§ 858. Purposes and powers of the agency. The purposes of the agency
shall be to promote, develop, encourage and assist in the acquiring,
constructing, reconstructing, improving, maintaining, equipping and
furnishing industrial, manufacturing, warehousing, commercial, research,
renewable energy and recreation facilities including industrial
pollution control facilities, educational or cultural facilities,
railroad facilities, horse racing facilities, automobile racing
facilities, renewable energy projects and continuing care retirement
communities, provided, however, that, of agencies governed by this
article, only agencies created for the benefit of a county and the
agency created for the benefit of the city of New York shall be
authorized to provide financial assistance in any respect to a
continuing care retirement community, and thereby advance the job
opportunities, health, general prosperity and economic welfare of the
people of the state of New York and to improve their recreation
opportunities, prosperity and standard of living; and to carry out the
aforesaid purposes, each agency shall have the following powers:

(1) To sue and be sued;

(2) To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;

(3) To acquire, hold and dispose of personal property for its
corporate purposes;

(4) To acquire by purchase, grant, lease, gift, pursuant to the
provisions of the eminent domain procedure law, or otherwise and to use,
real property or rights or easements therein necessary for its corporate
purposes in compliance with the local zoning and planning regulations
and shall take into consideration regional and local comprehensive land
use plans and state designated heritage area management plans, and to
sell, convey, mortgage, lease, pledge, exchange or otherwise dispose of
any such property in such manner as the agency shall determine. In the
case of railroad facilities, however, the phrase to use real property or
rights or easements therein shall not be interpreted to include
operation by the agency of rail service upon or in conjunction with such
facilities.

(5) To make by-laws for the management and regulation of its affairs
and, subject to agreements with its bondholders, for the regulation of
the use of a project or projects.

(6) With the consent of the municipality, to use agents, employees and
facilities of the municipality, paying the municipality its agreed
proportion of the compensation or costs;

(7) To appoint officers, agents and employees, to prescribe their
qualifications and to fix their compensation and to pay the same out of
funds of the agency, provided, however, that an elected officer of the
municipality may not serve as a compensated officer, agent or employee
of the agency;

(8) (a) To appoint an attorney, who may be the counsel of the
municipality, and to fix the attorney's compensation for services which
shall be payable to the attorney, and to retain and employ private
consultants for professional and technical assistance and advice;

(b) An attorney acting as bond counsel for a project must file with
the agency a written statement in which the attorney identifies each
party to the transaction which such attorney represents. If bond counsel
provides any legal services to parties other than the agency the written
statement must describe the nature of legal services provided by such
bond counsel to all parties to the transaction, including the nature of
the services provided to the agency.

(9) To make contracts and leases, and to execute all instruments
necessary or convenient to or with any person, firm, partnership or
corporation, either public or private; provided, however, that any
extension of an existing contract, lease or other agreement entered into
by an agency with respect to a project shall be guided by the provisions
of this article;

(10) To acquire, construct, reconstruct, lease, improve, maintain,
equip or furnish one or more projects;

(11) To accept gifts, grants, loans, or contributions from, and enter
into contracts or other transactions with, the United States and the
state or any agency of either of them, any municipality, any public or
private corporation or any other legal entity, and to use any such
gifts, grants, loans or contributions for any of its corporate purposes;

(12) To borrow money and to issue bonds and to provide for the rights
of the holders thereof;

(13) To grant options to renew any lease with respect to any project
or projects and to grant options to buy any project at such price as the
agency may deem desirable;

(14) To designate the depositories of its money either within or
without the state;

(15) To enter into agreements requiring payments in lieu of taxes.
Such agreements shall be in writing and in addition to other terms shall
contain: the amount due annually to each affected tax jurisdiction (or a
formula by which the amount due can be calculated), the name and address
of the person, office or agency to which payment shall be delivered, the
date on which payment shall be made, and the date on which payment shall
be considered delinquent if not paid. Unless otherwise agreed by the
affected tax jurisdictions, any such agreement shall provide that
payments in lieu of taxes shall be allocated among affected tax
jurisdictions in proportion to the amount of real property tax and other
taxes which would have been received by each affected tax jurisdiction
had the project not been tax exempt due to the status of the agency
involved in the project. A copy of any such agreement shall be delivered
to each affected tax jurisdiction within fifteen days of signing the
agreement. In the absence of any such written agreement, payments in
lieu of taxes made by an agency shall be allocated in the same
proportions as they had been prior to January first, nineteen hundred
ninety-three for so long as the agency's activities render a project
non-taxable by affected tax jurisdictions. A notification of the
expiration of such agreement shall be delivered to the affected tax
jurisdiction two years prior to the expiration of such agreement and
immediately upon early termination of an agreement;

(16) To establish and re-establish its fiscal year; and

(17) To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out its
purposes and exercise the powers expressly given in this title.