N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 1299-f: Special powers of the authority

§ 1299-f. Special powers of the authority. In order to effectuate the

purposes of this title: 1. The authority may acquire, by purchase, gift,

grant, transfer, contract or lease, any transportation facility, wholly

or partially within the Niagara Frontier transportation district or any

part thereof, or the use thereof, and may enter into any joint service

arrangements as hereinafter provided. Any such acquisition or joint

service arrangement shall be authorized only by resolution of the

authority approved by not less than a majority of the whole number of

members of the authority then in office. In addition to and not in

limitation of any other power conferred upon the authority by the

provisions of this title, the authority is hereby empowered and

authorized in respect of any property and assets at any time owned or

held by, or under the jurisdiction of, the Buffalo and Fort Erie public

bridge authority, to accept and receive any such interest therein as it

may have been or may hereafter be designated by the state by law to

receive, and in respect thereof, except as otherwise provided by the

designating statute, it shall have and exercise all of the powers and

jurisdiction herein conferred upon it in respect of any other property,

rights, assets, facilities and projects in any other manner acquired or

from any other source received by it pursuant to the provisions of this

title.

2. The authority may on such terms and conditions as the authority may

determine necessary, convenient or desirable itself establish,

construct, effectuate, operate, maintain, renovate, improve, extend or

repair any such transportation facility, or may provide for such

establishment, construction, effectuation, operation, maintenance,

renovation, improvement, extension or repair by contract, lease, or

other arrangement on such terms as the authority may deem necessary,

convenient or desirable with any person, including but not limited to

any common carrier or freight forwarder, the state, any state agency,

the federal government, any other state or agency or instrumentality

thereof, any public authority of this or any other state, any political

subdivision or municipality of the state, or the nation. In connection

with the operation of any such transportation facility, the authority

may establish, construct, effectuate, operate, maintain, renovate,

improve, extend or repair or may provide by contract, lease or other

arrangement for the establishment, construction, effectuation,

operation, maintenance, renovation, improvement, extension or repair of

any related services and activities it deems necessary, convenient or

desirable, including but not limited to the transportation and storage

of freight and the United States mail, feeder and connecting

transportation, parking areas, transportation centers, stations and

related facilities.

3. The authority may establish, levy and collect or cause to be

established, levied and collected and, in the case of a joint service

arrangement, join with others in the establishment, levy and collection

of such fares, tolls, rentals, rates, charges and other fees as it may

deem necessary, convenient or desirable for the use and operation of any

transportation facility and related services operated by the authority

or by a subsidiary corporation of the authority or under contract, lease

or other arrangement, including joint service arrangements, with the

authority. Any such fares, tolls, rentals, rates, charges or other fees

for the transportation of passengers shall be established and changed

only if approved by resolution of the authority adopted by not less than

a majority of the whole number of members of the authority then in

office and only after a public hearing, provided however, that fares,

tolls, rentals, rates, charges or other fees for the transportation of

passengers on any transportation facility which are in effect at the

time that the then owner of such transportation facility becomes a

subsidiary corporation of the authority or at the time that operation of

such transportation facility is commenced by the authority or is

commenced under contract, lease or other arrangement including joint

service arrangements, with the authority may be continued in effect

without such a hearing. Such fares, tolls, rentals, rates, charges and

other fees shall be established as may in the judgment of the authority

be necessary to maintain the combined operations of the authority and

its subsidiary corporations on a self-sustaining basis. The said

operations shall be deemed to be on a self-sustaining basis as required

by this title, when the authority is able to pay or cause to be paid

from revenue and any other funds or property actually available to the

authority and its subsidiary corporations (a) as the same shall become

due, the principal of and interest on the bonds and notes and other

obligations of the authority and of such subsidiary corporations,

together with the maintenance of proper reserves therefor, (b) the cost

and expense of keeping the properties and assets of the authority and

its subsidiary corporations in good condition and repair, and (c) the

capital and operating expenses of the authority and its subsidiary

corporations. The authority may contract with the holders of bonds and

notes with respect to the exercise of the powers authorized by this

section.

4. The authority may establish and, in the case of joint service

arrangements, join with others in the establishment of such schedules

and standards of operations and such other rules and regulations

including but not limited to rules and regulations governing the conduct

and safety of the public as it may deem necessary, convenient or

desirable for the use and operation of any transportation facility and

related services operated by the authority or under contract, lease or

other arrangement, including joint service arrangements, with the

authority. Such rules and regulations governing the conduct and safety

of the public shall be filed with the department of state in the manner

provided by section one hundred two of the executive law. In the case of

any conflict between any such rule or regulation of the authority

governing the conduct or safety of the public and any local law,

ordinance, rule or regulation, such rule or regulation of the authority

shall prevail. Violation of any such rule or regulation of the authority

governing the conduct or the safety of the public in or upon any

facility of the authority shall constitute an offense and shall be

punishable by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars or imprisonment for not

more than thirty days or both, or may in the alternative be designated a

transit infraction punishable by the imposition by the transit

adjudication bureau established pursuant to the provisions of this title

of a civil penalty in an amount for any one violation of not to exceed

two hundred fifty dollars, exclusive of interest or costs assessed

thereon, in accordance with a schedule of such penalties as may from

time to time be established by the authority. There shall be no penalty

or increment in fine by virtue of a respondent's timely exercise of his

right to a hearing or appeal. The rules may provide, in addition to any

other sanctions, for the confiscation of tokens, tickets, cards or other

fare media that have been forged, counterfeited, improperly altered or

transferred, or otherwise used in a manner inconsistent with such rules.

