§ 874. Tax exemptions. (1) It is hereby determined that the creation
of the agency and the carrying out of its corporate purposes is in all
respects for the benefit of the people of the state of New York and is a
public purpose, and the agency shall be regarded as performing a
governmental function in the exercise of the powers conferred upon it by
this title and shall be required to pay no taxes or assessments upon any
of the property acquired by it or under its jurisdiction or control or
supervision or upon its activities. Provided, however, if the agency is
located within a transportation district referenced in paragraph (a) of
subdivision two of section two hundred fifty-three of the tax law, it
shall not be exempt from the additional tax on each mortgage of real
property situated within the state imposed by such paragraph.

(2) Any bonds or notes issued pursuant to this title, together with
the income therefrom, as well as the property of the agency, shall be
exempt from taxation, except for transfer and estate taxes.

(3) Payments in lieu of taxes received by the agency shall be remitted
to each affected tax jurisdiction within thirty days of receipt.

(4) (a) The agency shall establish a uniform tax exemption policy,
with input from affected tax jurisdictions, which shall be applicable to
the provision of financial assistance pursuant to section eight hundred
fifty-nine-a of this chapter and shall provide guidelines for the
claiming of real property, mortgage recording, and sales tax exemptions.
Such guidelines shall include, but not be limited to: period of
exemption; percentage of exemption; types of projects for which
exemptions can be claimed; procedures for payments in lieu of taxes and
instances in which real property appraisals are to be performed as a
part of an application for tax exemption; in addition, agencies shall in
adopting such policy consider such issues as: the extent to which a
project will create or retain permanent, private sector jobs; the
estimated value of any tax exemptions to be provided; whether affected
tax jurisdictions shall be reimbursed by the project occupant if a
project does not fulfill the purposes for which an exemption was
provided; the impact of a proposed project on existing and proposed
businesses and economic development projects in the vicinity; the amount
of private sector investment generated or likely to be generated by the
proposed project; the demonstrated public support for the proposed
project; the likelihood of accomplishing the proposed project in a
timely fashion; the effect of the proposed project upon the environment;
the extent to which the project will utilize, to the fullest extent
practicable and economically feasible, resource conservation, energy
efficiency, green technologies, and alternative and renewable energy
measures; the extent to which the proposed project will require the
provision of additional services, including, but not limited to
additional educational, transportation, police, emergency medical or
fire services; and the extent to which the proposed project will provide
additional sources of revenue for municipalities and school districts.

(b) The agency shall establish a procedure for deviation from the
uniform tax exemption policy required pursuant to this subdivision. The
agency shall set forth in writing the reasons for deviation from such
policy, and shall further notify by certified mail, return receipt
requested or an electronic correspondence with a read-receipt, the
affected local taxing jurisdictions of the proposed deviation from such
policy and the reasons therefor. When the affected local taxing
jurisdiction is a school district, the agency shall notify by certified
mail, return receipt requested or an electronic correspondence with a
read-receipt, the district clerk and district superintendent of each
affected school district.

(5) Payments in lieu of taxes which are delinquent under the agreement
or which an agency fails to remit pursuant to subdivision three of this
section, shall be subject to a late payment penalty of five percent of
the amount due which shall be paid by the project occupant (where taxes
are delinquent because of the occupant's failure to make the required
payment) or the agency (because of the agency's failure to remit
pursuant to subdivision three of this section) to the affected tax
jurisdiction at the time the payment in lieu of taxes is paid. For each
month, or part thereof, that the payment in lieu of taxes is delinquent
beyond the first month, interest shall accrue to and be paid to the
affected tax jurisdiction on the total amount due plus a late payment
penalty in the amount of one percent per month until the payment is
made.

(6) An affected tax jurisdiction which has not received a payment in
lieu of taxes due to it under an agreement may commence legal action in
any court of competent jurisdiction directly against any person, firm,
corporation, organization or agency which is obligated to make payments
in lieu of taxes under an agreement and has failed to do so. In such an
action, the affected tax jurisdiction shall be entitled to recover the
amount due, the late payment penalty, interest, expenses, costs and
disbursements together with the reasonable attorneys' fees necessary to
prosecute such action. Nothing herein shall be construed as providing an
affected tax jurisdiction with the right to sue and recover from an
agency which has not received payments in lieu of taxes from a project
occupant.

(7) Any refinancing of a project shall be subject to the provisions of
section eight hundred fifty-nine-a of this chapter, except where such
refinancing was previously approved pursuant to such section.

(8) Agents of an agency and project operators shall annually file a
statement with the state department of taxation and finance, on a form
and in such a manner as is prescribed by the commissioner of taxation
and finance, of the value of all sales and use tax exemptions claimed by
such agents or agents of such agents or project operators, including,
but not limited to, consultants or subcontractors of such agents or
project operators, under the authority granted pursuant to this section.
The penalty for failure to file such statement shall be the removal of
authority to act as an agent of an agency or a project operator.

(9) (a) Within thirty days of the date that the agency designates a
project operator or other person to act as agent of the agency for
purposes of providing financial assistance consisting of any sales and
compensating use tax exemption to such person, the agency shall file a
statement with the department of taxation and finance relating thereto,
on a form and in such manner as is prescribed by the commissioner of
taxation and finance, identifying each such agent so named by the
agency, setting forth the taxpayer identification number of each such
agent, giving a brief description of the property and/or services
intended to be exempted from such taxes as a result of such appointment
as agent, indicating the agency's rough estimate of the value of the
property and/or services to which such appointment as agent relates,
indicating the date when such designation as agent became effective and
indicating the date upon which such designation as agent shall cease.

(b) Within thirty days of the date that the agency's designation
described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision has been amended,
terminated, been revoked, or become invalid or ineffective for any
reason, the agency shall file a statement with the department of
taxation and finance relating thereto, on a form and in such manner as
is prescribed by the commissioner of taxation and finance, identifying
each such agent so named by the agency in the original designation and
setting forth the taxpayer identification number and other identifying
information of each such agent, the date as of which the original
designation was amended, terminated, revoked, or became invalid or
ineffective and the reason therefor, together with a copy of the
original designation.

(10) Each agency shall develop policies for the suspension or
discontinuance of financial assistance, or for the modification of any
payment in lieu of tax agreement to require increased payments under
circumstances as specified in the policy, which may include but shall
not be limited to events of material violation of the terms and
conditions of a project agreement.

(11) Each agency shall develop policies for the return of all or a
part of the financial assistance provided for the project, including all
or part of the amount of any tax exemptions, as specified in the policy,
which may include but shall not be limited to material shortfalls in job
creation and retention projections or material violations of the terms
and conditions of project agreements. All such returned amounts of tax
exemptions shall be redistributed to the appropriate affected tax
jurisdiction, unless agreed to otherwise by any local taxing
jurisdiction.

(12) Each agency shall at least annually assess the progress of each
project for which bonds or notes remain outstanding or straight-lease
transactions have not terminated, or which continue to receive financial
assistance or are otherwise active, toward achieving the investment, job
retention or creation, or other objectives of the project indicated in
the project application. Such assessments shall be provided to board
members.