§ 1285. Special powers of the corporation. In order to effectuate the
purposes of this title, the corporation shall have the following special
powers:

1. Construction, operation and maintenance of sewage treatment works,
sewage collecting systems and solid waste disposal facilities on behalf
of a municipality. (a) The corporation and any municipality having power
to construct sewage treatment works, sewage collecting systems or solid
waste disposal facilities by resolution of its governing body may enter
into a contract for the construction of sewage treatment works, sewage
collecting systems or solid waste disposal facilities by the corporation
for such municipality upon such terms and conditions as the corporation
shall determine to be reasonable, including but not limited to the
reimbursement of all costs of such construction and claims arising
therefrom.

(b) The corporation and any municipality having power to operate and
maintain sewage treatment works or solid waste disposal facilities by
resolution of its governing body may enter into a contract for the
operation and maintenance of sewage treatment works or solid waste
disposal facilities by the corporation for such municipality upon such
terms and conditions as the corporation shall determine to be
reasonable, including but not limited to the reimbursement of all costs
of such operation and maintenance and claims arising therefrom.

(c) No such contract shall be deemed to be a contract for public work
or purchase within the meaning of the general municipal law.

(d) The corporation and any state agency having the power may enter
into a contract for the planning, construction, operation and
maintenance of sewage treatment works, sewage collecting systems, solid
waste disposal facilities, and for the removal, disposal and remediation
of petroleum storage tanks and the remediation of the sites thereof, as
the case may be, for and on behalf of such state agency; the corporation
and any such state agency may enter into a contract pursuant to which
the corporation may provide for the collection, conveyance, treatment
and disposal of sewage, storage, separating, treatment, recycling,
reconstituting, compacting, composting, shredding, converting,
utilization, processing, pyrolization or final disposal of solid waste
by means of sewage collecting systems, sewage treatment works, or solid
waste disposal facilities, as the case may be, owned, constructed,
operated and maintained by the corporation. Any such contract entered
into by any such state agency and the corporation for the purposes of
removal, disposal and remediation of petroleum storage tanks and the
remediation of the sites thereof, may provide for ownership,
construction, operation and maintenance of such projects by the
corporation or by any such state agency and any such contract shall be
subject to the approval of the director of the budget. Any such contract
or contracts shall be upon such terms and conditions as the corporation
and such state agency shall determine to be reasonable, including but
not limited to the reimbursement of all costs of planning, financing,
construction and operation and maintenance, and any claims arising
therefrom. No such contract shall be deemed to be a contract for public
work or purchase within the meaning of the state finance law.

2. Loans to municipalities and certain state agencies. The corporation
may make loans to any municipality, or any state agency authorized to
issue bonds or notes not constituting a debt or liability within the
meaning of section eleven of article seven of the state constitution,
for the construction of any sewage treatment works, sewage collecting
system or solid waste disposal facility. Any loan by the corporation to
any such state agency shall be subject to the approval of the director
of the budget. The corporation may accept as evidence of the
indebtedness of any such municipality or any state agency authorized to
issue bonds or notes not constituting a debt or liability of the state
within the meaning of section eleven of article seven of the state
constitution, only the municipal bonds or notes of such municipality or
bonds or notes of such state agency. Any such loan shall be in an amount
or amounts not to exceed the cost of construction of any such sewage
treatment works, sewage collecting system or solid waste disposal
facility required to be financed by the municipality or such state
agency. In connection with the making of any such loans, the corporation
may fix and collect such fees and charges, including but not limited to
reimbursement of all costs of financing by the corporation, as the
corporation shall determine to be reasonable.

