Int. No. 819

By Council Members Comrie, James, Liu, Mark-Viverito, Palma, Barron, Reyna and Yassky

A Local Law to amend the New York city charter and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring financial reports for real property acquired by the city through eminent domain.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

                     Section 1.  Subdivision 1 of section 1301 of the New York city charter is amended to read as follows:

                     a. to establish business, industrial and commercial policies, programs and  projects  which  affect  the  business,  industrial,  commercial or  economic well-being, development, growth and expansion of  the  economic  life of the city and to examine the economic impact on the city when eminent domain is used to take ownership of private property located within the city;

                     b. to   serve  as  liaison  for  the  city  with  local  development corporations, other not-for-profit corporations and all  other  entities involved in economic development within the city. In furtherance of this function,  the  department  shall  include  in any contract with a local development corporation under which such local  development  corporation

is  engaged  in providing or administering economic development benefits on behalf of the city  and  expending  city  capital  appropriations  in connection   therewith,   a  requirement  that  such  local  development corporation submit to the mayor, the council, the city comptroller,  the public advocate and the borough presidents by January 31 of each year, a report  for  the prior year in the form prescribed hereunder with regard to projected and actual jobs created and retained in connection with any project undertaken by such local development corporation for the purpose of the creation or retention  of  jobs, or economic development, as defined in a judicial determination after judicial review, pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law,  whether  or  not  such  project involves   the   expenditure  of  city  capital  appropriations,  if  in connection with  such  project  assistance  to  a  business  entity  was provided  by  such  local development corporation in the form of a loan, grant or tax benefit in excess of one hundred fifty thousand dollars, or a sale or lease of land where the project  is  estimated  to  retain  or create  not  less  than twenty-five jobs. With regard to any project for which the project agreement and any other documents applicable  to  such project have been executed on or after July 1, 2005, the report shall be for the period commencing on the date that the project agreement and any other  documents  applicable  to such project have been executed through the final year that such entity receives assistance  for  such  project, except  that, as to projects consisting of a lease or sale of city-owned land, the report shall commence from the date of the lease or conveyance of title by the city and shall continue for seven years or  such  longer period  as  is  deemed  appropriate  by  the department. For projects in existence prior to July 1, 2005, the report shall be made with regard to each such project for the first seven  years  from  the  date  when  any project  agreement  or  other  document  applicable  to  the  project is executed by  the  entity  receiving  such  assistance  with  such  local development  corporation  and  the report shall contain, for the current reporting year, the following information with respect thereto: (i)  the project's  name;  (ii)  its location[;], and whether such project was acquired by the city pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law, for economic development; (iii) the time span over which the project is to receive  any  such  assistance;  (iv)  the  type  of  such assistance  provided,  including  the  name  of  the program or programs through which assistance is provided; (v) for projects  that  involve  a maximum  amount  of  assistance,  a  statement  of the maximum amount of assistance available to those projects over the duration of the  project agreement, and for those projects that do not have a maximum amount, the current  estimated amount of assistance over the duration of the project agreement, the amount of tax exempt  bonds  issued  during  the  current reporting  year  and the range of potential cost of those bonds; project assistance to be reported shall include, but shall not  be  limited  to, PILOT savings, which shall be defined for the purposes of this paragraph as  the  difference between the PILOT payments made and the property tax that would have been paid in the  absence  of  a  PILOT  agreement,  the amount   of   mortgage  recording  fees  waived,  related  property  tax abatements, sales tax abatements, the dollar value  of  energy  benefits and  an  estimated  range  of  costs  to the city of foregone income tax revenues due to the issuance of tax exempt bonds; (vi) the total  number of  employees  at  all  sites  covered by the project at the time of the project agreement including the number of permanent full-time jobs,  the number of permanent part-time jobs, the number of full-time equivalents, and  the  number  of  contract employees where contract employees may be

included for the purpose of determining compliance with job creation  or retention  requirements;  (vii)  the  number  of  jobs  that  the entity receiving benefits is contractually obligated to retain and create  over the  life of the project, except that such information shall be reported on  an  annual  basis  for  project  agreements  containing  annual  job retention  or  creation  requirements, and, for each reporting year, the base employment level the entity receiving  benefits  agrees  to  retain over  the  life  of the project agreement, any job creation scheduled to take place as a result of the project, and  where  applicable,  any  job creation  targets  for  the current reporting year; (viii) the estimated amount,  for  that  year  and  cumulatively  to  date,  of  retained  or  additional tax revenue derived from the project, excluding real property tax  revenue  other than revenue generated by property tax improvements; (ix) the amount of assistance received during the year  covered  by  the report,  the  amount  of  assistance received since the beginning of the project period, and the present value of the future assistance estimated

