STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7738
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 31, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. FARRELL -- (at request of the Governor) -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, the local finance law and the
civil service law, in relation to the financial restructuring board
for local governments and providing for the expiration of certain
provisions of the civil service law
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph t of subdivision 10 of section 54 of the state
2 finance law, as added by section 3 of part K of chapter 57 of the laws
3 of 2011 and as relettered by section 3 of part K of chapter 55 of the
4 laws of 2013, and subparagraph (vii) as added and subparagraph (viii) as
5 renumbered by section 3-a of part K of chapter 55 of the laws of 2013,
6 is amended to read as follows:
7 t. Local government performance and efficiency program. (i) (1) Defi-
8 nitions. For the purposes of this [paragraph] subparagraph, "munici-
9 pality" shall mean a county, city, town, or village, but shall not
10 include the individual counties contained in the city of New York.
11 [(ii)] (2) Purpose. [There is hereby established a local government
12 performance and efficiency program.] The purpose of [this program]
13 awards made pursuant to this subparagraph is to recognize municipalities
14 that have undertaken significant and innovative actions to improve the
15 overall efficiency of governmental operations and produce quantifiable
16 recurring financial savings that reduce the municipal tax burden on
17 residents.
18 [(iii)] (3) Eligibility. All municipalities in New York state are
19 eligible to apply individually or jointly, provided however that if an
20 action was undertaken jointly, municipalities must apply jointly for
21 such an action. The actions for which they apply must already have been
22 implemented.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD12027-02-3
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1 [(iv)] (4) Use of awards. Awards received [pursuant to the program]
2 shall be used by municipalities for general municipal purposes.
3 [(v)] (5) Application. The secretary of state shall develop an appli-
4 cation for municipalities seeking to receive awards and a process by
5 which the applications will be evaluated. Such application shall require
6 municipalities to demonstrate how the action for which they have applied
7 has resulted in quantifiable recurring savings, efficiencies, and perma-
8 nent improvements to municipal services. The secretary of state may
9 focus the [program] awards in specific functional service areas, in
10 which case such areas of focus shall be detailed in a request for appli-
11 cations. No application shall be considered for actions that commenced
12 prior to January first, two thousand ten.
13 [(vi)] (6) Awards. The secretary of state may make awards to appli-
14 cants based on factors including, but not limited to, the amount of
15 current and future savings, the impact of such action upon the municipal
16 property tax levy, the size and complexity of the action, and the abili-
17 ty for the action to be replicated by other municipalities. Awards shall
18 only be made to municipalities for actions that have been fully imple-
19 mented, that clearly resulted in quantifiable savings and efficiencies,
20 and that produced permanent and quantifiable improvements to municipal
21 efficiency or services. The maximum amount awarded per application shall
22 not exceed the lesser of five million dollars or twenty-five dollars per
23 resident of the applying municipalities as of the most recent federal
24 decennial census, provided, however, that if the boundaries of munici-
25 palities jointly applying for such funding overlap, the residents in
26 overlapping areas shall only be counted once, and provided, further,
27 that if a county jointly applies with some but not all of the other
28 municipalities therein, only the residents in such other municipalities
29 shall be counted.
30 [(vii)] (7) Written notice shall be provided to an applicant of a
31 decision regarding the grant or denial of an award under this paragraph,
32 within thirty days after such decision.
33 [(viii)] (8) Regulation. The secretary of state shall, prior to the
34 establishment of applications, promulgate rules and regulations on the
35 [program] awards, including but not limited to award eligibility crite-
36 ria and application, review and approval procedures.
37 (ii)(1) Definitions. For the purposes of this subparagraph, "fiscally
38 distressed municipality" shall have the same meaning as "fiscally
39 distressed municipality" as defined by section 160.05 of the local
40 finance law. For the purposes of this subparagraph, "financial restruc-
41 turing board for local governments" or "board" shall mean the financial
42 restructuring board for local governments as authorized by section
43 160.05 of the local finance law.
