NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6758
SPONSOR: Jaffee (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act authorizing the county of Rockland to issue
bonds; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration
thereof
PURPOSE:
To authorize the county of Rockland (the "County") to issue up to $96
million in bonds to liquidate the projected accumulated deficit in its
general fund for the fiscal years ending December 31, 2010, December 31,
2011 and December 31, 2012.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The County is authorized to issue bonds on or before December 31, 2014
in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $96,000,000 for the
specific object or purpose of liquidating the projected accumulated
deficit in the general fund of such county for the fiscal years ending
December 31, 2010, December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2012. In antic-
ipation of the issuance of the bonds authorized to be issued by this
act, the issuance and sale of bond anticipation notes is authorized.
For each fiscal year during the time bonds and/or notes issued pursuant
to this act are outstanding, the County Executive shall submit the
proposed budget to the State Comptroller thirty days prior to the county
legislature's scheduled vote on the adoption of the final budget. The
State Comptroller shall examine the proposed budget and make recommenda-
tions and the county shall make adjustments to the proposed budget
consistent with any such recommendations.
JUSTIFICATION:
The County needs state legislative approval to finance the projected
accumulated $96 million deficit over a ten year period. The County
increased property taxes by 30% in the County's adopted 2012 budget, is
currently negotiating with its public employee collective bargaining
units to control personnel costs, and is otherwise evaluating its policy
options to address significant increases in the costs of state retire-
ment fund contributions and unfunded state mandated service costs during
this very difficult economic environment for all local governments. The
County is also evaluating the operations and possible disposition of its
nursing home which requires significant annual operating subsidies. By
local law, the County has imposed a multi-year financial planning
requirement to facilitate understanding of revenue and expenditure
trends and support fiscal management over a multi-year time horizon.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill; similar to S.7736/A.10707 of 2012.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; and shall remain in full force
and effect until the tenth anniversary of the date of second issuance of
deficit bonds or deficit notes pursuant to this act.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
S. 4674 A. 6758
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
SENATE - ASSEMBLY
April 17, 2013
___________
IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sens. CARLUCCI, LARKIN -- read twice and
ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Local Government
IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. JAFFEE, ZEBROWSKI, RABBITT -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Local Governments
AN ACT authorizing the county of Rockland to issue bonds; and providing
for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "Rockland county deficit financing act".
3 § 2. Definitions. (a) "Budget" shall mean a current operating budget
4 of the county prepared or adopted pursuant to general, special or local
5 law, being the annual budget and estimate of expenditures to be made
6 during a fiscal year for the general support and current expenses of the
7 government of the county to be paid from taxes or assessments or other
8 current revenues of the county for such year.
9 (b) "Comptroller" shall mean the New York state comptroller.
10 (c) "County" shall mean the county of Rockland.
11 (d) "County executive" shall mean the county executive of Rockland
12 county.
13 (e) "County legislature" shall mean the legislative body of the county
14 of Rockland.
15 (f) "Fiscal year" shall mean the fiscal year of the county.
16 § 3. Bonds. The county of Rockland is hereby authorized to issue seri-
17 al bonds, subject to the provisions of section 10.10 of the local
18 finance law, on or before September 30, 2014, in an aggregate principal
19 amount not to exceed ninety-six million dollars ($96,000,000) for the
20 specific object or purpose of liquidating current deficits in its gener-
21 al fund as of December 31, 2010, December 31, 2011 and December 31,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02733-02-3
S. 4674 2 A. 6758
1 2012. In anticipation of the issuance and sale of such serial bonds,
2 bond anticipation notes are hereby authorized to be issued.
3 § 4. Budget review by state comptroller. During the effective period
4 of this act, the county executive shall submit the proposed budget for
5 the next succeeding fiscal year to the state comptroller no later than
6 thirty days before the date scheduled for the county legislature's vote
7 on the adoption of the final budget or the last date on which the budget
8 may be finally adopted, whichever is sooner. The state comptroller shall
9 examine such proposed budget and make such recommendations as deemed
10 appropriate thereon to the county prior to the adoption of the budget,
11 but no later than ten days before the date scheduled for the county
12 legislature's vote on the adoption of the final budget or the last date
13 on which the budget must be adopted, whichever is sooner. Such recommen-
14 dations shall be made after examination into the estimates of revenues
15 and expenditures of the county. The county legislature, no later than
16 five days prior to the adoption of the budget, shall review any such
17 recommendations and make adjustments to the proposed budget consistent
18 with any recommendations made by the state comptroller.
19 § 5. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section
20 or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent juris-
21 diction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invali-
22 date the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to
23 the clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part involved in the contro-
24 versy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. The provisions of
25 this act shall be liberally construed to assist the effectuation of the
26 public purposes furthered hereby.
27 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately; and shall remain in full
28 force and effect until the tenth anniversary of the date of second issu-
29 ance of deficit bonds or deficit notes pursuant to this act, when upon
30 such date the provisions of this act shall expire and be deemed
31 repealed; and provided, however, that the state comptroller shall notify
32 the legislative bill drafting commission upon the occurrence of this act
33 in order that the commission may maintain an accurate and timely effec-
34 tive data base of the official text of the laws of the state of New York
35 in furtherance of effectuating the provisions of section 44 of the
36 legislative law and section 70-b of the public officers law.