to be given for the duration of the project period; (x) for the  current reporting  year,  the  total  actual  number  of  employees at all sites covered by the project, including  the  number  of  permanent  full-time jobs,  the  number  of  permanent part-time jobs, the number of contract jobs, and, for entities receiving benefits that employ two hundred fifty or more persons, the percentage of total employees within  the  "exempt" and  "non-exempt"  categories,  respectively, as those terms are defined under the United States fair labor  standards  act,  and  for  employees within the "non-exempt" category, the percentage of employees earning up to  twenty-five  thousand  dollars per year, the percentage of employees earning more than twenty-five thousand per  year  up  to  forty-thousand dollars per year and the percentage of employees earning more than forty thousand  dollars  per  year up to fifty thousand dollars per year; (xi) whether the employer offers health benefits to all  full-time  employees and  to  all  part-time employees; (xii) for the current reporting year, with respect to the entity or entities receiving  assistance  and  their affiliates,  the number and percentage of employees at all sites covered by the project agreement who reside in the city of  New  York.  For  the purposes  of  this  subparagraph,  "affiliate" shall mean (i) a business entity in which more than fifty percent is owned by, or is subject to  a power  or  right  of  control of, or is managed by, an entity which is a party to an active project agreement, or (ii)  a  business  entity  that owns  more  than  fifty  percent of an entity that is party to an active project agreement or that exercises a power or right of control of  such entity; (xiii) a projection of the retained or additional tax revenue to be  derived  from  the  project for the remainder of the project period; (xiv) a list of all commercial expansion  program  benefits,  industrial and  commercial  incentive program benefits received through the project agreement and relocation  and  employment  assistance  program  benefits received and the estimated total value of each for the current reporting year;  (xv)  a  statement  of  compliance indicating whether, during the current reporting year, the local development corporation  has  reduced, cancelled  or recaptured benefits for any company, and, if so, the total amount of the reduction, cancellation  or  recapture,  and  any  penalty assessed  and  the  reasons  therefore;  (xvi) for business entities for which  project  assistance  was  provided  by  such  local   development corporation  in  the form of a loan, grant or tax benefit of one hundred fifty thousand dollars or less, or a sale or lease  of  city-owned  land where the project is estimated to retain or create less than twenty-five jobs,  the data should be included in such report in the aggregate using

the format required for all other loans, grants  or  tax  benefits;  and (xvii)  an  indication of the sources of all data relating to numbers of jobs. The report shall be submitted by the statutory due date and shall bear the actual date that the report was submitted. Such report shall include a statement explaining any delay in its submission  past  the  statutory due  date.  Upon its submission, the report shall simultaneously be made available in electronic form on the website  on  the  local  development corporation  or, if no such website is maintained, on the website of the city of New York. Reports with regard to projects for  which  assistance was  rendered  prior to July 1, 2005, need only contain such information required by this subdivision as is available to  the  local  development corporation,  can  be reasonably derived from available sources, and can be reasonably obtained from the business entity to which assistance  was provided.

                     §2. Section 5-304 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision d to read as follows:

                     d. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any contract entered into by a city agency and a local development corporation under which such local  development  corporation is  engaged  in providing or administering economic development benefits  on behalf of the city  and  expending  city  capital  appropriations  in  connection with any project or action that invokes the power of eminent domain pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law on the basis of economic development, as determined by judicial review, shall be accompanied by a financial impact report.  Such report shall include, but not be limited to (i) an analysis of the estimated costs and benefits of the proposed project or action; (ii)  the estimated amount of  retained  or  additional tax revenue estimated to be derived from the project for the next three succeeding years; (iii) and the  amount  of  assistance received by the local development corporation in the form of a loan, grant, or tax benefit since the beginning of the project period, and (iv) the present value of the future assistance estimated to be given for the duration of the project period.  Where such report is prepared by a local development corporation, the city agency, in consultation with such other city agencies as it deems appropriate, shall review such report and make recommendations, if necessary.

                     §3. This local law shall take effect immediately.

TT LS 5675

8-9-08