44 (2) In addition to awards made pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this
45 paragraph, the board may award funding to fiscally distressed munici-
46 palities for financial restructuring and related purposes, as determined
47 by the board. This funding may be structured as a loan, a grant, or
48 combination thereof. The amount of such funding to be provided to a
49 fiscally distressed municipality, the structure of such funding, any
50 conditions to be placed on a fiscally distressed municipality that
51 accepts such funding, and any other aspects of funding awarded pursuant
52 to this subparagraph shall be determined by an affirmative vote of a
53 majority of the total number of members of the board and may differ for
54 each award of funding. Such loans shall not be bound by the local
55 finance law with respect to terms and repayment limitations. Further,
56 any such loans shall not be considered debt for purposes of calculating
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1 constitutional limit provisions. Notwithstanding any other law to the
2 contrary, the director of the budget may direct the state comptroller to
3 withhold any state aid payments due to a fiscally distressed munici-
4 pality in order to satisfy the repayment conditions of the funding
5 awarded pursuant to this subparagraph.
6 § 2. The local finance law is amended by adding a new section 160.05
7 to read as follows:
8 § 160.05. Financial restructuring board for local governments. 1.
9 There shall be a financial restructuring board for local governments
10 which shall consist of five members: the director of the budget who
11 shall be chair of the board, the attorney general, the state comp-
12 troller, and the secretary of state, each of whom may designate a repre-
13 sentative to attend sessions of the board on his or her behalf, and one
14 designee with significant experience in municipal financial and restruc-
15 turing matters appointed by the governor. The designee of the governor
16 shall serve at his or her pleasure and shall receive fair compensation
17 for his or her services performed pursuant to this section in an amount
18 to be determined by the director of the budget and be reimbursed for all
19 reasonable expenses actually and necessarily incurred by him or her in
20 the performance of his or her duties. The board shall have the power to
21 act by an affirmative vote of a majority of the total number of members
22 and shall render its findings and recommendations within nine months of
23 being requested to act by a fiscally distressed municipality. The
24 provisions of section seventeen of the public officers law shall apply
25 to members of the board. No member of the board shall be held liable for
26 the performance of any function or duty authorized by this section. The
27 board may contract with such staff and entities as needed to carry out
28 its functions pursuant to this section. All proceedings, meetings and
29 hearings conducted by the board shall be held in the city of Albany.
30 2. A "fiscally distressed municipality" shall mean any county, city,
31 excluding a city with a population greater than one million, town, or
32 village that the director of the budget determines is fiscally
33 distressed. In considering whether a county, city, town or village is
34 fiscally distressed, the director of the budget may consider, fund
35 balance, full value property tax rate, operating deficit, population,
36 and constitutional tax limit exhaustion, and any other factors in his or
37 her discretion consistent with the purposes of this section.
38 3. Upon the request of a fiscally distressed municipality, by resol-
39 ution of the governing body of the fiscally distressed municipality, the
40 financial restructuring board for local governments shall undertake a
41 comprehensive review of the operations, finances, management practices,
42 economic base and any other factors that in its sole discretion it deems
43 relevant to be able to make findings and recommendations on reforming
44 and restructuring the operations of the fiscally distressed munici-
45 pality. The board may require the fiscally distressed municipality to
46 agree to fiscal accountability measures, as determined by the board,
47 including, but not limited to, multi-year financial planning. It may
48 also identify cost-saving measures, recommend consolidation of functions
49 or agencies within the financially distressed municipality or between
50 the financially distressed municipality and other municipalities, iden-
51 tify and make available, to the extent otherwise permitted by law,
52 grants and loans on such terms and conditions as it deems appropriate,
53 and make such other recommendations as the board may deem just and prop-
54 er. Such recommendations shall not be final and binding on a fiscally
55 distressed municipality unless it formally agrees to abide by and imple-
56 ment such recommendations in which event such recommendations and the
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1 terms provided thereunder shall be final and binding on the fiscally
2 distressed municipality.