5. The authority may acquire, hold, own, lease, establish, construct,

effectuate, operate, maintain, renovate, improve, extend or repair any

of its facilities through, and cause any one or more of its powers,

duties, functions or activities to be exercised or performed by, one or

more wholly owned subsidiary corporations of the authority and may

transfer to or from any such corporation, or between such corporations,

any moneys, real property or other property or the services of any

officers, employees or consultants for any of the purposes of this

title. The directors or members of each such subsidiary corporation

shall be the same persons holding the offices of members of the

authority. Each such subsidiary corporation and any of its property,

functions and activities shall have all of the privileges, immunities,

tax exemptions and other exemptions of the authority and of the

authority's property, functions and activities. Each such subsidiary

corporation shall be subject to the restrictions and limitations to

which the authority may be subject. Each such subsidiary corporation

shall be subject to suit in accordance with section twelve hundred

ninety-nine-p of this title. The employees of any such subsidiary

corporation, except those who are also employees of the authority, shall

not be deemed employees of the authority.

If the authority shall determine that one or more of its subsidiary

corporations should be in the form of a public benefit corporation, it

shall create each such public benefit corporation by executing and

filing with the secretary of state a certificate of incorporation, which

may be amended from time to time by filing, which shall set forth the

name of such public benefit subsidiary corporation, its duration, the

location of its principal office, and any or all of the purposes of

acquiring, owning, leasing, establishing, constructing, effectuating,

operating, maintaining, renovating, improving, extending or repairing

one or more facilities of the authority. Each such public benefit

subsidiary corporation shall be a body politic and corporate and shall

have all those powers vested in the authority by the provisions of this

title which the authority shall determine to include in its certificate

of incorporation except the power to contract indebtedness.

Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding the

authority may elect to maintain consolidated records of account for

itself and its subsidiary corporations and to report on a consolidated

basis with regard to the moneys and activities of the authority and its

subsidiary corporations, and the authority shall not be required to keep

separate records of account for or to report separately with regard to

moneys or activities of any of its subsidiary corporations or of the

authority itself apart from its subsidiary corporations or with regard

to transfers of property or services between the authority and its

subsidiary corporations or between said subsidiary corporations.

The Niagara Frontier port authority shall be deemed to be a subsidiary

corporation for the purposes of this subdivision.

Whenever any state, political subdivision, municipality, commission,

agency, officer, department, board, division or person is authorized and

empowered for any of the purposes of this title to co-operate and enter

into agreements with the authority such state, political subdivision,

municipality, commission, agency, officer, department, board, division

or person shall have the same authorization and power for any of such

purposes to co-operate and enter into agreements with a subsidiary

corporation of the authority.

6. The authority, in its own name or in the name of the state, may

apply for and receive and accept grants of property, money and services

and other assistance offered or made available to it by any person,

government or agency whatever, which it may use to meet capital or

operating expenses and for any other use within the scope of its powers,

and to negotiate for the same upon such terms and conditions as the

authority may determine to be necessary, convenient or desirable.

7. The authority may do all things it deems necessary, convenient or

desirable to manage, control and direct the maintenance and operation of

transportation facilities, equipment or real property operated by or

under contract, lease or other arrangement with the authority. Except as

hereinafter specially provided, no municipality or political

subdivision, including but not limited to a county, city, village, town

or school or other district shall have jurisdiction over any facilities

of the authority or any of its activities or operations. The local

laws, resolutions, ordinances, rules and regulations of a municipality

or political subdivision, heretofore or hereafter adopted, conflicting

with this title or any rule or regulation of the authority, shall not be

applicable to the activities or operations of the authority, or the

facilities of the authority, except such facilities that are devoted to

purposes other than transportation purposes. Each municipality or

political subdivision, including but not limited to a county, city,

village, town or district in which any facilities of the authority are

located shall provide for such facilities police, fire and health

protection services of the same character and to the same extent as

those provided for residents of such municipality or political

subdivision.

The jurisdiction, supervision, powers and duties of the department of

transportation of the state under the transportation law shall not

extend to the authority in the exercise of any of its powers under this

title. The authority may agree with such department for the execution by

such department of any grade crossing elimination project or any grade

crossing separation reconstruction project along any railroad facility

operated by the authority or by one of its subsidiary corporations or

under contract, lease or other arrangement with the authority. Any such

project shall be executed as provided in article ten of the

transportation law and the railroad law, respectively, and the costs of

any such project shall be borne as provided in such laws, except that

the authority's share of such costs shall be borne by the state.