§ 1277. Station operation and maintenance. 1. The operation,
maintenance and use of passenger stations shall be public purposes of
the city of New York and the counties within the district. The total
cost to the authority and each of its subsidiary corporations of
operation, maintenance and use of each passenger station within the
district serviced by one or more railroad facilities of the authority or
of such subsidiary corporation, including the buildings, appurtenances,
platforms, lands and approaches incidental or adjacent thereto, shall be
borne by the city of New York if such station is located in such city
or, if not located in such city, by such county within the district in
which such station is located. On or before June first of each year, the
authority shall, in accordance with the method specified herein,
determine and certify to the city of New York and to each county within
the district the respective allocation of costs related to the
operation, maintenance and use of passenger stations within such city
and each such other county, for the twelve month period ending the
preceding March thirty-first.

a. For the year commencing April first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine,
the total payment amount to be billed by the authority for the
operation, maintenance and use of each passenger station within the city
of New York and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess,
Putnam, Orange, and Rockland shall be calculated by summing the total
amount listed in the base amount table plus an adjustment to such base
year amount equal to the base amount times the increase or decrease in
the Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and Clerical Workers for the
New York, Northeastern-New Jersey Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area
for the twelve-month period being billed.

BASE AMOUNT TABLE

County Base Amount

Nassau $19,200,000

Suffolk $11,834,091

Westchester $13,269,310

Dutchess $ 1,581,880

Putnam $ 618,619

Orange $ 327,247

Rockland $ 34,791

City of New York $61,435,330

b. For each year thereafter, such total payment for each such county
shall be the same amount as the total payment during the immediately
prior year, plus an adjustment equal to the prior year amount times the
increase or decrease in the Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and
Clerical Workers for the New York, Northeastern-New Jersey Standard
Metropolitan Statistical Area for the twelve-month period being billed.

2. On or before the following September first, of each year, such city
and each such county shall pay to the authority such cost or amount so
certified to it on or before the preceding June first. Such city and
each such county shall have power to finance such costs to it by the
issuance of budget notes pursuant to section 29.00 of the local finance
law. For the year beginning April first, two thousand four, the
authority, the city of New York and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk,
Westchester, Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, and Rockland may, after having
reached an agreement, recommend to the legislature modifications to the
amounts set forth above based upon changes made to commuter services
including but not limited to changes in the number of passenger stations
within such counties or the level of commuter rail service provided to
any such passenger stations. Failure between the authority and between
the counties to reach agreement will be referred to the state
comptroller for mediation. If the mediation is unsuccessful, each party
and the state comptroller may submit a recommendation to the governor
and the legislature for legislative action.

3. In the event that a city or county shall fail to make payment to
the authority for station maintenance as required pursuant to this
section, or any part thereof, the chief executive officer of the
authority or such other person as the chairman shall designate shall
certify to the state comptroller the amount due and owing the authority
at the end of the state fiscal year and the state comptroller shall
withhold an equivalent amount from the next succeeding state aid
allocated to such county or city from the motor fuel tax and the motor
vehicle registration fee distributed pursuant to former section one
hundred twelve of the highway law, or amounts distributed pursuant to
section ten-c of the highway law, or per capita local assistance
pursuant to section fifty-four of the state finance law subject to the
following limitations: prior to withholding amounts due the authority
from such county or city, the comptroller shall pay in full any amount
due the state of New York municipal bond bank agency, on account of any
such county's or city's obligation to such agency; the city university
construction fund pursuant to the provisions of the city university
construction fund act; the New York city housing development
corporation, pursuant to the provisions of the New York city housing
development corporation act (article twelve of the private housing
finance law); and the transit construction fund pursuant to the
provisions of title nine-A of article five of this chapter. The
comptroller shall give the director of the budget notification of any
such payment. Such amount or amounts so withheld by the comptroller
shall be paid to the authority and the authority shall use such amount
for the repayment of the state advances hereby authorized. When such
amount or amounts are received by the authority, it shall credit such
amounts against any amounts due and owing by the city or county on whose
account such amount was withheld and paid.