N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 1285: Special powers of the corporation

§ 1285. Special powers of the corporation. In order to effectuate the

purposes of this title, the corporation shall have the following special

powers:

1. Construction, operation and maintenance of sewage treatment works,

sewage collecting systems and solid waste disposal facilities on behalf

of a municipality. (a) The corporation and any municipality having power

to construct sewage treatment works, sewage collecting systems or solid

waste disposal facilities by resolution of its governing body may enter

into a contract for the construction of sewage treatment works, sewage

collecting systems or solid waste disposal facilities by the corporation

for such municipality upon such terms and conditions as the corporation

shall determine to be reasonable, including but not limited to the

reimbursement of all costs of such construction and claims arising

therefrom.

(b) The corporation and any municipality having power to operate and

maintain sewage treatment works or solid waste disposal facilities by

resolution of its governing body may enter into a contract for the

operation and maintenance of sewage treatment works or solid waste

disposal facilities by the corporation for such municipality upon such

terms and conditions as the corporation shall determine to be

reasonable, including but not limited to the reimbursement of all costs

of such operation and maintenance and claims arising therefrom.

(c) No such contract shall be deemed to be a contract for public work

or purchase within the meaning of the general municipal law.

(d) The corporation and any state agency having the power may enter

into a contract for the planning, construction, operation and

maintenance of sewage treatment works, sewage collecting systems, solid

waste disposal facilities, and for the removal, disposal and remediation

of petroleum storage tanks and the remediation of the sites thereof, as

the case may be, for and on behalf of such state agency; the corporation

and any such state agency may enter into a contract pursuant to which

the corporation may provide for the collection, conveyance, treatment

and disposal of sewage, storage, separating, treatment, recycling,

reconstituting, compacting, composting, shredding, converting,

utilization, processing, pyrolization or final disposal of solid waste

by means of sewage collecting systems, sewage treatment works, or solid

waste disposal facilities, as the case may be, owned, constructed,

operated and maintained by the corporation. Any such contract entered

into by any such state agency and the corporation for the purposes of

removal, disposal and remediation of petroleum storage tanks and the

remediation of the sites thereof, may provide for ownership,

construction, operation and maintenance of such projects by the

corporation or by any such state agency and any such contract shall be

subject to the approval of the director of the budget. Any such contract

or contracts shall be upon such terms and conditions as the corporation

and such state agency shall determine to be reasonable, including but

not limited to the reimbursement of all costs of planning, financing,

construction and operation and maintenance, and any claims arising

therefrom. No such contract shall be deemed to be a contract for public

work or purchase within the meaning of the state finance law.

2. Loans to municipalities and certain state agencies. The corporation

may make loans to any municipality, or any state agency authorized to

issue bonds or notes not constituting a debt or liability within the

meaning of section eleven of article seven of the state constitution,

for the construction of any sewage treatment works, sewage collecting

system or solid waste disposal facility. Any loan by the corporation to

any such state agency shall be subject to the approval of the director

of the budget. The corporation may accept as evidence of the

indebtedness of any such municipality or any state agency authorized to

issue bonds or notes not constituting a debt or liability of the state

within the meaning of section eleven of article seven of the state

constitution, only the municipal bonds or notes of such municipality or

bonds or notes of such state agency. Any such loan shall be in an amount

or amounts not to exceed the cost of construction of any such sewage

treatment works, sewage collecting system or solid waste disposal

facility required to be financed by the municipality or such state

agency. In connection with the making of any such loans, the corporation

may fix and collect such fees and charges, including but not limited to

reimbursement of all costs of financing by the corporation, as the

corporation shall determine to be reasonable.

