N.Y. Pub. Auth. Law § 1096

Current through 2024 NY Law Chapter 553

Section 1096 - Powers of the authority

The authority shall have power:

1. To sue and be sued;

2. To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;

3. To acquire, in the name of the authority, lease, hold and dispose of personal property or any interest therein for its corporate purposes, including the power to purchase prospective or tentative awards in connection with the exercise of the power of condemnation hereinafter granted;

4. To purchase or lease, in the name of the authority, any water supply system, water distribution system, including plants, works, instrumentalities or parts thereof and appurtenances thereto, lands, easements, rights in land and water rights, rights-of-way, contract rights, franchises, approaches, connections, dams, reservoirs, water mains and pipe lines, pumping stations and equipment, or any other property incidental to and included in such system or part thereof, and any improvements, extensions, and betterments, situated within the county, or in Genesee county, or in the town or village of Victor, the village of Bloomfield and the towns of East Bloomfield, Canadice, Richmond and West Bloomfield in Ontario county, or in the village of Holley and the towns of Clarendon and Kendall in Orleans county for the purpose of supplying water for domestic, commercial, and public purposes at retail to individual consumers within the county of Monroe or in the manner provided by subdivision seven of this section; and as a means of so acquiring for such purposes, and subject to the approval of the public service commission, the authority may purchase all of the stock of any existing privately owned water corporation or company, and thereafter, within a reasonable time, such water corporation or company shall be dissolved;

5. To condemn in the name of the authority in the counties of Monroe and Genesee, or in any other county or municipality specifically enumerated in the first sentence of subdivision six of this section, or in the name of the county in the case of any water facilities to be owned and financed by the county pursuant to subdivision sixteen-b of this section, except where located in any other county or municipality, any water supply system, water distribution system, including plants, works, instrumentalities, or parts thereof and appurtenances thereto, lands, easements, rights in land and water rights, rights-of-way, contract rights, franchises, approaches, connections, dams, reservoirs, water mains and pipe lines, pumping stations and equipment, or any other property incidental to and included in such system or part thereof, and any improvements, extensions, and betterments for the purpose of supplying water for domestic, commercial, and public purposes at retail to individual consumers within the counties of Monroe and Genesee or in any other county or municipality specifically enumerated in the first sentence of subdivision six of this section, or at wholesale in the manner provided by subdivision seven of this section. The authority shall exercise the power of condemnation hereby granted in the manner provided by the eminent domain procedure law or any such proceeding to condemn may be instituted by the authority before a justice of the supreme court or an official referee thereof. In the exercise of such power of condemnation, the property being condemned shall be deemed, when so determined by the authority, to be for a public use superior to the public use in the hands of any other person, association, or corporation; provided, however, that the authority shall have no power to condemn property the legal title to which is vested in a municipality or in a private corporation owning such property primarily for its own use, unless such municipality or private corporation shall consent thereto;

6. To construct and develop any water supply system, water distribution system, including plants, works, instrumentalities, or parts thereof, and appurtenances thereto, dams, reservoirs, water mains, pipe lines, pumping stations and equipment, or any other property incidental to or included in such system or part thereof within the county of Monroe, or in Genesee county, or in the town or village of Victor, the village of Bloomfield and the towns of East Bloomfield, Canadice, Richmond and West Bloomfield in Ontario county, or in the village of Holley and the towns of Clarendon and Kendall in Orleans county. To acquire, by condemnation, in the name of the authority in the counties of Monroe and Genesee, or in any other county or municipality specifically enumerated in the first sentence of this subdivision, or in the name of the county of Monroe in the case of any water facilities to be owned and financed by such county pursuant to subdivision sixteen-b of this section, lands, easements, rights in land and water rights, and rights-of-way within the counties of Monroe and Genesee, or in any other county or municipality specifically enumerated in the first sentence of this subdivision, in the manner provided by this title; or to purchase or lease lands, easements, rights in land and water rights, and rights-of-way in connection therewith within the county of Monroe or within Genesee county, or in any other county or municipality specifically enumerated in the first sentence of this subdivision; and to own and operate, maintain, repair, improve, reconstruct, enlarge, and extend, subject to the provisions of this title, any of its properties acquired or constructed under this title, all of which, together with the acquisition of such properties, are hereby declared to be public purposes;

