A. A county or counties agreeing jointly under Section 4-48B-9 NMSA 1978 and a county or counties entering into an agreement with a municipality under Section 4-48B-9 NMSA 1978 may enter into a lease, loan or other financing agreement, with a term not exceeding thirty years from the date of execution, with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council created under the Hospital Equipment Loan Act [Chapter 58, Article 23 NMSA 1978] to acquire funds for the construction, purchase, renovation, remodeling, equipping, reequipping or refinancing of a county hospital or a jointly owned county-municipal hospital, for purchasing the land necessary therefor and for refunding revenue bonds previously issued for any of the foregoing purposes or for any combination thereof.

B. The county or counties entering into an agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council may pledge irrevocably all or a portion of the revenues derived from the operation of the county hospital or jointly owned county-municipal hospital and revenues derived from the leasing of or other contractual arrangement for the operation of the county hospital or jointly owned county-municipal hospital for the payment of rentals, principal and interest and any other amount or obligation required under the lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council.

C. At a regular or special meeting called for the purpose of approving the execution and delivery of a lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council as authorized in this section, the hospital governing board may adopt a resolution or other proceedings declaring the necessity for entering into the lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council; authorizing the entering into of the lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council; and designating the source of the pledged revenues for the payment or repayment of rentals, principal and interest and any other amounts and obligations required under the lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council.

D. The rentals, principal and interest and any other amounts and obligations owed under a lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council shall be payable solely out of all or a portion of the revenues derived from the ownership and operation of a county hospital or jointly owned county-municipal hospital and revenues derived from the leasing of or other contractual arrangement for the operation of a county hospital or jointly owned county-municipal hospital for which the lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council is entered into. The amount and obligations under a lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council entered into under the authority of the Hospital Funding Act shall never constitute an indebtedness of a county or municipality within the meaning of any state constitutional provision or statutory limitation and shall never constitute or give rise to a pecuniary liability of the county or charge against its general credit or taxing power.

E. The rentals, principal and interest and any other amounts and obligations owed under a lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council shall be secured by the pledge of the revenues out of which such rentals, principal and interest and any other amounts and obligations shall be payable and may be secured by a mortgage covering all or any part of the county hospital or jointly owned county-municipal hospital from which the revenues so pledged may be derived.

F. The resolution or proceedings under which the lease, loan or other financing agreement are authorized to be entered into or any mortgage relating thereto may contain any agreement and provisions customarily contained in instruments securing leases, loans or other financing arrangements including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, provisions respecting the designation and collection of the revenues from the county hospital or jointly owned county-municipal hospital covered by such proceedings or mortgage, the maintenance and insurance of those hospitals, the creation and maintenance of special funds derived from the revenues relating to such hospital and the rights and remedies available in event of default to the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council under a mortgage, all as the hospital governing board may deem advisable. The resolution or proceedings authorizing any lease, loan or other financing agreement and any mortgage securing those obligations may provide the procedure and remedies in the event of default and the payment of the rentals, principal and interest or other amounts and obligations thereunder or in the performance of any agreement. No breach of any agreement shall impose any pecuniary liability upon a county or charge against its general credit or taxing power.

G. No notice, consent or approval by any governmental body, commission or public officer shall be required as a prerequisite to the entering into of a lease, loan or other financing agreement with the New Mexico hospital equipment loan council or the making of a mortgage under the authority of the Hospital Funding Act, except as provided in this section.

History: 1978 Comp., § 4-48B-26.1, enacted by Laws 1987, ch. 49, § 9; 1992, ch. 41, § 4.

Compiler's notes. — This section was enacted as § 4-48B-26.1 by Laws 1987, ch. 49, § 9, but was recompiled as § 4-48B-28 NMSA 1978.

The 1992 amendment, effective May 20, 1992, made minor stylistic changes in the section catchline and throughout the section; inserted "or refinancing" and "and for refunding revenue bonds previously issued" near the end of Subsection A; substituted "a resolution or other proceedings" for "an ordinance or resolution" near the middle of Subsection C; and, in Subsection F, substituted "resolution or proceedings" for "resolution, ordinance and proceedings" near the beginning of the first sentence and substituted "hospital governing board" for "county commissioners" near the end of that sentence, and inserted "resolution or" near the beginning of the second sentence.