3. Construction, operation and maintenance of sewage collecting

systems, sewage treatment works and solid waste disposal facilities. (a)

The corporation and a municipality having power to construct, operate

and maintain sewage treatment works, sewage collecting systems or solid

waste disposal facilities, by resolution of its governing body may enter

into a contract pursuant to which the corporation may provide for the

collection, conveyance, treatment and disposal of sewage or the storage,

separating, treatment, recycling, reconstituting, compacting,

composting, shredding, converting, utilizing, processing, pyrolization

or final disposal of solid wastes by means of sewage treatment works or

solid waste disposal facilities, as the case may be, owned and

constructed by the corporation and operated and maintained by the

corporation or, for and on behalf of the corporation, by such

municipality or by any person, as may be approved by the corporation and

such municipality, and by means of sewage collecting systems owned and

constructed by the corporation for and on behalf of such municipality

pursuant to a contract whereby title to such sewage collecting systems

shall vest in such municipality in accordance with the provisions of

paragraph (c) of this subdivision, and operated and maintained by such

municipality upon such terms and conditions as the corporation shall

determine to be reasonable. Such contract or contracts shall, except in

the case of a sewer corporation now existing in a city, contain

provisions in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (b) or (c)

of this subdivision, and, in addition thereto and consistent therewith,

may provide for the payment to the corporation by such municipality,

annually or otherwise, of such sum or sums of money, computed at fixed

amounts or by a formula based on any factors or other matters or in any

other manner, as said contract or contracts may provide, and the sum or

sums so payable may include provision for all or any part or a share of

the amounts necessary (i) to pay or provide for the expense of operation

and maintenance of any such project including, without limitation,

insurance, extensions, betterments and replacements and the principal of

and interest on any bonds or notes of the corporation, and (ii) to

provide for any deficits resulting from failure to secure sums payable

to the corporation by such municipality, any other municipality or from

any other cause, and (iii) to maintain such reserves or sinking funds

for any of the foregoing as may be required by the terms of any contract

of the corporation or as may be deemed necessary or desirable by the

corporation. Such contract or contracts may also contain provisions as

to the financing and payment of expenses to be incurred by the

corporation and determined by it to be necessary for its purposes prior

to the placing in operation of any such project, and may provide for the

payment by such municipality to the corporation for application to such

expenses or indebtedness therefor such sum or sums of money, not in the

aggregate exceeding an amount stated or otherwise limited in said

contract or contracts, plus interest thereon, as said contract or

contracts may provide and as the governing body of said municipality

shall, by virtue of its authorization of and entry into said contract or

contracts, determine to be necessary for the purposes of the

corporation. Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, any such

contract may be made with or without consideration and for a specified

or an unlimited time and on any terms and conditions which may be

approved by such municipality and which may be agreed to by the

corporation in conformity with its contracts with the holders of any of

its bonds or notes, and shall be valid whether or not an appropriation

with respect thereto is made by such municipality prior to authorization

or execution thereof. The corporation may sell, transfer or dispose of,

in any manner it deems desirable any materials, substances or sources or

forms of energy derived from any corporate activity, including but not

limited to sludge, raw materials, by-products; heat, oil, steam or

electric energy in accordance with any contract pursuant to this

paragraph or pursuant to paragraphs (b) and (d) of subdivision one of

section twelve hundred eighty-five of this title. Such municipality is

hereby authorized to do and perform any and all acts or things

necessary, convenient or desirable to carry out and perform every such

contract and to provide for the payment or discharge of any obligation

thereunder in the same manner as other obligations of such municipality.

Subject to any such contracts with the holders of its bonds or notes,

the corporation is hereby authorized to do and perform any and all acts

or things necessary, convenient or desirable to carry out and perform

every such contract and, in accordance with any such contract to waive,

modify, suspend or reduce charges which would otherwise be charged and

collected by the corporation within the municipality.

A municipality shall not be liable for any act or omission of the

corporation, its officers, agents, servants or contractors in the

performance of any such contract by the corporation.

(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this subdivision, any

contract entered into by the corporation and any municipality, other

than a sewer corporation now existing in a city, pursuant to this

subdivision shall provide that the municipality shall not acquire any

vested rights in any such works or facility by reason of such contract,

and, in the case of a county, city, or village, that all or any portion

of the annual payments, as the case may be, made by such municipality,

shall be deemed to be current operating expenses of such municipality

within the meaning of section ten of article eight of the state

constitution where all or any portion of such payments are or may be

required to be raised by tax on real estate in any fiscal year of such

municipality.

