§ 1953 — Purpose and powers of the authority

§ 1953. Purpose and powers of the authority. The purposes of the\nauthority shall be to promote, develop, encourage and assist in the\nacquiring, constructing, reconstructing, improving, maintaining,\nequipping and furnishing industrial, manufacturing, warehouse,\ncommercial and research facilities including industrial pollution\ncontrol facilities, transportation facilities including but not limited\nto those relating to water, highway, rail and air, in one or more areas\nof the city, particularly but not exclusively at the site of what was\nformerly the Troy airport including an airstrip or airport located in\nthe southern section of the city and thereby advance the job\nopportunities, health, general prosperity and economic welfare of the\npeople of said city and to improve their standard of living; provided,\nhowever, that the authority shall not undertake any project if the\ncompletion thereof would result in the removal of an industrial or\nmanufacturing plant of the project occupant from one area of the state\nto another area of the state or in the abandonment of one or more plants\nor facilities of the project applicant located within the state,\nprovided, however, that neither restriction shall apply if the authority\nshall determine on the basis of the application before it that the\nproject is reasonably necessary to discourage the project occupant from\nremoving such other plant or facility to a location outside the state or\nis reasonably necessary to preserve the competitive position of the\nproject occupant in its respective industry. Except as otherwise\nprovided for in this section, no financial assistance of the authority\nshall be provided in respect of any project where facilities or property\nthat are primarily used in making retail sales to customers who\npersonally visit such facilities constitute more than one-third of the\ntotal project cost. For the purposes of this article, "retail sales"\nshall mean: (i) sales by a registered vendor under article twenty-eight\nof the tax law primarily engaged in the retail sale of tangible personal\nproperty, as defined in subparagraph (i) of paragraph four of\nsubdivision (b) of section eleven hundred one of the tax law; or (ii)\nsales of a service to such customers. Except, however, that tourism\ndestination projects shall not be prohibited by this paragraph. For the\npurpose of this paragraph, "tourism destination" shall mean a location\nor facility which is likely to attract a significant number of visitors\nfrom outside the economic development region as established by section\ntwo hundred thirty of the economic development law in which the project\nis located.\n Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the contrary, such\nfinancial assistance may, however, be provided to a project where\nfacilities or property that are primarily used in making retail sales of\ngoods or services to customers who personally visit such facilities to\nobtain such goods or services constitute more than one-third of the\ntotal project cost, where: (i) the predominant purpose of the project\nwould be to make available goods or services which would not, but for\nthe project, be reasonably accessible to the residents of the city of\nTroy because of a lack of reasonably accessible retail trade facilities\noffering such goods or services; or (ii) the project is located in a\nhighly distressed area. With respect to projects authorized pursuant to\nthis paragraph no project shall be approved unless the authority shall\nfind after the public hearing required by section twenty-three hundred\nseven of this chapter that undertaking the project will serve the public\npurposes of this article by preserving permanent, private sector jobs or\nincreasing the overall number of permanent, private sector jobs in the\nstate. Where the authority makes such a finding, prior to providing\nfinancial assistance to the project by the authority, the chief\nexecutive officer of the city of Troy shall confirm the proposed action\nof the authority. To carry out said purposes, the authority shall have\npower:\n 1. To sue and be sued;\n 2. To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;\n 3. To acquire, hold and dispose of personal property for its corporate\npurpose;\n 4. To acquire by purchase, grant, lease, gift, condemnation, or\notherwise and to use, real property or rights or easements therein\nnecessary for its corporate purposes, and to sell, convey, mortgage,\nlease, pledge, exchange or otherwise dispose of any such property in\nsuch manner as the authority shall determine. With respect to real\nproperty conveyed to it by the city, however, such power of disposition\nshall be limited as hereinafter provided in section nineteen hundred\nfifty-five of this title;\n 5. To make by-laws for the management and regulation of its affairs\nand, subject to agreements with its bondholders, for the regulation of\nthe use of the project;\n 6. With the consent of the city, to use agents, employees and\nfacilities of the city, paying the city its agreed proportion of the\ncompensation or costs;\n 7. To appoint officers, agents and employees, to prescribe their\nqualifications and to fix their compensation and to pay the same out of\nfunds of the authority, subject, however, to the provisions of the civil\nservice law as hereinafter provided in section nineteen hundred\nfifty-four of this title;\n 8. To appoint an attorney, who may be the corporation counsel of the\ncity, and to fix the attorney's compensation for services which shall be\npayable to the attorney, and to retain and employ private consultants\nfor professional and technical assistance and advice; provided that an\nattorney acting as bond counsel for a project must file with the\nauthority a written statement in which the attorney identifies each\nparty to the transaction which such attorney represents. If bond counsel\nprovides any legal services to parties other than the authority, the\nwritten statement must describe the nature of legal services provided by\nsuch bond counsel to all parties to the transaction, including the\nnature of the services provided to the authority;\n 9. To make contracts and leases upon such terms as the authority shall\ndeem appropriate, including without limitation leases which grant the\ntenant of a project an option to renew or an option to purchase the\nproject, or both, at a fixed or otherwise predetermined price and to\nexecute all instruments necessary or convenient;\n 10. To acquire, construct, reconstruct, lease, improve, maintain,\nequip or furnish one or more projects;\n 11. To accept gifts, grants, loans or contributions from, and enter\ninto contracts or other transactions with, the United States and the\nstate or any agency of either of them, any municipality, any public or\nprivate corporation or any other legal entity, and to use any such\ngifts, grants, loans or contributions for any of its corporate purposes;\n 12. To borrow money and to issue bonds and to provide for the rights\nof the holders thereof;\n 13. To designate the depositories of its money either within or\nwithout the state of New York;\n 14. To enter into agreements requiring payments in lieu of taxes. Such\nagreements shall be in writing and in addition to other terms shall\ncontain: the amount due annually to each affected tax jurisdiction (or a\nformula by which the amount due can be calculated), the name and address\nof the person, office or agency to which payment shall be delivered, the\ndate on which payment shall be made, and the date on which payment shall\nbe considered delinquent if not paid. Unless otherwise agreed by the\naffected tax jurisdictions, any such agreement shall provide that\npayments in lieu of taxes shall be allocated among affected tax\njurisdictions in proportion to the amount of real property tax and other\ntaxes which would have been received by each affected tax jurisdiction\nhad the project not been tax exempt due to the status of the authority\ninvolved in the project. A copy of any such agreement shall be delivered\nto each affected tax jurisdiction within fifteen days of signing the\nagreement. In the absence of any such written agreement, payments in\nlieu of taxes made by an agency shall be allocated in the same\nproportions as they had been prior to January first, nineteen hundred\nninety-three for so long as the authority's activities render a project\nnon-taxable by affected tax jurisdictions. A notification of the\nexpiration of such agreement shall be delivered to the affected tax\njurisdiction two years prior to the expiration of such agreement and\nimmediately upon early termination of an agreement;\n 15. To establish and reestablish its fiscal year; and\n 16. To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out its purposes\nand exercise the powers expressly given in this title.\n