§ 37. Powers of authority. 1. An authority shall have the following
powers in addition to other powers granted in this chapter: (a)
investigate into living conditions in the municipality and into the
means of improving such conditions; (b) determine where insanitary or
substandard housing conditions exist; (c) publish and disseminate
information; (d) prepare or arrange for preparation of plans for, carry
out and operate projects; (e) construct, reconstruct, improve, alter or
repair or provide for the construction, reconstruction, improvement,
alteration or repair of any project; (f) demolish structures; (g) clear
areas; (h) lease, purchase, or otherwise acquire, manage, operate all or
any part of any project, or any dwelling unit or units therein,
undertaken or completed by any government or housing company: (i) Act as
agent for or enter into contracts and otherwise cooperate with the
federal government in connection with a federal or municipal project, or
any federally-aided program to provide dwelling accommodations for
persons of low income; (j) arrange, agree or contract with a government
for the planning, replanning, opening, grading or closing of streets,
roads, roadways, alleys or other places or for the furnishing of
facilities or for the acquisition by a government of property or
property rights or for the furnishing of property or services in
connection with a project; (k) lease or rent, as lessor or sublessor,
any of the housing or other accommodations or any of the lands,
buildings, structures or facilities embraced in any project or connected
with any program to provide dwelling accommodations for persons of low
income, and establish and revise the rents or charges therefor; (l)
enter upon any building or property in order to conduct investigations
or make surveys, soundings or test borings necessary to carry out its
purposes; (m) acquire or contract to acquire from any person, firm,
corporation or government, by subsidy, contribution, gift, grant,
bequest, devise, purchase, condemnation or otherwise, real or personal
property or any interest therein or lease dwelling units from any
person, firm or corporation for sublease to persons and families of low
income; (n) sell, exchange, transfer, assign or mortgage any real or
personal property or any interest therein; (o) own, hold, clear and
improve real or personal property or any interest therein; (p) insure or
provide for the insurance of its property or operations as required by
law and also against such other risks as it may deem advisable; (q)
limit by contract, the exercise of any of its powers; (r) invest any
funds held in reserves or sinking funds, or any funds not required for
immediate disbursement in property or securities in which savings banks
may legally invest funds subject to their control; (s) sue and be sued;
(t) have a seal and alter the same at pleasure; (u) have perpetual
succession; (v) make and execute contracts and other instruments
necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers; (w) make and from
time to time amend and repeal by-laws, rules and regulations not
inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter; (x) conduct
examinations and investigations, hear testimony and take proof, under
oath at public or private hearings on any material matter, require the
attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers and issue
commissions for the examination of witnesses who are out of the state,
unable to attend, or excused from attendance; (y) authorize a committee
designated by it consisting of one or more members, or counsel, or any
officer or employee to conduct any such investigation or examination, in
which case such committee, counsel, officer or employee shall have power
to administer oaths, take affidavits and issue subpoenas or commissions;
and (z) enter into agreements of cooperation with or for the rendition
of service to an agency as defined in subdivision five of section five
hundred two of the general municipal law to assist such agency, at no
expense to the authority or providing for payment to the authority of
the agreed proportion of compensation or costs, in connection with the
management of properties in, relocation of displacees from, and the
demolition of buildings in any urban renewal area, in accordance with
the provisions of this chapter and, except as may be provided in such
agreements, without regard to the requirements of any law otherwise
applicable to such agency: and (aa) at no cost or expense to it, enter
into agreements of cooperation with a municipality which need not be
within the territorial jurisdiction of such authority notwithstanding
the provisions of section thirty-one or article thirteen of this
chapter, or with an authority of such municipality, to assist such
municipality or authority in the construction, maintenance, operation or
management of a project. (bb) do all things necessary or convenient to
carry out its powers.

2. An authority shall file in the office of the commissioner annual
reports, which shall be open to public inspection. The reports shall
include for the first year of ownership or operation, in addition to any
information which the commissioner may require, a statement with respect
to each completed project owned or operated by the authority, of the
following data: (a) total cost of the land; (b) cost of land per square
foot; (c) cost of building; (d) construction costs per cubic foot and
per dwelling room; (e) approximate date of completion; (f) amount of any
government loan for the project; (g) amount of any periodic subsidy for
the project; (h) average rental per room including and excluding utility
services; (i) number of apartments, full rooms and half rooms; (j) gross
floor area per room; (k) number of vacant apartments; (l) vacancy
percentage; (m) total operating expenses per annum; (n) average annual
operating costs per room; (o) annual income from rents of dwelling
units; (p) annual income from other sources; (q) assessed valuation of
property at the time of its acquisition for the project; (r) minimum,
maximum and average aggregate annual income of the families occupying
the project; (s) former population on site; (t) number of buildings
demolished on site; (u) former density on site per gross acre; (v)
present density on site per gross acre.

Each subsequent year of such continued ownership or operation, such
report shall contain, in addition to any information which the
commissioner may require, the following data: (a) amount of any
government loan for the project; (b) amount of any periodic subsidy for
the project; (c) average rental per room including and excluding utility
services; (d) number of vacant apartments; (e) vacancy percentage; (f)
total operating expenses per annum; (g) average annual operating costs
per room; (h) annual income from rents of dwelling units; (i) annual
income from other sources; (j) minimum, maximum and average aggregate
annual income of the families occupying the project.

3. An authority shall file in the office of the commissioner, within
six months of the effective date of regulations implementing this
subdivision and in such format as the commissioner shall prescribe after
consultation with the state energy office, an energy audit report for
state and municipal projects which identifies potential energy-saving
building improvements, including alterations, modifications and
adjustments to the building structure, heating, cooling, lighting and
ventilation systems; their relative costs; potential energy and cost
savings; and simple payback periods, which for the purpose of this
subdivision shall mean that period of time within which the estimated
cost of such improvements, exclusive of the cost of capital, would be
recovered from the savings generated by reduced energy consumption
resulting from the improvements. The energy audit shall be conducted by
a public utility, an engineer or architect licensed by the state, or the
managing agent or other representative of the authority if such
individual has attended an energy audit training workshop sponsored by
the commissioner or the state energy office. A copy of the energy audit
report, required herein, shall be given to any duly constituted tenant's
association or cooperator's advisory council and a copy shall be
available for inspection and copying by any individual tenant who
requests it. An authority shall also certify by March thirty-first,
nineteen hundred eighty-four that all compatible conservation measures
identified in the energy audit report which have simple payback periods
of one year or less have been implemented; provided, however, if the
commissioner determines within sixty days of the date the energy audit
report is filed that one or more of such identified conservation
measures cannot be implemented by March thirty-first, nineteen hundred
eighty-four given the projected rent revenues and any other monies
available to the authority from reserve funds, loans or grants from the
state or federal government or any other source, the implementation of
such conservation measures shall be provided for according to a schedule
prescribed by the commissioner.

4. When an authority has been paid all or part of the principal of a
state loan pursuant to this chapter and in the event that the completion
of the project for which the loan was made has been delayed or that the
funds of such loan for any other reason are not immediately needed for
the development of the project, the authority shall have the power to
invest the moneys of such loan which will not be immediately needed for
the project in obligations of the categories specified in section
ninety-eight of the state finance law and of maturities approved by the
state comptroller.