ยง 73. State subsidies. The commissioner may in the name of the state
enter into contracts to make periodic subsidies (1) to an authority or a
municipality for one or more projects to assist in achieving and
maintaining the low rent character of a project, or, (2) to a
municipality to assist in the clearance, replanning, reconstruction and
rehabilitation of substandard and insanitary areas pursuant to and in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the general municipal
law and any other laws authorizing municipalities to establish and carry
out a federal program of urban renewal with federal aid, payable in
either case only with moneys appropriated therefor from the general fund
of the state, provided, however, (a) that no contracts for periodic
subsidies shall be entered into in any one year requiring payments for
both such purposes aggregating more than two million eight hundred sixty
thousand dollars in any one year, of which amount not more than two
million five hundred thousand dollars shall be with respect to contracts
for payments to assist in achieving and maintaining the low rent
character of projects; (b) that there shall not be outstanding at any
one time contracts for periodic subsidies requiring payments exceeding
an aggregate of forty-four million dollars in any one year, of which
amount not more than forty-two million fifty thousand dollars shall be
with respect to contracts for payments to assist in achieving and
maintaining the low rent character of the projects. All such contracts
shall be subject to approval by the state comptroller, and by the
attorney general as to form.
The periodic subsidy for any project shall be payable on an annual
basis, in amounts which need not be uniform, over a fixed period of
years not exceeding the life of the project assisted by such subsidy and
in any event for not more than fifty years. Portions of the periodic
subsidy payable for any one year may be paid from time to time as
required. The period of years during which the periodic subsidy shall be
payable shall commence on the date of substantial completion of the
project, as determined by the commissioner. The maximum subsidy payable
in any one year on any one project shall not exceed a sum equal to the
largest annual interest charge on funds borrowed from the state to
finance such project plus one per centum of the project cost not
including, however, funds borrowed from the state for working capital.
Where all or any part of the funds necessary to finance the project
are borrowed from sources other than the state or federal government the
periodic subsidy may equal but shall not exceed the largest annual
interest charge on all borrowed funds plus one per centum of the project
cost. The periodic subsidies shall be further limited to amounts and
periods necessary in the determination of the commissioner to assure the
low-rent character of the project involved.
The contract of the commissioner providing for such periodic subsidies
shall guarantee their payment over such fixed period of years. The faith
of the state is pledged to the payment of all periodic subsidies
contracted for by the commissioner. Such periodic subsidies shall be
paid upon the audit and warrant of the state comptroller upon vouchers
approved by the commissioner.
No state subsidy shall be made available for any project unless and
until: (a) the municipality in which such project is situated shall
contract or have contracted to make subsidies to such project in an
amount at least equal to the subsidy contracted to be made by the state,
all or any part of which municipal subsidy may be in the form of
exemption of the project from county, city, village, town, school and
special district taxes to the extent specified in subdivision four of
section fifty-two of this chapter; (b) the findings required by section
seventy-one of this chapter have been made by the commissioner. Such
findings shall be conclusive evidence of the facts therein contained
except upon proof of fraud or willful misfeasance by the commissioner.
For the purpose of determining the amount of subsidy to be paid by a
municipality in any year pursuant to clause (a) of this paragraph, a
project shall be deemed to have been granted tax exemption for that year
for so much of the actual incurred development cost of the project at
the close of the period for which state subsidy is payable as represents
an increase over the assessed valuation of the real property, both land
and improvements, included in the project on the date of the contract
for a state subsidy, notwithstanding the fact that at the close of such
period tax assessments or assessment-rolls reflecting the actual value
of the project have not as yet been prepared, entered, or completed, nor
that the due date for the payment of the taxes has not as yet occurred,
and provided further that whenever there has been a change in the
overall level of assessment and the commissioner of taxation and finance
has certified a percentage change in the level of assessment pursuant to
the provisions of subdivision four of section fifty-two of this chapter,
the value of the tax exemption shall be computed by multiplying the tax
rate which is to be applied to the assessed value deemed to be tax
exempt under this paragraph by the percentage change in the level of
assessment plus one hundred percent.