§ 28 — Payments from earnings

§ 28. Payments from earnings. 1. There shall be paid annually out of\nthe earnings of the company, after providing for all taxes, assessments\nand expenses, a sum for interest on and amortization of the mortgage\nindebtedness of all mortgages of the company, depreciation charges and\nreserves if, when and to the extent deemed necessary by the commissioner\nor the supervising agency, as the case may be, plus a dividend of six\nper centum on outstanding stock and interest not exceeding six per\ncentum on the outstanding income debentures of the company; the\nobligation in respect of such payments shall be cumulative, and any\ndeficiency in interest, amortization, depreciation, reserves, if any,\nand dividends in any year shall be paid either from any cash surplus\nderived from earnings remaining in the treasury of the company in excess\nof the amount necessary to provide such cumulative annual sums or from\nthe first available earnings in subsequent years. If, at the end of any\nthree year period, the gross receipts should exceed the payments or\ncharges necessary for the purposes of the project or projects and are\nnot needed for a sinking fund, reserves or other purposes, the balance\nmay be paid in further reduction of any indebtedness to the extent and\nupon terms and conditions approved by the commissioner and the state\ncomptroller or by the supervising agency, as the case may be. A sinking\nfund may be authorized by the commissioner or the supervising agency, to\npurchase and retire bonds, income debentures or stock of the company at\na price approved by the commissioner or the supervising agency, as the\ncase may be, not exceeding par value thereof with accrued or unpaid\ndividends or interest or if it be not practical to purchase such stock\nor income debentures at a price so approved, the money in such sinking\nfund may be added to the surplus of such company. Any stock or income\ndebentures purchased out of such sinking fund shall be cancelled and\nshall not be reissued.\n 2. Anything contained in this article to the contrary notwithstanding,\na company which receives a loan from the state, the New York state\nhousing finance agency or a municipality after July first, nineteen\nhundred sixty-nine, or a mutual company which has been duly authorized\nto issue income debentures to finance the modernization or replacement\nof project improvements or the acquisition and installation of energy\nsaving equipment and which is otherwise authorized to pay dividends upon\nits shares or interest upon its income debentures, may, with the\napproval of the commissioner or the supervising agency as the case may\nbe, pay such dividends or interest in excess of six per centum per\nannum, but in no event shall any such rate exceed the interest rate\nprescribed by the superintendent of financial services pursuant to\nsection fourteen-a of the banking law, provided, however, if the voting\nstock of a mutual company has not been issued and delivered to the stock\nsubscribers, then the additional authorization of such stock subscribers\nis required to be obtained by a majority vote.\n 3. No director or officer of a company shall receive, directly or\nindirectly, any salary, compensation or emolument from such company, as\nsuch director or officer or in any other capacity, unless authorized by\nthe commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be.\n