6-a. The authority shall not exercise any of the powers granted in subdivisions four and six of this section with respect to the acquisition, purchase, leasing, construction, or development of property outside of the county without first having obtained the prior approval of such purchase, leasing, acquisition, construction, or development of such property outside of the county by resolution of the legislative body of the municipality wherein the affected property outside of the county is located. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of any general, special, or local law, ordinance, resolution, or charter, any public corporation or improvement district thereof may, by a majority vote of its governing body, give, grant, sell, convey, lend, license the use of, or lease to the authority any property or facilities, including any water supply system, water distribution system, including plants, works, instrumentalities or parts thereof and appurtenances thereto, lands, easements, rights in land and water rights, rights-of-way, contract rights, franchises, approaches, connections, dams, reservoirs, water mains and pipe lines, pumping stations and equipment, or any other property incidental to and included in such system or part thereof, and any improvements, extensions, and betterments for the purpose of supplying water for domestic, commercial, industrial and public purposes, which property or facilities are useful in connection with the exercise by the authority of its powers under this title. Any such gift, grant, sale, conveyance, loan, license, or lease shall be upon such terms and conditions, and for such term or terms of years, subject to the rights of the holders of any bonds, as the authority and such public corporation or improvement district thereof may agree. Any such gift, grant, sale, conveyance, loan, license, or lease shall not be subject to referendum, permissive or mandatory. In the event that any public corporation or improvement district thereof gives, grants, sells, conveys, lends, licenses the use of, or leases any water supply system, water distribution system, or other improvements, extension or betterments for the purpose of supplying water, to the authority, such public corporation or improvement district thereof may contract with the authority to lease, borrow, license, operate, maintain, manage, and provide services for such facilities upon such terms and conditions, and for such term or terms of years, subject to the rights of holders of bonds, as the authority and such public corporation or improvement district thereof may agree. The authority, in furtherance of any purchase, conveyance, or lease of any property or facility from any public corporation or improvement district thereof, may assume the primary responsibility for the payment of the principal and interest on any bonds or notes issued by such public corporation or improvement district thereof for such property or facility. For purposes of section 136.00 of the local finance law, any agreement by the authority to assume the primary responsibility for the payment of the principal and interest on any bonds or notes issued by any such public corporation or improvement district thereof shall, so long as such agreement shall continue to be honored by the authority, cause such bonds or notes to be deemed to have been refunded, and any such public corporation or improvement district thereof may deduct from its gross indebtedness any outstanding indebtedness contracted for such property or facility to be acquired by the authority. The net proceeds of any purchase, conveyance, or lease of any property or facility from a public corporation or improvement district thereof may be used by such public corporation or improvement district thereof for any general or specific public use;

7. To sell water, however acquired, by volume and at retail to individual consumers within the county of Monroe for domestic, commercial, industrial, and public purposes, or by volume or in bulk and at wholesale to any or all municipalities or privately owned public water supply and distribution systems in such county. The fact that any municipality has procured or is about to procure an independent source of water supply shall not prevent such municipality from purchasing water from the authority. To sell any water not needed in such county by volume and at retail to individual consumers within the county of Genesee, or in the town or village of Victor, the village of Bloomfield and the towns of East Bloomfield, Canadice, Richmond and West Bloomfield in Ontario county, or in the village of Holley and the towns of Clarendon and Kendall in Orleans county, for domestic, commercial, industrial, and public purposes, or by volume or in bulk and at wholesale to any municipality or privately owned public water supply and distribution system outside of the county; provided that any costs incurred by the authority related to the Genesee county project shall be recovered by the authority solely from Genesee county or from rates and charges collected from customers within Genesee county; and further provided that the authority shall not sell water in any area outside of the county unless the governing board of the municipality wherein such area is located shall enter into an agreement with the authority for service or sale of water by it in such area or shall by resolution request the authority to sell water within such area. Any agreement between a municipality outside of the county and the authority for the sale of water to or within such municipality shall be subject to the approval of the legislative body of the contiguous county wherein such municipality is located. Not only may the authority sell any surplus water it may have developed, but it may develop and provide a sufficient amount of water so as to supply water outside of the county to individual consumers, any municipality, or privately owned public water supply and distribution system;

8. To purchase water in bulk or by volume from any person, private corporation or municipality when necessary or convenient for the operation of any water supply and distribution system developed by it, or when necessary or convenient for resale under the authority and provisions of subdivision seven of this section;

9. To acquire, hold, use, lease, sell, transfer and dispose of any property, real, personal or mixed, or interest therein, for its corporate purposes;