3. Construction, operation and maintenance of sewage collecting
systems, sewage treatment works and solid waste disposal facilities. (a)
The corporation and a municipality having power to construct, operate
and maintain sewage treatment works, sewage collecting systems or solid
waste disposal facilities, by resolution of its governing body may enter
into a contract pursuant to which the corporation may provide for the
collection, conveyance, treatment and disposal of sewage or the storage,
separating, treatment, recycling, reconstituting, compacting,
composting, shredding, converting, utilizing, processing, pyrolization
or final disposal of solid wastes by means of sewage treatment works or
solid waste disposal facilities, as the case may be, owned and
constructed by the corporation and operated and maintained by the
corporation or, for and on behalf of the corporation, by such
municipality or by any person, as may be approved by the corporation and
such municipality, and by means of sewage collecting systems owned and
constructed by the corporation for and on behalf of such municipality
pursuant to a contract whereby title to such sewage collecting systems
shall vest in such municipality in accordance with the provisions of
paragraph (c) of this subdivision, and operated and maintained by such
municipality upon such terms and conditions as the corporation shall
determine to be reasonable. Such contract or contracts shall, except in
the case of a sewer corporation now existing in a city, contain
provisions in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (b) or (c)
of this subdivision, and, in addition thereto and consistent therewith,
may provide for the payment to the corporation by such municipality,
annually or otherwise, of such sum or sums of money, computed at fixed
amounts or by a formula based on any factors or other matters or in any
other manner, as said contract or contracts may provide, and the sum or
sums so payable may include provision for all or any part or a share of
the amounts necessary (i) to pay or provide for the expense of operation
and maintenance of any such project including, without limitation,
insurance, extensions, betterments and replacements and the principal of
and interest on any bonds or notes of the corporation, and (ii) to
provide for any deficits resulting from failure to secure sums payable
to the corporation by such municipality, any other municipality or from
any other cause, and (iii) to maintain such reserves or sinking funds
for any of the foregoing as may be required by the terms of any contract
of the corporation or as may be deemed necessary or desirable by the
corporation. Such contract or contracts may also contain provisions as
to the financing and payment of expenses to be incurred by the
corporation and determined by it to be necessary for its purposes prior
to the placing in operation of any such project, and may provide for the
payment by such municipality to the corporation for application to such
expenses or indebtedness therefor such sum or sums of money, not in the
aggregate exceeding an amount stated or otherwise limited in said
contract or contracts, plus interest thereon, as said contract or
contracts may provide and as the governing body of said municipality
shall, by virtue of its authorization of and entry into said contract or
contracts, determine to be necessary for the purposes of the
corporation. Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, any such
contract may be made with or without consideration and for a specified
or an unlimited time and on any terms and conditions which may be
approved by such municipality and which may be agreed to by the
corporation in conformity with its contracts with the holders of any of
its bonds or notes, and shall be valid whether or not an appropriation
with respect thereto is made by such municipality prior to authorization
or execution thereof. The corporation may sell, transfer or dispose of,
in any manner it deems desirable any materials, substances or sources or
forms of energy derived from any corporate activity, including but not
limited to sludge, raw materials, by-products; heat, oil, steam or
electric energy in accordance with any contract pursuant to this
paragraph or pursuant to paragraphs (b) and (d) of subdivision one of
section twelve hundred eighty-five of this title. Such municipality is
hereby authorized to do and perform any and all acts or things
necessary, convenient or desirable to carry out and perform every such
contract and to provide for the payment or discharge of any obligation
thereunder in the same manner as other obligations of such municipality.
Subject to any such contracts with the holders of its bonds or notes,
the corporation is hereby authorized to do and perform any and all acts
or things necessary, convenient or desirable to carry out and perform
every such contract and, in accordance with any such contract to waive,
modify, suspend or reduce charges which would otherwise be charged and
collected by the corporation within the municipality.

A municipality shall not be liable for any act or omission of the
corporation, its officers, agents, servants or contractors in the
performance of any such contract by the corporation.

(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this subdivision, any
contract entered into by the corporation and any municipality, other
than a sewer corporation now existing in a city, pursuant to this
subdivision shall provide that the municipality shall not acquire any
vested rights in any such works or facility by reason of such contract,
and, in the case of a county, city, or village, that all or any portion
of the annual payments, as the case may be, made by such municipality,
shall be deemed to be current operating expenses of such municipality
within the meaning of section ten of article eight of the state
constitution where all or any portion of such payments are or may be
required to be raised by tax on real estate in any fiscal year of such
municipality.

