BILL NUMBER: S7409

SPONSOR: BRESLIN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend chapter 453 of the laws of 1977, authorizing the city of
Schenectady in the county of Schenectady, to create special assessment
districts within such city, in relation to increasing the membership of
the special district operations and development committee

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill will allow the special district operations and development
committee, an entity also known as the Downtown Schenectady Improvement
Corporation (DSIC), which was formed through enabling legislation in
1977, to change the required number of members from nine to between nine
and fifteen members on its Board of Directors. This bill will also
require that three quarters of members shall be owners of assessable
real property within DSIC's special assessment district or agents of
such owners.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
              

Section 1, subsection a: the required number of members on the committee
is changed from "nine" to "no less than nine and no more than fifteen".
The requirement that seven of nine members must be taxpayers or their
agents is modified to a requirement that three-quarters of the committee
members shall be owners of assessable real property within the special
assessment district or agents of such owners.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2020, the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation (DSIC)
expanded its service boundaries for the first time since the organiza-
tion was founded in 1978. As a result, 73 additional properties and
dozens of additional businesses joined the Downtown Special Assessment
District and began contributing to the DSIC's operations. Expansion of
the DSIC's board of directors from nine up to a maximum of fifteen
members will allow for direct representation from the expansion areas
and the ability to further diversity the composition of the entire
board.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.