10. To make by-laws for the management and regulation of its affairs, and subject to agreements with bondholders, rules for the sale of water and the collection of rents and charges therefor. A copy of such rules and by-laws, and all amendments thereto, duly certified by the secretary of the authority shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county and thereafter published once in two newspapers having a general circulation in the county. Violation of such rules shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by fine, not exceeding fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for not longer than thirty days, or both. Exclusive jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the local criminal courts of the county, which have trial jurisdiction, to hear and determine, subject to the provisions of the criminal procedure law, any violation of this title;

11. To use the officers, employees, facilities and equipment of the county with the consent of the county, paying a proper portion of the compensation or cost;

12. To make contracts and to execute all necessary or convenient instruments, including evidences of indebtedness, negotiable or non-negotiable;

13. To enter on any lands, waterways and premises for the purpose of making surveys, soundings and examinations;

14. To borrow money and to issue negotiable bonds or notes and to fund or refund the same, and to provide for the rights of the holders of its obligations;

15. To fix rates and collect charges for the use of the facilities of, or services rendered by, or any commodities furnished by the authority such as to provide revenues sufficient at all times to pay, as the same shall become due, the principal and interest on the bonds or notes of the authority together with the maintenance of proper reserves therefor, in addition to paying as the same shall become due the expense of operating and maintaining the properties of the authority together with proper reserves for depreciation, maintenance, and contingencies and all other obligations and indebtedness of the authority;

16. To enter into cooperative agreements with other water authorities, municipalities, or utility companies, for the inter-connection of facilities, the exchange or inter-change of services and commodities, and to enter into contracts for the construction of water supply and distribution systems by the authority for any municipality which possesses express reciprocal powers and having power to construct and develop a water supply and distribution system, or contracts for the construction of a water supply and distributions systems for the authority by a municipality which possesses express reciprocal powers and having power to construct and develop a water supply and distribution system, upon such terms and conditions as shall be determined to be reasonable including, but not limited to, the reimbursement of all costs of such construction, or for any other lawful purposes necessary or desirable to effect the purposes of this title, provided, however, that any such agreement with a municipality located in a county, other than Monroe county, shall be subject to the approval of the legislative body of such county. The authority shall also have the power to enter into contracts or agreements with other corporations, public or private,

(i) for or with respect to the financing, construction, development, expansion or improvement of properties, facilities, and appurtenances owned by the authority, with a part of the capacity or use of such properties, facilities and appurtenances utilized or to be utilized by or for the benefit of any such corporation and

(ii) for or with respect to the use, operation, management, repair and maintenance of such properties, facilities, and appurtenances of the authority, upon such terms and conditions as shall be determined to be reasonable, which may include, without limitation, collection by the authority of rents, rates or other charges to pay for the cost of construction, including debt service on obligations of the authority issued to finance construction, operation, management, maintenance, repair and use of such facilities; and municipalities having power to construct and develop water supply and distribution systems shall have the power to enter into contracts or agreements contemplated herein with the authority, including any such contract to which another corporation is a party;

16-a. To enter into a contract or contracts with the board of supervisors of Monroe county for the acquisition, construction and development of a water supply and distribution system, or any part or parts thereof, on behalf of a county water district, and to contract for the operation and management of such county water district, all as provided in article five-a of the county law and article five-b of the general municipal law. Such water authority shall be deemed the agent of Monroe county under any such contract. If such contract shall authorize the water authority to purchase supplies or equipment or to construct public works, such authority shall be subject to all provisions of law to which Monroe county would be subject in relation to advertising and awarding any such contracts for supplies, equipment or public works.

16-b.

(1) It is the purpose of this subdivision to provide a means whereby:

(i) the authority shall plan, construct, operate and manage both the water properties owned by the authority and additional water facilities to be hereafter constructed by the authority but financed and owned by the county so that such water properties and such water facilities may be operated as an integrated water system; and

(ii) the county shall finance the construction of and own additional water facilities and lease the same to or otherwise make the same available for use by the authority in order to assist the authority in providing such necessary improvements required for the operation of the water properties of the authority (the title to which water properties will, as provided by law, become vested in the county).

(2) For the purposes of this subdivision sixteen-b the term "water facilities" shall mean the acquisition, construction or reconstruction of or addition to a water supply or distribution system, whether or not including buildings, land or rights in land, original furnishings, equipment, machinery or apparatus, or the replacement of such equipment, machinery or apparatus, which water facilities are to be financed and owned by the county. For the purpose of this subdivision sixteen-b the term "water properties" means the source of water supply and the water supply and distribution system of the authority, including the plants, works, instrumentalities or parts thereof and appurtenances thereto, lands, easements, rights in land and water rights, rights of way, contract rights, franchises, approaches, connections, dams, reservoirs, water mains and pipe lines, pumping stations and equipment, and any other property, real, personal or mixed, incidental to and included in such source of supply and such system or parts thereof, and any improvements, extensions and betterments, now or hereafter constructed, acquired or made by the authority, other than the water facilities constructed by the authority but financed and owned by the county in accordance with the provisions of this subdivision.

