A home rule charter city, statutory city, county, town, or school district may purchase personal property under an installment contract, or lease real or personal property with an option to purchase under a lease-purchase agreement, by which contract or agreement title is retained by the seller or vendor or assigned to a third party as security for the purchase price, including interest, if any, but such purchases are subject to statutory and charter provisions applicable to the purchase of real or personal property. For purposes of the bid requirements contained in section 471.345, "the amount of the contract" shall include the total of all lease payments for the entire term of the lease under a lease-purchase agreement. The obligation created by a lease-purchase agreement for personal property or a lease-purchase agreement for real property if the amount of the contract for purchase of the real property is less than $1,000,000 shall not be included in the calculation of net debt for purposes of section 475.53, and shall not constitute debt under any other statutory provision. No election shall be required in connection with the execution of a lease-purchase agreement authorized by this section. The city, county, town, or school district must have the right to terminate a lease-purchase agreement at the end of any fiscal year during its term.

History: 1965 c 266 s 1; 1976 c 44 s 67; 1979 c 3 s 1; 1982 c 523 art 15 s 4; 1988 c 639 s 6; 1989 c 329 art 5 s 16; 1990 c 562 art 5 s 12; 1997 c 231 art 2 s 33