivision, or any other entity, from any source other than the issuance of general obligation indebtedness by the school district, in order to finance the acquisition, construction, renovation, or repair of school buildings or other school facilities.
    However, the term excludes any refinancing agreement and contracts entered into in connection with issues of general obligation bonds or revenue bonds issued pursuant to authorization provided in Article X of the Constitution;
7. (7) "governmental enterprise" means any activity undertaken by a governmental entity which either (i) derives revenues from or because of an activity on a basis other than the exercise of the power of taxation by that governmental entity, or (ii) is entitled to be paid or supported from an enterprise charge;
8. (8) "governmental entity" means:
  1. (a) the State, whose general obligation debt service payments are limited pursuant to Section 13, Article X of the Constitution; or
  2. (b) any political subdivision of the State including a municipality, county, school district, special purpose district, or similar entity, whose general obligation debt is limited as provided in Sections 14 and 15, in Article X of the Constitution;
9. (9) "limited bonded indebtedness" means the amount of bonded indebtedness that may be incurred by a governmental entity without a referendum or, where the context requires, the amount of such indebtedness then outstanding;
10. (10) "principal balance" means the total amount, excluding any amount characterized as interest, payable as of any time of consideration under any financing agreement, including any renewals or extensions of the agreement; and
11. (11) "refinancing agreement" means an agreement or agreements that would be a financing agreement except that (i) it refinances an asset acquired under the terms of a contract or contracts that is not a financing agreement solely by virtue of being dated prior to January 1, 1996, September 1, 2006, or January 1, 2007, and (ii) the sum of all payments to be made under such agreement is less than the sum of the payments under the contract or contracts it refinances.
(B) A governmental entity described in subsection (A) (8)(b) of this section may not enter into a financing agreement, other than an enterprise financing agreement, a loan agreement for energy conservation measures as provided for in Section 48-52-650, a lease purchase agreement for energy efficiency products as provided for in Section 48-52-660, or a guaranteed energy savings contract as provided for in Section 48-52-670, where no such lease agreement or contract shall constitute in any manner an agreement, consent, authority, or otherwise, to provide retail sales of energy by an energy or power provider or creates the authority to sell or provide retail energy or power, if the principal balance of the financing agreement, when added to the principal amount of limited bonded indebtedness outstanding on the date of execution of the financing agreement exceeds eight percent of the assessed value of taxable property in the jurisdiction of the governmental entity unless the financing agreement is approved by a majority of the electors voting on the agreement in a referendum duly called for this purpose by the governmental entity.
(C) If a governmental entity described in subsection (A) (8)(b) of this section has outstanding any financing agreement, other than an enterprise financing agreement, a loan agreement for energy conservation measures as provided for in Section 48-52-650, or a lease purchase agreement for energy efficiency products as provided in Section 48-52-660, or a guaranteed energy savings contract as provided in Section 48-52-670, where no such lease agreement or contract shall constitute in any manner an agreement, consent, authority, or otherwise, to provide retail sales of energy by an energy or power provider or creates the authority to sell or provide retail energy or power, on the date of issuance of any limited bonded indebtedness pursuant to any bond act, the amount of this limited bonded indebtedness plus the amount of all other limited bonded indebtedness of the governmental entity, when added to the principal balance under any financing agreement or agreements of the governmental entity must not exceed the amount of the governmental entity's constitutional debt limit unless this bonded indebtedness is approved by a majority of the electors voting on the bonded indebtedness in a referendum duly called for this purpose by the governmental entity. This requirement applies notwithstanding any other provision of any bond act and is in addition to the terms and conditions specified in any bond act.
(D) A payment made by the State pursuant to a financing agreement is deemed general obligation debt service subject to the debt service limitation provided in Section 13, Article X of the Constitution.