(3) The county may, by resolution of the legislative body of such county, enter into an agreement or agreements with the authority providing:

(i) that water facilities shall be constructed by the authority, which water facilities shall be financed and owned by the county and leased or otherwise made available for the use of the authority; and

(ii) for the transfer to the authority for use in the execution of its corporate purposes of such water facilities hereafter financed and owned by the county in accordance with the provisions of this subdivision; provided, however, that title to such facilities shall remain in the county.

Such agreement shall constitute a contract for the passing to and vesting in the county of all rights and properties, including water properties, of the authority when all liabilities of the authority, other than its liabilities to the county pursuant to any agreements entered into pursuant to this subdivision, and the bonds of the authority have been paid in full or such liabilities or bonds have otherwise been discharged.

Such agreement or agreements may be amended, modified, changed or extended by supplemental agreements authorized and executed in the same manner as the original agreement provided that the provisions of any such supplemental agreement shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of this subdivision sixteen-b.

(4) Such agreement shall provide that until the rights and properties, including the water properties, of the authority shall pass to and be vested in the county as provided by law, the authority shall act as the agent of the county:

(i) to provide water facilities deemed necessary by the authority (a) to provide a supply of water sufficient to serve all customers of the water properties of the authority and of the water facilities of the county operated and managed by the authority, or (b) water facilities for the distribution of water deemed necessary by the authority to serve the territory of the authority within the county; and

(ii) to operate, manage, replace, maintain and repair such water facilities in conjunction with the water properties of the authority so that both the water properties of the authority and the water facilities owned and financed by the county shall be planned, operated and managed as an integrated water system.

(5) Such agreement shall provide for the transfer to and use by the authority of such water facilities by lease, license or other arrangement until such time as all rights and properties, including water properties, of the authority shall pass to and be vested in the county as provided by law and shall authorize the authority to take jurisdiction, control, possession and supervision of such water facilities and operate, manage, replace, maintain and repair the same together with the water properties of the authority as an integrated water system.

(6) Such agreement shall provide that the county shall pay an amount not to exceed twenty-seven million dollars to provide certain water facilities to be owned by the county and leased to or otherwise made available for use by the authority in accordance with the provisions of such agreement, which water facilities shall be described in terms sufficient for identification in the first agreement so executed by and between the county and the authority. The county may issue obligations pursuant to the local finance law in an amount not to exceed twenty-seven million dollars to pay the cost of such water facilities. The provisions of section four hundred of the county charter prohibiting the financing of permanent improvements by the issuance of obligations pursuant to the local finance law unless such permanent improvements are included in a budget of permanent improvements adopted and approved as provided by such section four hundred shall not be applicable to the financing of such water facilities by the issuance of such obligations of the county authority by this paragraph.

(7) Such agreement shall provide that the authority shall pay to the county for each fiscal year of the county an annual rental for the use of the water facilities financed and owned by the county which shall be an operating expense of the authority, and shall be equal to the sum of the following:

(i) the principal of any bonds of the county becoming due in such fiscal year issued in accordance with any agreement entered into pursuant to this subdivision; and

(ii) the interest on any obligations of the county, including bonds and notes, issued in accordance with any such agreement and becoming due in such fiscal year. Such agreement shall provide such further details as the parties deem necessary with respect to the time and manner of the payment of such annual rentals in order to assure that such annual rentals shall be available to the the county at the times and in the amounts required for the payment of such principal of bonds of the county and such interest on obligations of the county. Notwithstanding that the payment of such annual rentals shall be an operating expense of the authority, such agreement may provide that payment thereof shall be subordinate to all or any of certain payments hereinafter described required to be made by a certain trust indenture between the authority and a trustee dated as of February first, nineteen hundred fifty-nine. Such payments are the payments required to be made by said trust indenture to the debt service fund and the debt service reserve fund both created by such indenture.

