§ 1285-T — Water infrastructure emergency financial assistance

§ 1285-t. Water infrastructure emergency financial assistance. 1. For\npurposes of this section, "municipality" means any county, city, town,\nvillage, district corporation, county or town improvement district,\nschool district, Indian nation or tribe recognized by the state or the\nUnited States with a reservation wholly or partly within the boundaries\nof New York state, any public benefit corporation or public authority\nestablished pursuant to the laws of New York or any agency of New York\nstate which is empowered to construct and operate a wastewater or\ndrinking water infrastructure project, or any two or more of the\nforegoing which are acting jointly in connection with such a project.\n 2. Upon a municipality's formal declaration of an emergency, the\nmunicipality shall provide the department of environmental conservation\nor the department of health, as appropriate, with information to assess\nany situation in which the state of the municipality's wastewater or\nwater infrastructure is causing or may cause an imminent hazard to the\npublic health or welfare, or the environment. After its assessment, if\neither department determines the state of the infrastructure is\nresulting or may result in imminent hazard to the public health or\nwelfare, or to the environment, the corporation shall provide temporary\nemergency assistance, within amounts appropriated, to the municipality\nin an amount not to exceed reasonable costs for infrastructure\nconstruction, replacement, or repair, and related engineering costs,\nthat is immediately necessary to eliminate or substantially reduce such\nhazard.\n 3. The corporation and the municipality shall enter into an agreement\nsigned by an officer duly authorized by the governing body of the\nmunicipality pursuant to which the corporation shall transmit emergency\nfinancial assistance in an amount determined by the department of\nenvironmental conservation or the department of health, as applicable,\nas necessary to address the imminent hazard, and shall provide the\nassistance payment to the municipality within two business days of\nreceipt of such determination. The municipality shall submit an itemized\ncost estimate from the municipality's engineer or engineering consultant\nto the applicable department sufficient to make such determination.\n 4. No later than fourteen days after the cessation of the emergency,\nthe municipality shall provide to the corporation documentation for all\ncosts paid with the emergency assistance and refund to the corporation\nany portion of the financial assistance not used or committed to pay for\nthe construction, replacement, or repair and related engineering costs\ndetermined to be necessary under subdivision one of this section.\n 5. Subject to appropriation or duly authorized indebtedness, the\nmunicipality shall repay the corporation within one year of its receipt\nof emergency financial assistance the full amount of such assistance\nprovided to it under this section. The corporation may extend the time\nto repay for up to one additional year if the corporation determines in\nits sole discretion that such an extension is warranted under the\ncircumstances.\n 6. Nothing in this section nullifies the eligibility of a municipality\nfor other infrastructure funding, including grant, which may be provided\nby the state for water infrastructure directly related to the\ninfrastructure for which emergency financial assistance is awarded under\nthis section, including funding the municipality could use to repay the\nemergency financial assistance. If the municipality receives such other\nfunding from the state or any financial assistance from a third party\nfor the same infrastructure, the municipality shall within ten days\nfirst repay the corporation the outstanding balance of the emergency\nfinancial assistance before paying any remaining costs for the water\ninfrastructure.\n