BILL NUMBER: S3367
SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the local finance law, in relation to the exclusion of
certain indebtedness of school districts in a city with one hundred
twenty-five thousand inhabitants or more
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill changes the way debt is calculated for small city school
districts to align with other fiscally independent districts.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 121.20 of the local finance law to allow small
city school districts to exclude building aid from calculating their
debt limit.
Section 2 amends section 121.30 of the local finance law to allow small
city school districts to exclude outstanding bonds and bond anticipation
notes for the acquisition or construction of a shelter or fallout shel-
ter from their debt limit.
Section 3 amends section 137.00 of the local finance law to include
small city school districts in existing procedures for reporting their
debt.
Section 4 sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In the fall of 2023 voters approved a constitutional amendment to remove
the constitutional debt limit for small city school districts. The
enacting legislation, chapter 596 of the laws of 2023, imposed a 10%
statutory debt limit, consistent with the debt limit all other fiscally
independent school districts are subject to. This legislation would
create further parity by aligning the way debt is calculated for small
city school districts with other districts. Most notably, this legis-
lation allows small city school districts to subtract building aid from
their debt calculation.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S9520/ Al0414 (McDonald): Referred to Local Government in Senate;
Referred to Rules in Assembly
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

Statutes affected:
S3367: 121.30 local finance law, 137.00 local finance law