N.Y. General Municipal Law § 963: Local administration of empire zones

§ 963. Local administration of empire zones. (a) The local empire zone

administrative board shall:

(i) develop short-term goals for zone activities on an annual basis;

(ii) prepare, or cause to be prepared, an annual report and submit

copies to the department of audit and control, department of taxation

and finance, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the

assembly and department of economic development on or before the first

day of July next succeeding the year to which the report pertains,

regarding empire zone activities, including information which would

allow for substantive review of the zone's strategies and progress of

the zone in meeting its short-term objectives, and an analysis of the

extent to which the long-term goals set forth in the empire zone

application have been met. The zone administrative entities and other

local officials and agencies shall fully cooperate with the zone

administrative board in the annual performance review and in the board's

performance of its other duties. Local officials, state agencies, and

certified businesses shall provide information requested by the zone

administrative board which is necessary for such review. Such report

shall also include a current description of the specific strategies and

priorities for economic revitalization of the zone, including, but not

limited to: the number of jobs created; the number of jobs retained; the

amount of private capital leveraged with public funds; the number of

businesses expanded or retained and new businesses created, and the type

of businesses expanded, retained or created, as well as consideration of

the improvements in the physical infrastructure of the zone. The

commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to set forth

standards to be used to measure performance against objectives on an

annual basis in order to facilitate the requirements of this paragraph;

(iii) undertake efforts to ensure meaningful participation by

minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises in empire zone

activities;

(iv) enter into an agreement with the office of business permits and

regulatory assistance to participate in a business permit assistance

program to be provided to applicants for business permits required by

the state or a county, city, town or village for a business undertaking,

project or activity in an empire zone;

(v) enter into agreements with the commissioners of economic

development, labor, and social services, local departments of social

services, and local education agencies as defined in paragraph (b) of

subdivision one of section three thousand thirty-two of the education

law, local community-based organizations, private employers, labor

unions, the administrative entity and private industry council for the

service delivery area established under the job training partnership act

(P.L. 97-300, as amended) that includes the empire zone, and any other

person or state or federal agency for the purpose of establishing,

implementing and coordinating job training programs for workers and

businesses to be located in an empire zone; provided, however, that (A)

any agreement to establish a job training program designed to meet the

specific needs of a private employer shall require such employer to

retain in its employ for not less than six months an employee who has

satisfactorily completed a course of training for a particular job

opening unless such employee voluntarily leaves such employment or is

discharged for misconduct or other good cause; (B) any job training

program established pursuant to this section shall make use of the

community service division of the labor department as well as other

sources for the purpose of recruitment;

(vi) in cooperation with local social services officials, establish a

job training opportunities program sponsored by private employers in

accordance with the provisions of section one hundred sixty-four-b or

three hundred fifty-l of the social services law;

(vii) enter into agreements with local departments of social services

or community-based organizations to facilitate the provision of

ancillary or enhanced social services, including licensed and certified

child day care, in any such zone;

(viii) ensure that job training programs meet standards of

instructional quality established in regulations promulgated by the

commissioner of education;

(ix) organize or use an existing human resource development network

within the zone, including a committee of representatives of human

resource agencies and organizations serving the zone, organized labor

and business representatives, to develop strategies and activities for

improving the coordination and delivery of human services to residents

of the zone and zone businesses;

(x) prepare and implement a small business development and assistance

plan;

(xi) in conjunction with zone administrative entities, develop and

implement a system for continuous monitoring and evaluation of zone

performance at the local level consistent with the guidelines set forth

in subdivisions (k) through (o) of section nine hundred fifty-nine of

this article;

