New York Laws
Title 6 - Albany Municipal Water Finance Authority
1115-I - Imposition and Disposition of Fees, Rates, Rents or Charges.

§ 1115-i. Imposition and disposition of fees, rates, rents or charges.
1. The water board shall establish, fix and revise, from time to time,
fees, rates, rents or other charges for the use of, or services
furnished, rendered or made available by, the water system or sewerage
system, or both, as the case may be, owned by the water board pursuant
to this title in such amount at least sufficient at all times so as to
provide funds in an amount sufficient, together with other revenues
available to the board, if any, (i) to pay to the authority, in
accordance with any agreement with the authority, an amount sufficient
for the purpose of paying the principal of and the interest on the
outstanding bonds of the authority as the same shall become due and
payable and maintaining or funding a capital or debt service reserve
fund therefor and, to the extent requested by the city in, or annually
pursuant to, any agreement, to pay to the city, in accordance with any
agreement, an amount sufficient for the purpose of paying the principal
of and interest on general obligation bonds of the city issued for or
allocable to the water system or sewerage system, or both, as the case
may be, as the same shall become due and payable, and to maintain or
fund reserves therefor, (ii) to pay to the city, in accordance with any
agreement, an amount sufficient for the purpose of paying the costs of
administering, maintaining, repairing and operating and the cost of
constructing capital improvements to the water system or sewerage
system, or both, as the case may be, (iii) to pay to the city in
accordance with any agreement entered into pursuant to section eleven
hundred fifteen-h of this title an amount sufficient for the purpose of
paying liabilities issued for or allocable to the water system or
sewerage system, or both, as the same shall become due and payable, (iv)
to meet any requirements of any agreement including requirements
relating to the establishment of reserves for renewal and replacement
and for uncollected charges and covenants respecting rates, (v) to pay
all other reasonable and necessary expenses of the authority and the
water board in relation thereto, and (vi) to the extent requested by the
city in or pursuant to any agreement to pay or provide for such other
purposes or projects as such city considers appropriate and in the
public interest. Any surplus of funds remaining in the water board after
such payments have been made shall be returned to the city for deposit
in the general fund.

2. There is hereby established in the custody of the water board a
special fund to be known as the local water fund. Such fund shall
consist of the revenues derived from the fees, rates, rents and service
charges established, charged and collected pursuant to this title and
any other income earned or moneys received by the water board. Revenues
in the local water fund shall be kept separate and shall not be
commingled with any other moneys in the custody of the water board. All
moneys, properties and assets acquired by the water board, whether as
revenues or otherwise, shall be held by it in trust for the purposes of
carrying out its powers and duties, and shall be used and reused in
accordance with the purposes and provisions of this article.

3. The water board shall deposit promptly, to the credit of the local
water fund, revenues collected under this article in a bank, banking
house or trust company as may be designated in or pursuant to the
agreements.

4. No such fee, rate, rent or other charge shall be established, fixed
or revised unless and until the water board has held a public hearing at
which the users of the water system or sewerage system, or both, as the
case may be, the owners of property served or to be served and other
interested persons, have had an opportunity to be heard concerning the
same. Notice of such public hearing shall be published by the water

board at least twenty days before the date set therefor in at least one
newspaper of general circulation in the city. Such notice shall set
forth the date, time and place of such hearing and shall include a brief
description of the matters to be considered at such hearing. A copy of
the notice shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the city and
shall be available for inspection by the public. At all such hearings,
any users of the water system or sewerage system, or both, as the case
may be, owners of property served or to be served and any other
interested persons shall have an opportunity to be heard concerning the
matters under consideration. Any decision of the water board on matters
considered at such public hearing shall be in writing and be made
available in the office of the water board for public inspection during
regular office hours. Such decision shall be published in at least one
newspaper of general circulation in the city within thirty days after
such decision is made. The fees, rates, rents or other charges so
established for any class of users of property served shall be extended
to cover any additional premises thereafter served which are within the
same class, without the necessity of a hearing thereon.

5. The fees, rates, rents or other charges established, fixed and
revised from time to time by the water board shall be collected by the
water board at such times and in such manner as may be determined by the
rules and regulations adopted by the water board consistent with the
provisions of this title.

