[Adopted 4-19-2010 by Ord. No. 42.31.10]
A.
The City of Albany hosts numerous corporations and associations which
own real property and which are organized or conducted exclusively
for charitable, hospital or educational purposes and including state-owned
entities (hereinafter referred to as "exempt entities") and which
are exempted by law in whole or in part from paying real property
taxes. The City values the contributions of these exempt entities
which are an integral part of the social fabric of Albany and help
to establish Albany as a creative, dynamic and healthy community.
The City of Albany has a commitment to ensuring its neighborhoods
are safe, stable and thriving by making critical improvements and
investments and providing reliable essential municipal services, including,
but not limited to, police protection, fire protection, EMS services,
street and highway construction, maintenance and lighting, snow removal,
sanitation (inclusive of trash collection, disposal and recycling),
and water and sewer services. These exempt entities and taxpayers
alike benefit in substantially equal manner from these essential services,
yet these exempt entities do not contribute to the payment of costs
for these services.
B.
The staggering national economic downturn of a severity not seen
since the Great Depression has resulted in substantial reductions
in state aid to the City and an alarming and recurring reduction in
historical levels of sales tax revenues which threaten to necessitate
severe cutbacks in vital municipal services. Incident to this national
and state economic downturn, the City has experienced substantial
cuts in the millions of dollars of state aid to municipalities support
and will be faced with an additional reduction of $7,850,000 in state
aid in the year 2011 pursuant to § 19-a of the Public Lands
Law. The City's financial burden has been exacerbated by severely
increasing pension contribution costs to the state's retirement systems
for City employees, including police and fire, and by the ever increasing
costs of health insurance payments for its employees which constitute
fully 10% of the City budget. The City has just received from the
state one final limited extension of the life cycle of its landfill
which when it is required to close in the near future will dramatically
add to the fiscal imbalance of future City budgets. Fully 81% of the
City's budget expenditures (after inclusion of debt service payments)
is allocable to personal service and benefit costs for its employees,
of which over 63% of total personnel costs are chargeable for the
support of the Police and Fire Departments, thereby making budgetary
cuts to personnel extraordinarily painful, and these realities severely
restrict the flexibility of discretion in budget-cutting options.
C.
Due to the real property holdings of state government and the several
other exempt entities, fully 53% of the assessed valuation of all
real property in the City is tax-exempt, thereby increasing the real
property tax burden on homeowners, renters and commercial property
owners. When two of the three major revenue sources available to support
City government, specifically, state aid and sales tax receipts, are
severely diminishing, it would be imprudent and misguided to increase
the real property tax burden on the major pillar of City revenue support,
that is, residences and commercial property owners. It is with these
severe budgetary constraints confronting the City that the Common
Council has determined it to be sound public policy and advisable
to establish the "City of Albany Commission on Public-Private Budgetary
Cooperation" for the purpose of seeking assistance from the several
exempt entities within the City to assist in addressing the budgetary
concerns of the City.
The Common Council hereby establishes the City of Albany Commission
on Public-Private Budgetary Cooperation.
A.
The Commission shall consist of 11 members, with six members to be appointed by the Common Council and five members to be appointed by the Mayor. Of the members appointed by the Common Council, at least two shall be representative of the interests of the types of exempt entities described in § 42-368, and at least two shall be members of the Common Council. Of the members appointed by the Mayor, at least two shall be representative of the interests of the types of such exempt entities. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment.
B.
The appointing authorities shall strive to include appointees who
are authorities in fiscal budgetary issues and who are knowledgeable
of efforts by other municipalities to successfully engage exempt entities
in their jurisdictions in making financial and other contributions
in support of their jurisdiction's budget.
C.
The Mayor and the Common Council shall jointly designate co-chairs
of the Commission. In making such designation, the appointing authorities
shall coordinate their designations in order that at least one co-chair
is representative of the interests of such exempt entities.
D.
The Commission shall cease to exist six months following the submission
of the final report to the Mayor and Common Council. Members shall
serve without compensation.
A.
The Commission shall submit a preliminary report to the Common Council
and the Mayor within 120 days after all appointments of members have
been made by the appointing authorities. Such report shall detail
the Commission's findings as outlined in this section. The Commission
shall submit its final written report to the Common Council and the
Mayor within 120 days of the date it submitted its preliminary report.
Such final report shall be detailed in its scope and shall identify
the work engaged in by the Commission in fulfillment of the charges
imposed upon it pursuant to such section. The report shall further
include its findings, determinations and recommendations, including,
but not limited to, any recommendations the Commission has determined
necessary for the enactment or amendment of local or state law as
may be necessary to accomplish any of its recommendations.
B.
The report of the Commission shall provide findings with regard to
the following topics:
(1)
The costs associated with providing certain essential City services
to the exempt entities. The City essential services shall be for police
protection, fire protection, EMS services, street and highway construction,
maintenance and lighting, snow removal, sanitation (inclusive of trash
collections, disposal and recycling), and water and sewer services.
The Commission shall attempt to identify these costs by category of
exempt entity based upon the total assessed value of real property
owned by such entity which is wholly or partially tax exempt and the
scope of use of such essential City services by such exempt entity.
(2)
Financial and programmatic contributions made by the exempt entities
to municipalities in selected cities nationwide, including best practices
in public-private partnerships in effect in such municipalities. The
Commission shall identify whether these contributions are made to
such municipalities pursuant to written voluntary contribution agreements,
implementation of financing options authorized by federal tax provisions
or pursuant to mandate imposed by state or local law.
(3)
Development of a standard methodology for valuing community partnership
contributions made by the exempt entities.
(4)
Recommendation of a standard level of financial and programmatic
contributions to be met by all large-scale exempt entities in Albany.
(5)
Identification of all necessary or advisable City and state legislation.
(6)
Consideration of how other state capital cities are reimbursed for
exempt properties.
(7)
Review of any additional means to mitigate the impact of exempt entities
on the City's tax base and to establish a fair and equitable approach
to generating revenue to support City services.
The Commission shall have the power to request documents, conduct
public hearings, hear testimony of witnesses, and take any other action
it deems necessary to carry out its functions. Every department, office,
division, agency or public authority of this City shall cooperate
to the full extent possible with the Commission and furnish such information
and assistance as the Commission determines is reasonably necessary
to accomplish its purpose in a timely fashion. The Commission shall
be authorized to seek the assistance of the Government Law Center
of Albany Law School either on a pro bono basis or pursuant to a contract
for reasonable compensation within the amount of any appropriation
that may be made by the Common Council for such purposes.
