BILL NUMBER: S2672REVISED 3/24/23

SPONSOR: WEBB
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to the computation of
building aid for construction, reconstruction or modernizing of projects
for Binghamton City School District

 
PURPOSE:

This legislation makes it possible for the Binghamton city school
district to fund school construction, renovations and improvements.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Adds a new subparagraph 10 to paragraph a of subdivision 6 of
§ 3602 of the education law related to building aid for the district for
MCA calculation.

Section 2: Sets the effective date.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Some school buildings in the Binghamton City School District are in
serious need of replacement, repair and renovation. To this purpose this
act would enable the district to fund one such project. This legislation
is an important step in providing the children of the district with a
safe, healthy and productive learning environment.

The Binghamton City School District and the Feasibility Study conducted
under the direction of consultants have evaluated the capacity and
conditions of the current ten (10) school buildings. Six of the ten
buildings were originally constructed between 1914 and 1936, each eligi-
ble historical designation, with two others built in the late 1960' and
early 1970's, a time when asbestos was widely used throughout a building
project, making renovations and remediations extremely costly.

The state utilizes multi-year cost allowances when calculating Building
Aid for eligible capital projects. Once a district has reached its maxi-
mum cost allowance (MCA) for a particular project, additional state
contribution is not available for a period of five-years. This partic-
ular limitation has an adverse impact on the efficient execution of the
Capital Plan for the district, increases the costs of projects,
restricts the use of limited resources and unnecessarily disrupts the
academic process.

In order to be able to adopt the most cost-efficient plan as a result of
the Feasibility Study and ensure the district is adopting a plan to
place the district's facilities in the best possible position for
providing a sustainable quality learning environment, the district is
seeking flexibility in accessing existing building aid for one building.
If this variance is not provided, the cost of renovations will increase
enormously as it will take a period of fifteen years at each site to
achieve the plans goals. The long-term soft costs and material costs and
disruption to students would be increased with the need to complete the
full renovation and reconfiguration plan over the course of fifteen
years.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.