(xii) provide within the zone, or contract with a new or existing

community-based local development corporation or entity to provide,

strategic economic development planning for the zone, marketing and

promotion of the zone, assistance to companies in applying for available

benefits, preparation of applications for financing assistance and other

technical assistance services; coordination of the delivery of state and

local programs within the zones; and operation of such other economic

development assistance programs in furtherance of the empire zone

development plan as may be appropriate. Provided, however, within the

amount appropriated therefor and allocated by the director of the

budget, the commissioner, through annual administrative contracts,

shall, to the maximum extent feasible, make equally available financial

support, through contracts or other means, to assist with the

administrative expenses of the local zone administrative bodies or

community-based development organizations. No funds shall be made

available for this purpose unless the amount to be provided has been

matched by private or governmental sources, other than state sources, in

amounts at least equalling that to be provided by the state. Such

matching funds shall be earmarked and used exclusively for the local

administration of the zone program or for activities of the zone

program. At least fifty percent of such matching funds shall be in cash,

provided that the commissioner may waive this requirement for

communities with populations of twenty-five thousand or less, and

provided, further, that any amounts appropriated for minority and

women-owned business development within the zones shall be distributed

by the commissioner pursuant to a competitive proposal solicitation

process.

(b) The annual report of the local empire zone administrative board

required by subdivision (b) of this section shall, subject to the tax

secrecy provisions referred to in subdivision (d) of this section,

include, but not be limited to, the following information with respect

to the year immediately preceding the year which is the subject of the

report:

(i) a complete list of all property within the zone, if any, granted

an exemption under section four hundred eighty-five-e of the real

property tax law, together with the assessed value thereof and the

amount of such exemption, for each municipal corporation which granted

such exemption. Such list shall also set forth for each municipal

corporation granting such exemption: (1) the tax rate for the year to

which the report pertains; (2) the amount of real property tax that

would have been paid in the aggregate by the owners of real property

granted an exemption under section four hundred eighty-five-e of the

real property tax law if the property was fully taxable at that rate;

and (3) the amount of tax actually paid in the aggregate by such owners;

(ii) the total incremental value, if any, as defined in subdivision

(e) of section nine hundred sixty-seven of this chapter, of taxable real

property in each city, town, village or county within the empire zone,

together with the total amount of tax increments which are segregated

pursuant to subdivision (g) of such section;

(iii) the total dollar value of the refund or credit of taxes imposed

pursuant to the authority of article twenty-nine of the tax law on

receipts from the sale of certain materials used in constructing,

expanding or rehabilitating certain business property located in the

empire zone, as authorized by clause six of subdivision (a) of section

eleven hundred nineteen of the tax law;

(iv) the total dollar value of the refund or credit of taxes imposed

under article twenty-eight of the tax law on receipts from the sale of

materials used in constructing, expanding or rehabilitating certain

business property located in the empire zone, as authorized by clause

six of subdivision (a) of section eleven hundred nineteen of the tax

law;

(v) the number of taxpayers claiming each of the following tax credits

or refunds, together with the total amount of each credit claimed by

taxpayers in the aggregate against their taxes in the year to which the

report pertains, resulting from taxpayer activity in the empire zone or

investments made by taxpayers in the capital corporation established for

that empire zone:

(A) credits against the tax imposed under article nine-A of the tax

law, based on investments in certain eligible property in an empire

zone, as authorized by subdivisions twelve-B and twelve-C of section two

hundred ten of the tax law;

(B) credits against the tax imposed under article twenty-two of the

tax law, based on investments in certain eligible property in the empire

zone, as authorized by subsection (j) of section six hundred six of the

tax law;

(C) credits against taxes imposed under articles nine-A, twenty-two,

thirty-two and thirty-three of the tax law, based on wages paid to

certain employees employed by a business located in an empire zone, as

authorized by subdivision nineteen of section two hundred ten,

subsection (k) of section six hundred six, subsection (e) of section

fourteen hundred fifty-six and subdivision (g) of section fifteen

hundred eleven, respectively, of the tax law;

(D) credits against the tax law imposed under articles nine-A,

twenty-two, thirty-two and thirty-three of the tax law, based on

investments in the stock of an empire zone capital corporation, as

authorized by subdivision twenty of section two hundred ten, subdivision

(1) of section six hundred six, subsection (d) of section fourteen

hundred fifty-six, and subdivision (h) of section fifteen hundred eleven

of the tax law;

(vi) the total amount of reductions in utility costs of non-retail

business customers in the empire zone, as authorized by subdivision

eight of section one hundred eighty-six-a of the tax law;

(vii) a statement summarizing all amounts received as, and

expenditures made from, financial support for administrative expenses

pursuant to paragraph (vii) of subdivision (b) of this section; and

(viii) any other information regarding empire zone activities which

the department of economic development may require upon its own request

or that of the department of audit and control, department of taxation

and finance, or the legislative commission on expenditure review.

