NY Env Conserv L § 17-1907 (2021)
2021 New York Laws ENV - Environmental Conservation Article 17 - Water Pollution Control Title 19 - State Aid: Collection, Treatment, and Disposal of Sewage 17-1907 - Contracts for Construction of Sewer Systems.

§ 17-1907. Contracts for construction of sewer systems.   1. As used in this section:   a.  "Construction"  means  and includes the building, installation, or extension of a sewer system; the inspection and supervision thereof; the engineering,  legal,  fiscal  and  economic   investigations;   studies, surveys,  designs, plans, contract drawings, specifications, procedures; and other actions necessary thereto.   b. "Sewer system" means and includes pipe lines or  conduits,  pumping stations,  force  mains,  and  all  other  constructions,  devices,  and appliances  appurtenant  thereto,  used  for  conducting   sewage   (the water-carried  human,  animal or other treatable wastes from residences, buildings, industrial and commercial establishments or other places)  to a  point  of  connection  to  the  sewage  treatment works as defined in section 17-1903.   c. "Sewer connection" means and includes a point of connection between a building, residence or other structure and a public sewer.   d. "Residence" means and includes a building  or  structure  which  is occupied  principally  as  the  home  of  one or more persons; provided, however, that such building or  structure  contain  not  more  than  two dwelling units.   e.  "Municipality"  means  and  includes  any  county,  town, village, district corporation, county or town improvement district, or any two or more of the foregoing which are acting jointly  in  connection  with  an eligible   project.  For  purposes  of  this  section  only,  an  Indian reservation located partly or wholly within  New  York  State  shall  be construed as a "municipality".   f.  "Local  governing  body"  means  and includes (1) in a county, the county legislative body (2) in a town, the town board; (3) in a village, the board of trustees; (4) in a district corporation or  an  improvement district,  the governing board; (5) in an Indian reservation, the proper tribal officials.   g. "Federal assistance" means and includes funds available, other than by loan, from the federal government to a municipality, either  directly or  through  allocation by the state, for construction of a sewer system or which are used for such construction, pursuant to any  other  federal law or program.   i.  "Project" means the construction of the whole or connected portion of a sewage collection  system.  Where  the  construction  of  a  sewage collection  system  is  phased over a period of years, each phase may be considered as a project.   j. "Eligible project" means a project which in  the  judgment  of  the commissioner meets all of the following requirements:  (1)  It is in accord with applicable comprehensive studies and reports made pursuant to section 17-1901 of this article;  (2)  It  conforms  with  applicable  rules  and  regulations  of   the commissioner  and,  in  his  opinion,  reflects  a  reasonable effort to develop maximum economy in planning, design and  construction,  with  an acceptable ratio between costs and benefits;  (3)  It  is  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  state water pollution control program;  (4) It is under construction in the period between April 1,  1965  and March 31, 1977;  (5)  No  portion  of  the  project aided herein is eligible to receive assistance pursuant to section 17-1903;  (6) It serves inhabited residences in existence prior to the effective date of this law;  (7) It serves the public by providing for  the  collection  of  sewage (house   connections   and   pipes  collecting  exclusively  industrial, commercial and other nonresidential waste are ineligible);  (8) The project or major part thereof is, at the time of construction, located  in:  (a)  a  town  which  has  a  total population of seventeen thousand or less persons, or (b) a town outside of  village  area  which has  a  population  density  per  square  mile  of less than one hundred persons.   k. "Capital cost" means the actual cost of construction of an eligible project, not to include the cost of securing financing  or  interest  on funds  borrowed to finance such construction, and representing that part of the cost of the eligible project that is  not  paid  by  the  federal government.   l. "Annual debt service" means such amounts as shall be required to be paid  annually  to  amortize  obligations  (both principal and interest) issued in order to finance the capital  cost  of  an  eligible  project; provided,  however, that for the purposes of state aid, such annual debt service shall be computed on a debt amortization schedule  of  not  less than  thirty  years nor more than forty years, as the commissioner shall determine, and  shall  not  include  any  other  debt  service  (whether principal or interest) on obligations of or on behalf of a municipality, other  capital  costs, or expenditures for the purpose as to which state reimbursement is claimed under any provision  of  law  other  than  this section.  Where  the  eligible  portion  of the sewage collection system serves non-residential users as well as residences, the amount of annual debt service to be used in computing  state  aid  shall  be  reduced  as determined  by the commissioner, to compensate for the benefits received by the nonresidential users from such system.   m.  "State  aid"  means  financial  support  made   available   to   a municipality  by  way  of  state  participation  in annual debt service, through  contracts  entered  into  between  the  commissioner  and   the municipality,  upon  such terms and conditions as the commissioner shall deem appropriate, which shall be  based  on  the  number  of  residences served by the eligible project and computed as follows:  (1)  The  amount  of  annual debt service, as defined above, minus the municipality's share of the  expense  for  construction  of  the  sewage collection system.  (2)  The  municipality's  share  shall be the product of the number of residential sewer connections served by the  project  multiplied  by  an adjusted  rate.  The  adjusted  rate  shall  be determined by applying a valuation correction from the sum of one hundred twenty-five dollars.  (3) Valuation correction shall consist of minus one  dollar  for  each one  thousand  dollars  or part thereof that the project area per capita full value is less than the average per capita full value for the  state excluding  all  cities.  For projects wholly located within a village or town the project area per capita full value shall be the per capita full value for the  village,  or  for  the  town  outside  of  village  area, respectively.    For  other projects, per capita full value shall be per capita full value of the town or village within which the major  portion of  the  project  is  located. Per capita full value shall mean the full value of such municipality or area divided by the population thereof.   The amount of such state aid shall be recomputed  each  year,  on  the basis  of  data  reported by the local governing body as accepted by the commissioner.  State  aid  shall  commence  in  the  state  fiscal  year beginning  April  1,  l971.  No  state-aid payments shall be made on the basis of any portion of the debt service of eligible projects which  was due and payable prior to April 1, 1971.    2.  For  the  purpose  of meeting the state responsibility as provided herein, with respect to the protection and promotion of  the  health  of the  inhabitants  of  the  state  by the provision of sewer systems, the commissioner, in the name of the state, may enter  into  contracts  with municipalities  having  power  to  construct, operate and maintain sewer systems, and any such municipality may enter into a  contract  with  the commissioner concerning eligible projects. Any such contract may include such  provisions as may be agreed upon by the parties thereto, and shall include, in substance, the following provisions:   a. The cost of the eligible project as determined by the commissioner.   b. The method by which the eligible project shall be financed.   c. An agreement between  the  commissioner  and  the  municipality  to provide  state aid to the municipality each year, during the progress of construction or following completion of construction as  may  be  agreed upon by the parties.   d. An agreement by the municipality  (1)  To  proceed  expeditiously  with,  and  complete,  the project in accordance with plans approved  pursuant  to  section  17-0701  of  this article;  (2)  To  commence  operation  of the sewer system on completion of the project, and not to discontinue operation of the  sewer  system  without the approval of the commissioner,  (3)  To  operate  and  maintain  the  sewer  system in accordance with applicable provisions of this article, the state sanitary code and rules and regulations of the commissioner,  (4) To apply  for  and  make  reasonable  efforts  to  secure  federal assistance for the project,  (5)  To  secure  the  approval of the commissioner before applying for federal assistance, in order to maximize the amounts of such  assistance received or to be received for all projects in New York state,  (6) To provide for the payment of the municipality's share of the cost of the project,  (7)  To  execute  a contract or agreement with the owner of the sewage treatment plant, if other than the municipality itself, to accept sewage from the sewage collection system aided under this section, and  (8) To promulgate a municipal sewage use ordinance acceptable  to  the commissioner.   e.  A  provision  that, in the event that federal assistance which was not included in the calculation of the capital cost becomes available to the municipality, the amount of the state payment shall be  recalculated by  deducting  the  amount  of such federal assistance from the eligible capital  cost,  and  adjustment  shall  be  made  either  (1)   by   the municipality  paying to the state the amount by which the state payments actually made exceed the state payments determined by the  recalculation or, (2) by deducting the excess paid from subsequent payments to be made by the state.   3.  The  commissioner  may  adopt  rules  and  regulations pursuant to subdivision 3 of section 17-0303 of this article  governing  the  making and enforcing of contracts pursuant to this section.   4.  All  contracts  entered  into  pursuant  to  this section shall be subject to approval by  the  state  comptroller,  and  by  the  attorney general as to form. All payments by the state pursuant to such contracts shall  be made after audit by and upon the warrant of the comptroller on vouchers approved by the commissioner.   5. In connection with each contract concerning an eligible project the commissioner shall keep adequate records of the amount of the payment by the state pursuant to subparagraph c of subdivision two of this section, and of the amount of federal assistance received by the municipality.