(8) Such agreement shall provide that to facilitate the further acquisition, construction, reconstruction, extension or betterment of water facilities by the authority to be owned and financed by the county, other than and in addition to the water facilities to be financed by the county pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (6) of this subdivision, the authority, on or before September first in each year or on or before such earlier date in each year as such agreement may provide, may submit to the county manager a capital budget for the calendar year beginning on the succeeding January first of such proposed water facilities and the estimated cost thereof. Such capital budget shall be accompanied by a report of the consulting engineers retained by the authority pursuant to a certain trust indenture of the authority dated as of February one, nineteen hundred fifty-nine. Such report of the consulting engineers shall explain the need for or desirability of such proposed water facilities and shall state that the consulting engineers have approved the estimated cost thereof. Such capital budget of the authority and report of such consulting engineers shall describe such proposed water facilities in terms sufficient for identification. When received by the county manager, such capital budget of the authority and the report of the consulting engineers shall be used in the preparation of the budget of permanent public improvements of the county required to be prepared by section four hundred of the Monroe county charter in the same manner as if the providing of such additional water facilities originally were proposed by the county. The county shall pay the cost of any water facilities contained in a budget of permanent improvements after such budget has been adopted. At any time after the adoption of such budget of permanent improvements the county may finance any water facilities contained therein pursuant to the provisions of and in the manner provided by the local finance law. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this subdivision, in the event that any item for the providing of water facilities contained in the capital budget and report of the consulting engineers as submitted to the county manager shall not be made a part of the budget of permanent improvements of the county, the authority may, nevertheless, proceed to construct such proposed water facility as an addition to the water properties of the authority and finance the same by the issuance of obligations of the authority, subject, however, to:

(i) the provisions of any resolutions or trust indentures heretofore or hereafter adopted or executed by the authority, as the case may be, with respect to the construction of water properties and the financing thereof by the authority; and

(ii) the limitations, if any, on the issuance of bonds or obligations by the authority contained in any agreement executed pursuant to this subdivision sixteen-b.

(9) Such agreement may contain further provisions concerning the following, provided, however, that no provisions in any agreement or any supplemental agreement thereto shall require the authority to in any way impair the rights and remedies of the holders of obligations of the authority pursuant to any resolution or trust indenture of the authority heretofore adopted or executed authorizing or securing obligations of the authority:

(i) further provisions relating to the annual rentals due by the authority to the county as provided in this subdivision;

(ii) provisions that the rates, fees, rentals and other charges for the sale or distribution of water or for other services rendered by the water properties of the authority shall be in an amount sufficient to fully comply with any covenants with holders of obligations of the authority and in addition sufficient to pay the annual rentals payable by the authority to the county as provided in this subdivision and in any agreements or supplemental agreements executed in accordance with the provisions of this subdivision;

(iii) provisions limiting the issuance of bonds or obligations by the authority;

(iv) provisions limiting the power of the authority to sell or otherwise dispose of its water properties without the consent of the county;

(v) providing that when the rights and properties of the authority shall pass to and be vested in the county as provided by law the authority shall act as the agent of the county to plan, construct, operate and manage the water properties and water facilities then vested in and owned by the county for such term and extensions of such term as may be provided by any such agreements; and (vi) such other provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this subdivision sixteen-b as the parties shall deem necessary or desirable to implement the purpose and provisions of this subdivision sixteen-b.

(10) The proceeds of sale of obligations of the county issued pursuant to any agreement entered into pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to the provisions of section one hundred sixty-five of the local finance law and shall be paid and disbursed by the director of finance of the county on requisition by the authority or such person or persons as the authority may authorize to make such requisitions without further audit; provided, however, that the director of finance of the county may require that such requisitions shall be accompanied by properly itemized and verified or certified bills for materials, supplies or services.

(11) All contracts for the purchase of supplies or equipment or the construction of water facilities entered into with respect to the providing of water facilities to be financed and owned by the county and constructed by the authority shall be subject to all provisions of law which the county of Monroe would be subject to in relation to advertising and awarding any such contracts for supplies, equipment or the construction of water facilities

(12) The provisions of this subdivision sixteen-b shall be independent and cumulative power for the authority and the county to enter into the agreements authorized hereby and shall not be construed with or be limited by any of the provisions of article five-a of the county law and of this article of the public authorities law.

17. To accept grants, loans or contributions from the United States, the state of New York, or any agency or instrumentality of either of them, or the county, or an individual, by bequest or otherwise, and to expend the proceeds for any purposes of the authority;

18. To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers expressly given in this title.

19. To contract for the purposes of subdivision twenty-four of section ten of article two of the highway law.

In exercising the powers granted by this title, the authority shall not sell water in any area which is served by a water system owned or operated by a municipality unless the governing board of such municipality shall adopt a resolution requesting the authority to sell water in such area.

N.Y. Pub. Auth. Law § 1096