3 4. The board may hold hearings and shall have authority to require the
4 production of any information that it deems necessary to undertake its
5 comprehensive review.
6 5. The board shall also be authorized to resolve an impasse pursuant
7 to subdivision four-a of section two hundred nine of the civil service
8 law.
9 § 3. Section 209 of the civil service law is amended by adding a new
10 subdivision 4-a to read as follows:
11 4-a. (a) Notwithstanding anything in subdivision four of this section
12 to the contrary, a public employer that is also a fiscally distressed
13 municipality, as defined in section 160.05 of the local finance law, and
14 is otherwise subject to subdivision four of this section may, and a
15 public employee organization subject to subdivision four of this section
16 may, jointly stipulate and agree that an impasse exists, at any time,
17 with respect to collective negotiations between the parties for a
18 collective bargaining agreement and, in lieu of commencing a proceeding
19 under subdivision four of this section, jointly request that the finan-
20 cial restructuring board for local governments, established in section
21 160.05 of the local finance law, resolve such impasse. A joint agree-
22 ment pursuant to this subdivision shall be irrevocable.
23 (b) The financial restructuring board for local governments shall
24 render a just and reasonable determination of the matters in dispute by
25 an affirmative vote of a majority of the total number of its members.
26 In arriving at such determination, it shall specify the basis for its
27 findings, taking into consideration, in addition to any other relevant
28 factors, those factors set forth in subparagraph (v) of paragraph (c) of
29 subdivision four of this section. In all matters regarding public
30 disclosure of its proceedings and findings, it shall be treated the same
31 as the panel convened pursuant to subdivision four of this section. It
32 shall render a determination within nine months of being formally
33 requested by the parties to convene.
34 (c) Each party before the financial restructuring board for local
35 governments may be heard either in person, by counsel, or by other
36 representatives, as they may respectively designate and may present,
37 either orally or in writing, or both, statements of fact, supporting
38 witnesses and other evidence, and argument of their respective positions
39 with respect to each case. The board shall have authority to require
40 the production of additional evidence, either oral or written, as it may
41 desire from the parties. All proceedings, meetings and hearings
42 conducted by the board shall be held in the city of Albany.
43 (d) The determination of the financial restructuring board for local
44 governments with respect to the conditions of employment presented to it
45 pursuant to this section shall be final and binding upon the parties for
46 the period prescribed by such board, but in no event shall such period
47 exceed four years from the termination date of any previous collective
48 bargaining agreement or if there is no previous collective bargaining
49 agreement then for a period not to exceed four years from the date of
50 determination by the board. Such determination shall not be subject to
51 the approval of any local legislative body or other municipal authority,
52 and shall only be subject to review by a court of competent jurisdiction
53 in the manner prescribed by law.
54 (e) A request by a public employer to proceed pursuant to this subdi-
55 vision, shall constitute a request by such public employer, as a fiscal-
56 ly distressed municipality, to the financial restructuring board for
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1 local governments to undertake a comprehensive review of the operations
2 of the fiscally distressed municipality pursuant to section 160.05 of
3 the local finance law. The financial restructuring board for local
4 governments shall proceed pursuant to such request in accordance with
5 that section. Findings and recommendations rendered pursuant to this
6 paragraph and section 160.05 of the local finance law shall be stated
7 separately from those determinations otherwise rendered pursuant to this
8 subdivision.
9 § 4. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
10 section or part of this article shall be adjudged by any court of compe-
11 tent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair,
12 or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its opera-
13 tion to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part
14 thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment
15 shall have been rendered.
16 § 5. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
17 have become a law, provided, that the provisions of subdivision 4-a of
18 section 209 of the civil service law, as added by section three of this
19 act, shall apply to any public employment dispute which shall be at an
20 impasse on or after the date this act shall have become a law and shall
21 expire on the same date as the provisions of subdivision 4 of section
22 209 of the civil service law expire pursuant to paragraph (d) of subdi-
23 vision 4 of section 209 of the civil service law, as amended.