(c) Any contract entered into by the corporation and any municipality

pursuant to this subdivision may provide that at the termination thereof

the title to the works or facility shall vest in the municipality or its

successor in interest, if any, free and clear of any indebtedness

contracted by the corporation. Any such contract entered into by the

corporation and any municipality which provides that title shall so vest

in the municipality or its successor in interest, other than a sewer

authority now existing in a city, shall be subject to the following

provisions:

(1) The term of any such contract shall not exceed the period of

probable usefulness of the works or facility as provided in section

11.00 of the local finance law, computed from the date of the first

indebtedness contracted by the corporation for such works or facility.

(2) The annual payments to be made by the municipality to the

corporation to enable the corporation to pay the principal of any such

indebtedness contracted by it to finance the cost of such works or

facility shall commence within two years after any such indebtedness or

portion thereof shall have been contracted and no such annual payment

shall be more than fifty percentum in excess of the smallest prior

annual payment for such purpose.

(3) The municipality shall pledge its full faith and credit for the

payment of such annual payments described in subparagraph two of this

paragraph (c) and also for the payments required to be made to the

corporation to enable it to pay the interest on any such indebtedness.

(4) The total amount of any unpaid annual payments in relation to the

principal of any such indebtedness shall be deemed to be indebtedness of

the county, city, town or village for a capital improvement within the

meaning of subparagraph (b) of subdivision three of paragraph a of

section 135.00 of the local finance law or indebtedness contracted by a

district corporation pursuant to subdivision seven of paragraph a of

such section 135.00, as the case may be.

(5) The total amount of any unpaid annual payments in relation to the

construction or reconstruction of facilities for the conveyance,

treatment and disposal of sewage shall be deemed to be indebtedness of

the county, city, town or village within the meaning of subdivision

four-a of section 136.00 of the local finance law.

(6) The annual payments by a county, city or village in relation to

such indebtedness and interest shall be deemed to be "indebtedness" and

"interest" within the meaning of section ten of article eight of the

state constitution.

(7) The contract shall not be renegotiated, or amended, in such manner

as to constitute a refunding within the meaning of section two of

article eight of the state constitution.

(8) The contract shall not be applicable to any works or facility

constructed or reconstructed to effectuate the purposes of article

eighteen of the state constitution.

(9) The municipality shall not be liable for a default on the

obligations of the corporation. If the expenditure of money, or the

issuance of obligations, for a project would be subject to the adoption

of a proposition pursuant to paragraph b of section 38.00 of the local

finance law, a contract between a district corporation and the

corporation pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph (c) shall be

subject to approval at an election or meeting in the same manner as

provided in such section 38.00.

In the case of a district corporation subject to the provisions of

section 102.00 of the local finance law, the annual payments to be made

to the corporation to enable it to pay the principal of any indebtedness

contracted by it to finance the cost of the project shall be deemed to

be indebtedness within the meaning of such section and section 120.00 of

such law and any contract entered into between the district corporation

and the corporation pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph (c)

shall be subject to the consent of the city, town or village affected as

provided in such section 102.00.

A contract pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph (c) shall be

deemed to be an issuance of bonds, bond anticipation notes or capital

notes for the purposes of subdivisions three, four, five, and seven of

section 104.10 of the local finance law insofar as the contract shall

provide for annual payments to the corporation to enable it to pay the

principal of indebtedness contracted by it to finance the cost of any

project.

(d) Where a county, city, town or village is prevented from utilizing

the provisions of this subdivision, by the provision of any general or

special law, county, city or village charter which (i) requires that any

project must be constructed, operated and maintained by the

municipality, (ii) limits the period of time for which a municipality

may contract, (iii) requires that the cost shall be paid for by taxes

levied for the fiscal year in which the expenditure is to be made, (iv)

requires that the cost shall be financed pursuant to the local finance

law or (v) only permits any such project to be constructed subject to

either mandatory or permissive referendum, such county, city, town or

village may adopt a local law superseding the provisions of any such

general or special law, county, city or village charter. Any such local

law shall be subject to mandatory referendum, or referendum on petition

in the manner provided in sections twenty-three or twenty-four, as the

case may be, of the municipal home rule law, if the issuance, or the

resolution authorizing the issuance, of serial bonds having a maturity

of more than ten years to finance any such project would be required,

under or pursuant to the provisions of sections 33.10, 34.00, 35.00 or

36.00 of the local finance law or any other law, to be subject to

mandatory or permissive referendum.

