§ 119-R — Provision of mass transportation by certain municipal corporations

§ 119-r. Provision of mass transportation by certain municipal\ncorporations. * 1. To assure the provision of mass transportation\nservices to the public at adequate levels and at reasonable cost, every\ncity, town, village or county not wholly contained within a city, shall\nhave power to adopt local laws to authorize:\n a. The acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement,\nequipment, maintenance, financing subject to the provisions of paragraph\nf of this subdivision, or operation of one or more mass transportation\nprojects. Such municipal corporation shall have power to occupy or use\nany of the streets, roads, highways, avenues, parks or public places of\nsuch municipal corporation therefor and to agree upon and contract for\nthe terms and conditions thereof.\n b. The making of a contract or contracts for the acquisition by\npurchase of all or any part of the property, plant and equipment of an\nexisting mass transportation facility actually used and useful for the\nconvenience of the public.\n c. The making of a contract or contracts with any person, firm or\ncorporation, including a public authority, for the equipment,\nmaintenance or operation of a mass transportation facility owned,\nacquired, constructed, reconstructed or improved by it.\n d. The making of a contract or contracts for a fair and reasonable\nconsideration for mass transportation services to be rendered to the\npublic by a privately-owned or operated mass transportation facility.\nSuch power shall include but not be limited to the power to appropriate\nfunds for payment of such consideration, and to provide that all or part\nof such consideration shall be in the form of capital equipment to be\nfurnished to and used and maintained by such privately-owned or operated\nmass transportation facility.\n e. The making of unconditional grants of money or property to a public\nauthority providing mass transportation services to all or part of such\nmunicipal corporation in order to assist such public authority in\nmeeting its capital or operating expenses, provided such money does not\nconsist of borrowed funds and such property has not been acquired by the\nuse of borrowed funds. Such purpose is hereby declared to be county,\ncity, town or village purposes, respectively. The provisions of this\nparagraph are intended as enabling legislation only and shall not be\ninterpreted as implying that absent their enactment a municipal\ncorporation would lack the power to authorize any such grant; but they\nshall not be interpreted as an authorization to public authorities\ngenerally to accept such grants. The acceptance of any such grant by a\npublic authority shall not operate to make such authority an agency of\nthe municipal corporation making the grant.\n f. The making of a contract with the metropolitan transportation\nauthority, by itself or with one or more other municipal corporations to\nassist the authority in meeting its capital or operating expenses in\nproviding mass transportation services of benefit to all or part of such\nmunicipal corporation, including undertaking a mass transportation\ncapital project in or near the municipal corporation. Such a municipal\ncorporation may, according to the terms of the contract with the\nauthority, establish, levy and collect taxes, assessments, and/or\ncharges and may conditionally or unconditionally grant or pledge a\nportion of its revenues allocated according to subdivision e of this\nsection. Such municipal corporation may designate mass transportation\ncapital project districts that a municipal corporation finds, after\nconducting a public hearing, will benefit from an identified mass\ntransportation capital project. Upon designating such a district, the\nmunicipal corporation may allocate a portion of its revenues from the\ndistrict according to terms it designs or has agreed to by contract. The\nmunicipal corporation may, in allocating and collecting revenues from\nthe district, make use of one or more methods to capture the value\ncreated by a mass transportation capital project, including, but not\nlimited to:\n (i) tax increment financing, meaning the allocation of an increment of\nproperty tax revenues in excess of the amount levied at the time prior\nto planning of a mass transportation capital project;\n (ii) a special transportation assessment imposed upon benefited real\nproperty in proportion to the benefit received by such property from a\nmass transportation capital project, which shall not constitute a tax;\n (iii) land value taxation, meaning the allocation of an increment of\ntax revenues gained from levying taxes on the assessed value of taxable\nland at a higher rate than the improvements, as defined in subdivision\ntwelve of section one hundred two of the real property tax law; and\n (iv) some combination of the above or other methods of gaining\nrevenues that the municipal corporation is empowered to use, provided\nthat the total amount of all taxes, assessments, fees, charges, or rates\nlevied on each parcel or lot under this section shall be limited to a\nproportionate amount as near as possible to the actual benefit which\neach lot or parcel will derive from the mass transportation capital\nproject; and\n (v) for purposes of this paragraph the term municipal corporation\nshall include only those cities, towns, villages and counties described\nin section twelve hundred sixty-two of the public authorities law.\n * NB Effective until April 1, 2026\n * 1. To assure the provision of mass transportation services to the\npublic at adequate levels and at reasonable cost, every city, town,\nvillage or county not wholly contained within a city, shall have power\nto adopt local laws to authorize:\n a. The acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement,\nequipment, maintenance or operation of one or more mass transportation\nprojects. Such municipal corporation shall have power to occupy or use\nany of the streets, roads, highways, avenues, parks or public places of\nsuch municipal corporation therefor and to agree upon and contract for\nthe terms and conditions thereof.\n b. The making of a contract or contracts for the acquisition by\npurchase of all or any part of the property, plant and equipment of an\nexisting mass transportation facility actually used and useful for the\nconvenience of the public.\n c. The making of a contract or contracts with any person, firm or\ncorporation, including a public authority, for the equipment,\nmaintenance or operation of a mass transportation facility owned,\nacquired, constructed, reconstructed or improved by it.\n d. The making of a contract or contracts for a fair and reasonable\nconsideration for mass transportation services to be rendered to the\npublic by a privately-owned or operated mass transportation facility.\nSuch power shall include but not be limited to the power to appropriate\nfunds for payment of such consideration, and to provide that all or part\nof such consideration shall be in the form of capital equipment to be\nfurnished to and used and maintained by such privately-owned or operated\nmass transportation facility.\n e. The making of unconditional grants of money or property to a public\nauthority providing mass transportation services to all or part of such\nmunicipal corporation in order to assist such public authority in\nmeeting its capital or operating expenses, provided such money does not\nconsist of borrowed funds and such property has not been acquired by the\nuse of borrowed funds. Such purpose is hereby declared to be county,\ncity, town or village purposes, respectively. The provisions of this\nparagraph are intended as enabling legislation only and shall not be\ninterpreted as implying that absent their enactment a municipal\ncorporation would lack the power to authorize any such grant; but they\nshall not be interpreted as an authorization to public authorities\ngenerally to accept such grants. The acceptance of any such grant by a\npublic authority shall not operate to make such authority an agency of\nthe municipal corporation making the grant.\n * NB Effective April 1, 2026\n 2. The acquisition, construction, reconstruction, or improvement of\nany mass transportation capital project by a county, city, town or\nvillage pursuant to this section shall not be subject to the\njurisdiction of the commissioner of transportation except as provided in\nsections sixty-eight, sixty-nine, sixty-nine-a, sixty-nine-b,\nsixty-nine-c, and sixty-nine-d of the transportation corporations law.\n 3. The powers granted by this section shall be in addition to and not\nin substitution for any other power to acquire, construct, reconstruct,\nimprove, equip, maintain or operate any mass transportation capital\nproject.\n