N.Y. Transportation Law § 18-a: Statewide mass transportation operating assistance program

*§ 18-a. Statewide mass transportation operating assistance program.

1. Within the amounts made available therefor by appropriation, a

statewide mass transportation operating assistance program is hereby

established for the purpose of making payments toward the operating

expenses of public transportation systems. For the purposes of this

section, the term public transportation system shall mean any public

benefit corporation constituting a transportation authority which

provides or contracts for the provision of (under joint support

arrangements) mass transportation services, or a subsidiary thereof, or

any county or city which provides or contracts for the provision of

(pursuant to section one hundred nineteen-r of the general municipal

law) mass transportation services.

2. a. On and after May first, nineteen hundred seventy-four, the

commissioner shall pay to each public transportation system that makes

an application therefor, in quarterly installments, a mass

transportation operating assistance service payment to be determined and

computed as follows: the chief executive officer of each such system

shall certify to the commissioner not more than thirty days nor less

than fifteen days prior to the date of commencement of any quarter for

which an installment is payable, the total number of passengers such

system estimates that it will carry and the total number of vehicle or

car miles such system estimates that its equipment will travel in

revenue service during the quarter for which such installment is to be

paid. Upon receipt of any such certification, the commissioner shall

provide to the public transportation system a service payment, which

payment shall be computed by adding the sum of (i) the certified number

of passengers multiplied by one and four-tenths cents per passenger,

(ii) the certified number of vehicle or car miles multiplied by nine

cents per vehicle or car mile, and (iii) the amount obtained by

multiplying the total number of persons within the urban area served by

the public transportation system, as determined by the most current

federal decennial census, by ten cents per capita; provided, however,

that any service payment made by the commissioner to any county or city

on account of such county's or city's contracts for mass transportation

services (pursuant to section one hundred nineteen-r of the general

municipal law), shall not include an amount computed under item (iii)

above. Such quarterly installments shall be payable not later than the

tenth day of each successive quarter, with the quarters commencing on

the first day of May, August, November and February, respectively;

provided, however, that for the first quarter of May first through July

thirty-first, nineteen hundred seventy-four, such quarterly installment

may be made on or before June fifteenth, nineteen hundred seventy-four

and the chief executive officer of any public transportation system

making application hereunder shall make the required certifications not

more than thirty nor less than fifteen days prior to such date.

b. Each public transportation system receiving a quarterly service

payment pursuant to this subdivision shall certify to the commissioner,

within five days of the end of each quarter for which a service payment

was received, the actual total number of passengers carried by the

system during such quarter and the actual total vehicle or car miles the

system's equipment traveled in revenue service during such quarter, and

based upon such actual totals, the commissioner shall make such

adjustments as may be appropriate in the amount of the service payment

for such system for the succeeding quarter.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two of this section,

the commissioner may establish with respect to any public transportation

system a maximum service payment, limiting the amount of state

assistance for which such system may qualify, where it appears that the

total amount of money appropriated or allocated to a group of

unspecified public transportation systems is less than the total amount

of money for which the entire group is eligible. Such maximum service

payments may be established on a quarterly or annual basis, in the

discretion of the commissioner; provided, however, that the sum of all

of the maximum service payments established during the period covered by

the appropriation, shall equal the amount of the appropriation or

allocation.

4. a. For any quarter commencing on or after May first, nineteen

hundred seventy-four, any county or city served by a public

transportation system that receives a service payment pursuant to

subdivision two of this section shall, not later than the fifteenth day

following the commencement of the quarter for which the payment is made

or the date on which the payment is made, whichever is later, pay to the

public transportation system a sum equal to such service payment, except

that in the case of a service payment made to a public transportation

system on account of mass transportation services provided to more than

one county (considering the city of New York to be one county), each

county receiving such services from such system shall pay to the system

a sum equal to its share of the service payment, which sum shall be

determined in accordance with the percentage or dollar amounts

established for such county by the legislature.

b. The payment required of any county or city by paragraph a of this

subdivision shall be in addition to all other forms of assistance now

provided or scheduled to be provided to any public transportation system

by any county or city, whether directly or indirectly; provided,

however, that where any county or city pays all of the operating deficit

of a public transportation system within such county or city, the amount

of assistance provided by such county or city to such public

transportation system may be reduced to the extent of the service

payment, but in no event to an amount less than the service payment.