4. The corporation is empowered to lease or rent a project constructed

and owned by the corporation pursuant to any contract with a

municipality or state agency as herein provided for, to any person, as

may be approved by the municipality or state agency. The corporation may

make available the use or services of any such project, with the

approval of such municipality or state agency, to one or more persons,

or any combination thereof, upon such terms and conditions as the

corporation may determine reasonable.

5. When requested by the governing body of a municipality, or when

requested by a person or state agency, the corporation may advise such

municipality, person or state agency on matters relating to the

planning, construction, operation and maintenance of sewage treatment

works, sewage collecting systems, solid waste disposal facilities, and

any other projects which the corporation is authorized to construct

pursuant to any provisions of this title, on matters relating to the

identification, collection, handling, separation and disposal of waste,

and on matters relating to the prevention and control of air emissions

and water discharges subject to regulation pursuant to the environmental

conservation law, and pursuant to a contract with a municipality, person

or state agency, may render technical assistance and may undertake

research, planning and testing with respect to any such matter, and the

corporation may make a reasonable charge to such municipality, person or

state agency for the performance of any such functions authorized by

this subdivision.

6. In selecting a location for any projects constructed pursuant to

subdivision one or subdivision three of this section, the corporation

shall take into consideration the character of the area of any proposed

location and the zoning regulations, if any, applicable to such area.

7. When requested by the governing body of a municipality or by a

state agency, any contract pursuant to either subdivision one or

subdivision three of this section, except a contract pursuant to which

the municipality shall not acquire a vested interest in the project, may

provide as part of a project and upon the site of such project, for the

construction and financing, pursuant to the provisions of this title, by

the authority of such other facilities, betterments, improvements and

appurtenances for which such municipality or state agency has the power

to provide. Such construction and financing shall be permitted when

necessary to develop or restore such site to a beneficial municipal or

public use, and in accordance with the plans or design of the project

prepared and approved by such municipality or state agency, or as may be

prepared by the corporation on behalf of such municipality or state

agency.

8. The corporation is empowered to enter into one or more contracts

with any person designated by the corporation to be a responsible agent

for the planning, design, construction and operation of one or more

solid waste processing pilot projects. The corporation shall require

such person to supply it with such plans, estimates of costs, time

schedules, designs, and other data as the corporation shall determine to

be reasonable to enable proper identification of costs. Such pilot

projects are to determine which methods of recycling solid wastes,

including, but not limited to shredding, compression, high-temperature

incineration, pyrolization, separation or any other new technology for

resource recovery in solid waste management are most feasible for

large-scale implementation by the corporation and by municipalities in

this state, having due regard for the resources to be recovered, net

costs, amount of land required, and environmental considerations. The

corporation shall issue annual reports as to the results of these

projects, containing recommendations not inconsistent with those

findings, and shall make copies of the report, findings and supporting

data available to any municipality in this state. For this purpose the

corporation is authorized to apply to the United States Public Health

Service, Environmental Protection Agency, United States Department of

Agriculture, or any other appropriate authority for grants of such

federal funds as may be available toward the financing of or contracting

for such projects.

The corporation shall transmit a copy of its report to the

commissioner of environmental conservation, who shall hold public

hearings on its recommendations, pursuant to section 3-0301 of the

environmental conservation law, at which hearings testimony shall be

taken from all interested parties. Following the termination of said

hearings, the department of environmental conservation may make

additional findings, if any, and shall have the power to promulgate

rules and regulations and/or propose legislation, consistent with its

findings, to implement the report.