(c) Any contract entered into by the corporation and any municipality
pursuant to this subdivision may provide that at the termination thereof
the title to the works or facility shall vest in the municipality or its
successor in interest, if any, free and clear of any indebtedness
contracted by the corporation. Any such contract entered into by the
corporation and any municipality which provides that title shall so vest
in the municipality or its successor in interest, other than a sewer
authority now existing in a city, shall be subject to the following
provisions:

(1) The term of any such contract shall not exceed the period of
probable usefulness of the works or facility as provided in section
11.00 of the local finance law, computed from the date of the first
indebtedness contracted by the corporation for such works or facility.

(2) The annual payments to be made by the municipality to the
corporation to enable the corporation to pay the principal of any such
indebtedness contracted by it to finance the cost of such works or
facility shall commence within two years after any such indebtedness or
portion thereof shall have been contracted and no such annual payment
shall be more than fifty percentum in excess of the smallest prior
annual payment for such purpose.

(3) The municipality shall pledge its full faith and credit for the
payment of such annual payments described in subparagraph two of this
paragraph (c) and also for the payments required to be made to the
corporation to enable it to pay the interest on any such indebtedness.

(4) The total amount of any unpaid annual payments in relation to the
principal of any such indebtedness shall be deemed to be indebtedness of
the county, city, town or village for a capital improvement within the
meaning of subparagraph (b) of subdivision three of paragraph a of
section 135.00 of the local finance law or indebtedness contracted by a
district corporation pursuant to subdivision seven of paragraph a of
such section 135.00, as the case may be.

(5) The total amount of any unpaid annual payments in relation to the
construction or reconstruction of facilities for the conveyance,
treatment and disposal of sewage shall be deemed to be indebtedness of
the county, city, town or village within the meaning of subdivision
four-a of section 136.00 of the local finance law.

(6) The annual payments by a county, city or village in relation to
such indebtedness and interest shall be deemed to be "indebtedness" and
"interest" within the meaning of section ten of article eight of the
state constitution.

(7) The contract shall not be renegotiated, or amended, in such manner
as to constitute a refunding within the meaning of section two of
article eight of the state constitution.

(8) The contract shall not be applicable to any works or facility
constructed or reconstructed to effectuate the purposes of article
eighteen of the state constitution.

(9) The municipality shall not be liable for a default on the
obligations of the corporation. If the expenditure of money, or the
issuance of obligations, for a project would be subject to the adoption
of a proposition pursuant to paragraph b of section 38.00 of the local
finance law, a contract between a district corporation and the
corporation pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph (c) shall be
subject to approval at an election or meeting in the same manner as
provided in such section 38.00.

In the case of a district corporation subject to the provisions of
section 102.00 of the local finance law, the annual payments to be made
to the corporation to enable it to pay the principal of any indebtedness
contracted by it to finance the cost of the project shall be deemed to
be indebtedness within the meaning of such section and section 120.00 of
such law and any contract entered into between the district corporation
and the corporation pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph (c)
shall be subject to the consent of the city, town or village affected as
provided in such section 102.00.

A contract pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph (c) shall be
deemed to be an issuance of bonds, bond anticipation notes or capital
notes for the purposes of subdivisions three, four, five, and seven of
section 104.10 of the local finance law insofar as the contract shall
provide for annual payments to the corporation to enable it to pay the
principal of indebtedness contracted by it to finance the cost of any
project.

(d) Where a county, city, town or village is prevented from utilizing
the provisions of this subdivision, by the provision of any general or
special law, county, city or village charter which (i) requires that any
project must be constructed, operated and maintained by the
municipality, (ii) limits the period of time for which a municipality
may contract, (iii) requires that the cost shall be paid for by taxes
levied for the fiscal year in which the expenditure is to be made, (iv)
requires that the cost shall be financed pursuant to the local finance
law or (v) only permits any such project to be constructed subject to
either mandatory or permissive referendum, such county, city, town or
village may adopt a local law superseding the provisions of any such
general or special law, county, city or village charter. Any such local
law shall be subject to mandatory referendum, or referendum on petition
in the manner provided in sections twenty-three or twenty-four, as the
case may be, of the municipal home rule law, if the issuance, or the
resolution authorizing the issuance, of serial bonds having a maturity
of more than ten years to finance any such project would be required,
under or pursuant to the provisions of sections 33.10, 34.00, 35.00 or
36.00 of the local finance law or any other law, to be subject to
mandatory or permissive referendum.