c. In the event that a county or city shall fail to make to a public

transportation system any of the payments required to be made by it

under this subdivision, the chief executive officer of the public

transportation system or such other person as the commissioner shall

designate shall certify to the state comptroller such amount due and

owing such public transportation system and the state comptroller shall

withhold an equivalent amount from state aid allocated to such county or

city from highway aid, the motor fuel tax and the motor vehicle

registration fee distributed pursuant to section one hundred twelve of

the highway law, or per capita local assistance pursuant to section

fifty-four of the state finance law subject to the following

limitations: prior to withholding amounts allocated to carry such county

or city, the comptroller shall pay in full any amount due the state of

New York municipal bond bank agency, on account of any such county's or

city's obligation to such agency; the city university construction fund,

pursuant to the provisions of the city university construction fund act;

the New York city housing development corporation, pursuant to the

provisions of the New York city housing development corporation act

(article twelve of the private housing finance law); and the transit

construction fund, pursuant to the provisions of article two, title nine

of the public authorities law. The comptroller shall give the director

of the budget notification of any such payment. Such amount or amounts

so withheld by the state comptroller shall be paid to such public

transportation system, which system shall use such amount or amounts for

the payment of the county or city share of its operating expenses as

determined by the legislature or by the formula or formulae developed by

the commissioner. When such amount or amounts are received by such

public transportation system, it shall credit such amounts against any

amounts due and owing such system by the county or city on whose account

such amount was withheld and paid.

5. Any federal financial assistance granted for the specific purpose

of paying the operating expenses of any county, city or public benefit

corporation eligible to receive service payments as a public

transportation system pursuant to this section, received by the state or

any municipality after the effective date of this section, and made

available to any such county, city or public benefit corporation for

application in accordance with the terms of the grant, shall be combined

with any similar federal grant made directly to the county, city or

public benefit corporation to help meet the operating expenses of any

mass transportation services provided for by any such county, city or

public benefit corporation whether directly or by contract. In the event

that the total revenues of any public transportation system, including

subsidies from federal, state or local governments, exceed the total

operating expenses for any such system, excluding depreciation, such

excess shall be utilized by the system to reduce fares or to extend or

increase mass transportation services. A plan to effectuate any such

fare reduction or extension or increase in services shall be submitted

to the commissioner by a public transportation system within thirty days

of receiving notice from the commissioner to prepare and submit such a

plan. Upon approval by the commissioner, such plan with any

modifications made by the commissioner shall be implemented as soon as

practical. Upon the failure of a public transportation system to submit

a plan in the manner provided by this subdivision, the surplus shall be

utilized by such system to reduce the proportionate shares of the state

and the county or city required to make matching payments to the system,

or in the event that no future payments are to be made to such public

transportation system, the system shall proportionately refund such

surplus to the state and the county or city involved.

6. The commissioner may prescribe such regulations as he may deem

appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this section, including, but

not limited to, a uniform system of accounting for the purposes of

reporting pursuant to the provisions of this section. The commissioner

shall also define by rules and regulations, the terms "passenger",

"vehicle or car mile", "the urban area served by any such public

transportation system", "passenger-mile", "chief executive officer",

"mass transportation services", and "service payment", and such other

terms as he deems necessary to carry out the statewide operating

assistance program.

7. The commissioner shall have the power to audit and examine the

accounts, books, contracts, records, documents and papers of any

participating public transportation system in order to effectuate the

purposes and intent of this section.

8. The commissioner is hereby authorized to enter into contracts or

otherwise cooperate with the federal government or any agency or

instrumentality thereof for the purposes set forth in this section. Such

authorization shall include the power to apply for, receive, distribute

or expend federal money available or which may hereafter become

available for such purposes. The distribution of federal monies shall be

in accordance with the requirements of the federal grant, except that in

the absence of any required distribution the commissioner shall

distribute such federal monies in a manner designed to have the maximum

effect on fare stabilization throughout the state.

* NB Expired May 1, 1975