ARTICLE VIII

Local Finances

Section 1. No county, city, town, village or school district shall
give or loan any money or property to or in aid of any individual, or
private corporation or association, or private undertaking, or become
directly or indirectly the owner of stock in, or bonds of, any private
corporation or association; nor shall any county, city, town, village or
school district give or loan its credit to or in aid of any individual,
or public or private corporation or association, or private undertaking,
except that two or more such units may join together pursuant to law in
providing any municipal facility, service, activity or undertaking which
each of such units has the power to provide separately. Each such unit
may be authorized by the legislature to contract joint or several
indebtedness, pledge its or their faith and credit for the payment of
such indebtedness for such joint undertaking and levy real estate or
other authorized taxes or impose charges therefor subject to the
provisions of this constitution otherwise restricting the power of such
units to contract indebtedness or to levy taxes on real estate. The
legislature shall have power to provide by law for the manner and the
proportion in which indebtedness arising out of such joint undertakings
shall be incurred by such units and shall have power to provide a method
by which such indebtedness shall be determined, allocated and
apportioned among such units and such indebtedness treated for purposes
of exclusion from applicable constitutional limitations, provided that
in no event shall more than the total amount of indebtedness incurred
for such joint undertaking be included in ascertaining the power of all
such participating units to incur indebtedness. Such law may provide
that such determination, allocation and apportionment shall be
conclusive if made or approved by the comptroller. This provision shall
not prevent a county from contracting indebtedness for the purpose of
advancing to a town or school district, pursuant to law, the amount of
unpaid taxes returned to it.

Subject to the limitations on indebtedness and taxation applying to
any county, city, town or village nothing in this constitution contained
shall prevent a county, city or town from making such provision for the
aid, care and support of the needy as may be authorized by law, nor
prevent any such county, city or town from providing for the care,
support, maintenance and secular education of inmates of orphan asylums,
homes for dependent children or correctional institutions and of
children placed in family homes by authorized agencies, whether under
public or private control, or from providing health and welfare services
for all children, nor shall anything in this constitution contained
prevent a county, city, town or village from increasing the pension
benefits payable to retired members of a police department or fire
department or to widows, dependent children or dependent parents of
members or retired members of a police department or fire department; or
prevent the city of New York from increasing the pension benefits
payable to widows, dependent children or dependent parents of members or
retired members of the relief and pension fund of the department of
street cleaning of the city of New York. Payments by counties, cities or
towns to charitable, eleemosynary, correctional and reformatory
institutions and agencies, wholly or partly under private control, for
care, support and maintenance, may be authorized, but shall not be
required, by the legislature. No such payments shall be made for any
person cared for by any such institution or agency, nor for a child
placed in a family home, who is not received and retained therein
pursuant to rules established by the state board of social welfare or
other state department having the power of inspection thereof.