In addition to the information required by paragraphs (i) through

(viii) inclusive of this subdivision, such report shall also set forth,

with respect to all previous years for which reports were issued, a

cumulative summary of the total amount of real property taxes that would

have been received by each municipal corporation within the zone if the

real property granted an exemption under section four hundred

eighty-five-e of the real property tax law had been fully taxed at the

tax rate for the appropriate year, the total amount of tax increments

segregated for infrastructure improvements by each city, town, village

or county within the zone, the total amount of each of the credits or

refunds set forth in paragraphs (iii) through (vi) of this subdivision

for activities or investments within the zone, and the total amounts

received and expenditures made from any financial support pursuant to

paragraph (vii) of subdivision (b) of this section.

(c) At the request of any local empire zone administrative board, the

department of taxation and finance, the department of economic

development, the public service commission and any municipal corporation

within the empire zone shall, to the extent that it possesses any of the

information required by subdivision (c) of this section, and to the

extent that such information can be disclosed without violating the

secrecy provisions contained in sections two hundred two, two hundred

eleven, six hundred ninety-seven, one thousand one hundred forty-six,

one thousand two hundred fifty, one thousand four hundred sixty-seven

and one thousand five hundred eighteen of the tax law, provide that

information to the local empire zone administrative board for inclusion

in its annual report. The amount of any real property taxes required to

be set forth in the report pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section

shall be computed and furnished to the zone's administrative board by

the municipality which levied the tax. The failure of any empire zone

administrative board to prepare and submit a report as required by

subdivision (b) of this section shall make the board or other

community-based development organization ineligible to receive any

financial support for administrative expenses authorized by paragraph

(vii) of subdivision (b) of this section; provided, however, that such

financial assistance shall not be withheld on account of the report's

failure to include any information which is required by subdivision (c)

of this section but is not available to the empire zone administrative

board.

(d) The department of economic development shall provide to the

temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly and the

commissioner of the department of taxation and finance a consolidated

statewide report of the information required pursuant to paragraph (ii)

of subdivision (b) and subdivision (c) of this section. Such report by

the department shall contain an analysis of the performance of each zone

using the information obtained pursuant to paragraph (ii) of subdivision

(b) and subdivision (c) of this section. Such report shall include, but

not be limited to, the number of jobs created, as derived from paragraph

one of subdivision (b) of section fourteen of the tax law, for all

businesses in each zone, and the number of new businesses in each zone.

(e) No designated empire zone shall require or solicit funds from

businesses, whether certified or not, for use in the empire zones

program as created by this article. No business shall be required to pay

any funds to participate in the empire zones program.

(f) All certified businesses, with the exception of those whose

benefit period as a QEZE business enterprise has expired, are required

to provide a certified annual report to the local zone administration

board which report shall include but not be limited to the following:

(i) Business certification information to include: organization name,

organization address in the zone, contact information, federal

employment ID number, New York state unemployment insurance number,

state of formation or incorporation, verification that the business is

authorized to conduct business in the state of New York;

(ii) Employment numbers calculated in the same manner in which the

employment number is required to be calculated by section fourteen of

the tax law including: total existing full-time equivalent jobs in the

zone as of the date of certification within that zone, total existing

jobs in the zone for the year for which the report is being provided,

total remuneration paid to employees in the zone each quarter of the

reported year, total number of employees in all zones, total annual

remuneration in all zones, total annual remuneration paid in New York

state for the reported year, total employment number in New York state

for the reported year as shown on each business' NYS-45 wage reporting

form filed with the department of labor;

(iii) Capital investment to include: total investment made in the zone

for the reported year;

(iv) Tax benefits used and refunded: provide an estimation of the

amount of the tax benefits used and refunded for the reported year by

the certified business, or by the taxpayers within the certified

business including its shareholders, members, partners or the owner of a

sole proprietorship including the wage tax credits, investment tax

credits, employment incentive tax credits, real property tax credit, tax

reduction credit; and

(v) The sales tax credits and refunds for the reported year.