4. The corporation is empowered to lease or rent a project constructed
and owned by the corporation pursuant to any contract with a
municipality or state agency as herein provided for, to any person, as
may be approved by the municipality or state agency. The corporation may
make available the use or services of any such project, with the
approval of such municipality or state agency, to one or more persons,
or any combination thereof, upon such terms and conditions as the
corporation may determine reasonable.

5. When requested by the governing body of a municipality, or when
requested by a person or state agency, the corporation may advise such
municipality, person or state agency on matters relating to the
planning, construction, operation and maintenance of sewage treatment
works, sewage collecting systems, solid waste disposal facilities, and
any other projects which the corporation is authorized to construct
pursuant to any provisions of this title, on matters relating to the
identification, collection, handling, separation and disposal of waste,
and on matters relating to the prevention and control of air emissions
and water discharges subject to regulation pursuant to the environmental
conservation law, and pursuant to a contract with a municipality, person
or state agency, may render technical assistance and may undertake
research, planning and testing with respect to any such matter, and the
corporation may make a reasonable charge to such municipality, person or
state agency for the performance of any such functions authorized by
this subdivision.

6. In selecting a location for any projects constructed pursuant to
subdivision one or subdivision three of this section, the corporation
shall take into consideration the character of the area of any proposed
location and the zoning regulations, if any, applicable to such area.

7. When requested by the governing body of a municipality or by a
state agency, any contract pursuant to either subdivision one or
subdivision three of this section, except a contract pursuant to which
the municipality shall not acquire a vested interest in the project, may
provide as part of a project and upon the site of such project, for the
construction and financing, pursuant to the provisions of this title, by
the authority of such other facilities, betterments, improvements and
appurtenances for which such municipality or state agency has the power
to provide. Such construction and financing shall be permitted when
necessary to develop or restore such site to a beneficial municipal or
public use, and in accordance with the plans or design of the project
prepared and approved by such municipality or state agency, or as may be
prepared by the corporation on behalf of such municipality or state
agency.

8. The corporation is empowered to enter into one or more contracts
with any person designated by the corporation to be a responsible agent
for the planning, design, construction and operation of one or more
solid waste processing pilot projects. The corporation shall require
such person to supply it with such plans, estimates of costs, time
schedules, designs, and other data as the corporation shall determine to
be reasonable to enable proper identification of costs. Such pilot
projects are to determine which methods of recycling solid wastes,
including, but not limited to shredding, compression, high-temperature
incineration, pyrolization, separation or any other new technology for
resource recovery in solid waste management are most feasible for
large-scale implementation by the corporation and by municipalities in
this state, having due regard for the resources to be recovered, net
costs, amount of land required, and environmental considerations. The
corporation shall issue annual reports as to the results of these
projects, containing recommendations not inconsistent with those
findings, and shall make copies of the report, findings and supporting
data available to any municipality in this state. For this purpose the
corporation is authorized to apply to the United States Public Health
Service, Environmental Protection Agency, United States Department of
Agriculture, or any other appropriate authority for grants of such
federal funds as may be available toward the financing of or contracting
for such projects.

The corporation shall transmit a copy of its report to the
commissioner of environmental conservation, who shall hold public
hearings on its recommendations, pursuant to section 3-0301 of the
environmental conservation law, at which hearings testimony shall be
taken from all interested parties. Following the termination of said
hearings, the department of environmental conservation may make
additional findings, if any, and shall have the power to promulgate
rules and regulations and/or propose legislation, consistent with its
findings, to implement the report.