Sec. 14. (a) The authority may do the following:
(1) Fix, revise, charge, and collect tolls for the use of each toll road project by any person, partnership, association, limited liability company, or corporation desiring the use of any part thereof, including the right-of-way adjoining the paved portion and for placing thereon telephone, telegraph, electric light, or power lines.
(2) Fix the terms, conditions, and rates of charge for such use, including assessments for the failure to pay required tolls, subject, however, to the state's police power.
(3) Collect tolls, user fees, or other charges through manual or nonmanual methods, including, but not limited to, automatic vehicle identification systems, electronic toll collection systems, and, to the extent permitted by law, including rules adopted by the authority under IC 8-15-2-17.2(a)(10), global positioning systems and photo or video based toll collection or toll collection enforcement systems.
(4) Adopt rules under IC 4-22-2-37.1 authorizing the use of and establishing procedures for the implementation of the collection of user fees by electronic or other nonmanual means under subdivision (3). A rule adopted under this subdivision expires on the expiration date stated by the authority in the rule.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), no toll or charge shall be made by the authority under this section or under a public-private agreement entered into under IC 8-15.5 for:
(1) the operation of temporary lodging facilities located upon or adjacent to any project, nor may the authority itself operate or gratuitously permit the operation of such temporary lodging facilities by other persons without any toll or charge; or
(2) placing in, on, along, over, or under such project, such telephone, telegraph, electric light or power lines, equipment, or facilities as may be necessary to serve establishments located on the project or as may be necessary to interconnect any public utility facilities on one (1) side of the toll road project with those on the other side.
(c) All contracts executed by the authority shall be preserved in the principal office of the authority.
(d) In the case of a toll road project that is not leased to the department under IC 8-9.5-8-7, the tolls shall be fixed and adjusted for each toll road project so that the aggregate of the tolls from the project, together with other revenues that are available to the authority without prior restriction or encumbrance, will at least be adequate to pay:
(1) the cost of operating, maintaining, and repairing the toll road project, including major repairs, replacements, and improvements;
(2) the principal of and the interest on bonds issued in connection with the toll road project, as the principal and interest becomes due and payable, including any reserve or sinking fund required for the project; and
(3) the payment of principal of and interest on toll road bonds issued by the authority in connection with any other toll road project, including any reserve or sinking fund required for the project, but only to the extent that the authority provides by resolution and subject to the provisions of any trust agreement relating to the project.
(e) Not less than one (1) year before the date that final payment of all such bonds, interest, and reimbursement is expected by the chairman of the authority to be completed, the chairman shall notify the state budget committee in writing of the expected date of final payment.
(f) Such tolls shall not be subject to supervision or regulation by any other commission, board, bureau, or agency of the state.
(g) The tolls, rents, and all other revenues derived by the authority from the toll road project, except those received in accordance with a public-private agreement under IC 8-15.5, shall be used as follows:
(1) To pay the cost of operating, maintaining, and repairing the toll road project, including major repairs, replacements, and improvements, to the extent that those costs are not paid out of other funds.
(2) To the extent provided for in the resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds under this chapter or in the trust agreement securing the bonds, to pay:
(A) the principal of and interest on any bonds as the principal and interest become due; or
(B) the redemption price or purchase price of the bonds retired by call or purchase.
(3) Except as prohibited by the resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds under this chapter or the trust agreement securing them, for any purpose relating to any toll road project, including the subject toll road project, as the authority provides by resolution.
(h) Neither the resolution nor any trust agreement by which a pledge is created needs to be filed or recorded except in the records of the authority.
(i) The use and disposition of moneys to the credit of any sinking fund shall be subject to the provisions of any resolution or resolutions authorizing the issuance of any bonds or of any trust agreement. Except as may otherwise be provided in this chapter or in any resolution or any trust agreement, any sinking fund shall be a fund for all bonds without distinction or priority of one over another, subject, however, to such priorities as may arise from prior pledges.
(j) In the case of a toll road project that is leased to the department under IC 8-9.5-8-8, the lease must require that the department fix tolls for the toll road project that comply with IC 8-9.5-8-8(c)(6).
(k) User fees (as defined in IC 8-15.5-2-10) for a toll road project that is subject to a public-private agreement under IC 8-15.5 shall be set in accordance with IC 8-15.5-7.
Formerly: Acts 1951, c.281, s.14; Acts 1959, c.285, s.4; Acts 1971, P.L.99, SEC.4. As amended by Acts 1980, P.L.74, SECS.241, 242; P.L.109-1983, SEC.18; P.L.386-1987(ss), SEC.11; P.L.8-1993, SEC.145; P.L.47-2006, SEC.11; P.L.140-2013, SEC.7.