N.Y. Transportation Law § 73-j: Special provisions relating to aid

§ 73-j. Special provisions relating to aid. 1. Within one hundred

twenty days after the adoption of a state budget containing an

appropriation implementing this article, the commissioner shall send to

the county executive, if any, or the chairperson of the county

legislative body of each rural county, a copy of this article and

general information relating to the procedure to be followed to obtain

the aid provided for in this article including, but not limited to, the

following:

a. the intent of the program;

b. program guidelines, including the time when applications must be

submitted; the time when applications will be accepted or rejected; the

time when the applicant must complete the program for which aid has been

given;

c. potential county benefit, including an indication of the level of

the funds to which each county would be entitled should it participate

in the program as defined in this article.

2. The failure to file an application for aid in any year shall not

impair the right of a rural county to file an application for aid in any

subsequent year.

3. Within six months of the time of receipt of any application for

aid, pursuant to section seventy-three-g of this article, the

commissioner shall notify the applicant that such application was

approved and aid shall be paid to such county or the commissioner will

reject such application and state the reasons for such rejection. The

rejection shall not disqualify an applicant from resubmitting an

application for aid. In the event, after consultation with the

commissioner, the application is modified it may thereafter be

resubmitted for further consideration.

4. Each request submitted to the commissioner for a financial

assistance grant under this article shall be accompanied by an itemized

preliminary budget, certified by the chief financial officer of the

county, identifying expected eligible costs, amounts and sources of

grant funding including any applicable county matching funds.

a. Within sixty days after the completion of the grant, as determined

by the terms of the grant, the chief executive officer of the county, if

any, or the chairperson of the county legislative body shall forward to

the commissioner a certified financial statement identifying actual

costs incurred, grant funds expended or encumbered, including any

applicable county matching funds on forms provided by the commissioner.

After the expenditure of any applicable county matching funds, should

any state funds paid to a county remain unexpended or unencumbered upon

completion of the grant, as determined by the terms of the grant, the

commissioner will credit said state funds to the county's planning or

operating assistance grant for the subsequent year. In no event, shall

the county's subsequent year's grant exceed the sum of forty-five

thousand dollars for planning or twenty-five thousand dollars for

operating aid.

b. Should a county's activities in coordinated public transportation

services be terminated at any time, the chief executive officer of the

county, if any, or the chairperson of the county legislative body shall

advise the commissioner of such termination in writing and return to the

commissioner any unexpended state funds paid to the county together with

the final certified financial statement indicating the expenditure of

any grant funds received.

5. Except as provided for in section seventy-three-g of this article,

any moneys paid to rural counties by the commissioner shall be paid in

quarterly installments at the beginning of each quarter, commencing on

the first day of January of each year, unless the commissioner approves

an alternative method of payment in accordance with subdivision nine of

this section.

6. Except as provided for in section seventy-three-g of this article,

a rural county's apportionment of funds made available in accordance

with this article may be used for capital, operating and or

administrative assistance to provide rural public transportation. The

commissioner, in consultation with the interagency coordinating

committee on rural public transportation, may award other grants for

operating and capital expenses.

7. Recipients of aid shall annually submit to the commissioner such

data as he or she may deem necessary to review the program and to

recommend future funding levels.

8. Following formal adoption of a rural county's coordinated public

transportation service plan and approval of that plan by the

commissioner, and upon receipt of written notice from a rural county

that its coordinated public transportation service is about to commence

in accordance with such approved plan, the commissioner shall forward

operating aid applications to the chief executive officer of the county,

if any, or the chairperson of the county legislative body, along with

instructions and a timetable for their completion. The commissioner

shall advise the applicant county of his action on each such application

within ninety days of its receipt.

9. Funds appropriated for the purpose of implementation of this

article may be allocated in whole or in part to a rural county prior to

the time actual expenditures are incurred if the payment is first

approved by the commissioner. Applications for advance payment shall be

made by the county in accordance with rules of the commissioner. Each

application shall specifically state why such advance payment is

required.

10. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations in order

to implement the provisions of this article.

11. When a rural county has adopted and implemented a coordinated

public transportation service plan in accordance with rules and

regulations issued by the commissioner pursuant to the provisions of

this article and such plan has been approved by the commissioner, then

the department may, from among all applications within said county for

financial aid to purchase vehicles provided by section sixteen (b) (two)

of the federal Urban Mass Transportation Act of nineteen hundred

sixty-four as amended, give priority consideration for funding to those

applications that provide coordinated public transportation service in

accordance with the county's plan.

12. When included and operated as an integral part of a coordinated

public transportation service plan approved by the commissioner and

adopted pursuant to the provisions of this article, and consistent with

the Urban Mass Transportation Act of nineteen hundred sixty-four as

amended, vehicles obtained through section sixteen (b) (two) of said

federal Urban Mass Transportation Act, may be eligible to carry persons

other than elderly and disabled on a regular basis, provided that the

transportation needs of elderly and/or disabled persons described in the

recipient's original section sixteen (b) (two) grant application are met

by the adopted coordinated public transportation service and the

transportation needs of other elderly and disabled persons in the rural

county are met under the county's adopted plan.

13. Public transportation providers utilizing state or federal transit

assistance moneys for the purchase of vehicles pursuant to this article,

may purchase said vehicles through state contract or by public bid as

required by section one hundred three of the general municipal law.

14. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article to the

contrary, no application for financial assistance made pursuant to

section seventy-three-g of this article shall be awarded by the

commissioner for less than fifty-five thousand dollars or for less than

the amount requested unless the commissioner shall, in writing, prior to

making the award, each year certify the reasons why such applicant was

awarded less than fifty-five thousand dollars or an amount less than

requested. Such certification, including the reasons for such action,

shall be sent to the applicant, the interagency coordinating committee

on rural public transportation, the secretary of the senate finance

committee, the secretary of the assembly ways and means committee, the

director of the office of rural affairs and the director of the

legislative commission on the development of rural resources.

15. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article to the

contrary, no grant for operating aid, as authorized by section

seventy-three-h of this article, shall be made by the commissioner to

any county for less than thirty-five thousand dollars in any one year

unless the commissioner shall, in writing, prior to making the grant,

each year certify the reasons why such county was awarded less than

thirty-five thousand dollars. Such certification including the reasons

for such action shall be sent to such county, the interagency

coordinating committee on rural public transportation, the secretary of

the senate finance committee, the secretary of the assembly ways and

means committee, the director of the office of rural affairs and the

director of the legislative commission on the development of rural

resources.