6. Such fees, rates, rents or other charges, if not paid when due,
shall constitute a lien upon the premises served and a charge against
the owners thereof, which lien and charge shall bear interest at the
same rate as would unpaid taxes of the city. Such lien shall take
precedence over all other liens or encumbrances, except taxes, and may
be foreclosed against the lot or building served in the same manner as a
lien for such taxes. The amount which remains due and unpaid for sixty
days may, with interest thereon at the same rate as unpaid city taxes
and with reasonable attorneys' fees, be recovered by the water board in
a civil action in the name of the water board against such owners. The
city and any state agency shall be subject to the same fees, rates,
rents or other charges under the same conditions as other users of such
water system or sewerage system, or both, as the case may be. Any
agreement for the supply of water services or sewerage services between
the city or an agency thereof and any other municipality or water supply
system, or any administrative determination by a state agency, or any
other arrangement in this regard, in effect at the time the water board
shall be established, shall remain in full force and effect and be
binding upon the water board as if it were a party to such agreement,
determination or other arrangement. All rights, powers, duties,
obligations and functions provided by law with respect to the fixing of
charges or rates for the supply of water or sewerage services to users
outside the city, including but not limited to those set forth in the
environmental conservation law, shall be deemed to apply, as
appropriate, to the water board established pursuant to this title. In
addition to any other lawful enforcement methods and pursuant to rules
and regulations of the water board promulgated pursuant to this title,
the payment of fees, rates, rents or other charges for water service or
sewerage service to any premises may be enforced by discontinuing the
water service or sewerage service to such premises provided that such
discontinuance or disconnection of any supply of water or the provision
of sewerage service, or both, as the case may be, shall not be carried
out except in the manner and upon the notice as is required of a
water-works corporation pursuant to subdivisions three-a, three-b and

three-c of section eighty-nine-b and section one hundred sixteen of the
public service law.

7. The water board shall pay to the authority such amounts at such
times and in such manner as may be provided in the agreement by and
among the authority, the water board and the city consistent with the
priorities set forth in such agreement. There is hereby created a lien,
by this title made a statutory lien within the meaning of the uniform
commercial code and any other state or federal law, upon the gross
revenues of the water board, in favor of the payment of all amounts due
pursuant to such agreement and in the order and priority set forth
therein and which lien shall be a first lien upon such gross revenues.
The gross revenues so subject to such statutory lien shall be and remain
subject to such statutory lien until the payment in full of each such
item in accordance with such priority. Said statutory lien shall not be
construed to give any holder or owner of any bond of the authority power
to compel the sale of any water system or sewerage system, as the case
may be.

8. If there be any default by the water board, in the making of the
payments to the authority required under this section, as a result of
the failure by the water board to impose sufficient fees, rates, rents
or other charges, the authority may petition for the appointment by any
court having jurisdiction in any proper action of a receiver to
administer on behalf of the water board, under the direction of said
court, the affairs of the water board in order to achieve system
revenues at least sufficient to make such payments; and by and with the
approval of said court, to establish, fix and revise, from time to time,
fees, rates, rents or other charges at least sufficient therefor in
conformity with this title, and the resolution or trust indenture of the
authority providing for the issuance of its bonds and in accordance with
such orders as the court shall make.

9. The water board shall prepare and transmit to the city on or before
the first day of December in each year a list of those persons or
property owners within such city who are in arrears in the payment of
fees, rates, rents or other charges for a period of sixty days or more
after the last day fixed for payment thereof without penalty. The list
shall contain a brief description of the properties for which the
services were provided, the names of the persons liable to pay for the
same and the amounts chargeable to each, including penalties and
interest computed to the next succeeding December thirty-first. The city
shall levy such sums against the properties liable and shall state the
amount thereof in a separate column in the annual tax rolls of such city
under the name of "delinquent water charges" or "delinquent sewerage
charges" or "delinquent water and sewerage charges" as may be
appropriate and as may be directed by the water board. Such amounts, as
and when collected by the city, shall be paid over to the water board.
All of the provisions of the tax laws of the state covering the
enforcement and collection of unpaid taxes of the city shall apply to
the collection of such unpaid fees, rates, rents or other charges.

10. Neither the public service commission, nor any city or state
agency, shall have any jurisdiction over the water board or the
authority or any power over the regulation of the fees, rates, rents or
other charges established, fixed or revised by the water board except as
provided by law with respect to the supply of water or sewerage services
to users outside the city.