Provides that monies may not be withdrawn from the revenue stabilization fund of the city of New York in any fiscal year unless the mayor has certified that there is a compelling fiscal need, including a national or regional recession of at least two quarters of declining real gross city product, a natural or other disaster, including terrorist attacks, or a declared state of emergency in the city of New York or the state of New York.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5425
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 10, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BRAUNSTEIN -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to monies with-
drawn from the revenue stabilization fund of the city of New York
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 25 of the general municipal law,
2 as added by chapter 118 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 3. The city of New York may establish and maintain a revenue stabili-
5 zation fund pursuant to section fifteen hundred twenty-eight of the New
6 York city charter and this chapter. A target amount of fiscal reserves
7 to be maintained in such fund shall be designated at an amount adequate
8 to fulfill the purpose of the fund with the goal of representing no less
9 than twelve percent and no more than eighteen percent of the operating
10 budget. The adequacy of the fund's target reserves shall be reviewed
11 periodically and be determined based on an analysis of revenue sources,
12 revenue volatility and other relevant risk factors. Except as required
13 by subdivision two of this section with respect to surpluses, deposits
14 into and withdrawals from such fund may be made by means of the proce-
15 dures set forth in such charter for adoption or modification of the
16 expense budget of such city, as applicable, provided that [no more than
17 fifty percent of the total amount of such fund] monies shall be deposit-
18 ed annually until the target amount of fiscal reserves is reached and
19 such deposits shall be included as appropriations in the adopted expense
20 budget of the city of New York, and monies may not be withdrawn in any
21 fiscal year unless the mayor has certified in writing that there is a
22 compelling fiscal need[, which may] and the withdrawal of such monies
23 has been approved by a two-thirds vote of the city council. A compelling
24 fiscal need shall be based on circumstances including[, but not be
25 limited to,] a national or regional recession of at least two quarters
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10117-01-3
A. 5425 2
1 of declining real gross city product, [a reduction in total revenues
2 from the preceding fiscal year as projected in the financial plan of the
3 city of New York,] a natural or other disaster, including terrorist
4 attacks, or a declared state of emergency in the city of New York or the
5 state of New York. Withdrawals shall commence within twelve months of
6 the unanticipated event triggering such withdrawal and shall not exceed
7 fifty percent of the total amount of such fund in any fiscal year. Any
8 withdrawals from the fund shall be replenished within the shortest prac-
9 ticable period of time. The authority to establish a revenue stabiliza-
10 tion fund set forth in this subdivision shall be in addition to any
11 other authorization set forth in this article or other applicable law.
12 § 2. Section 25 of the general municipal law is amended by adding a
13 new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
14 4. For as long as a revenue stabilization fund is maintained, the city
15 of New York shall publish on its official website a statement of its
16 budget reserve policy as it relates to such fund and the procedures
17 governing the operation of the fund. At a minimum such statement shall
18 describe:
19 (a) The purpose of the revenue stabilization fund;
20 (b) The target amount of fiscal reserves to be maintained in the fund
21 and the rationale as to why the target amount is adequate to meet the
22 purposes of the fund;
23 (c) The procedures for depositing and withdrawing monies from the
24 fund;
25 (d) The process for budgeting annual deposits to the fund and the
26 analysis used to determine the amount of annual deposits; and
27 (e) The policy for replenishing withdrawals from the fund within the
28 shortest practicable period of time.
29 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
30 it shall have become a law.