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History
- Referred to education
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Authorizes certain school districts to elect to withdraw excess monies from the employee benefit accrued liability reserve fund and transfer such funds to the general fund of the school district; repealer
In Assembly Committee · Education · Sponsor Ginny Fields
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act authorizing certain school districts to elect to withdraw excess monies from the employee benefit accrued liability reserve fund; and to repeal certain provisions of the general municipal law, relating to the examination of accounts
Purpose or general idea of bill
To allow those school districts that have reserve funds to access them.
Summary of specific provisions
Section one allows school districts with excess monies in an employee benefit accrued liability reserve (EBALR) to transfer all or part of these excess funds into a general fund of the school district. Section two repeals Subdivision 3 of section 33 of the general municipal law is repealed.
Justification
A recent audit by the State Comptroller found that many school districts and BOCES had over-funded their reserve funds for Employee Benefit and Accrued Liabilities, in some cases because the districts erroneously believed that those reserves could be used to fund retiree health insurance. In fact, ELBAR reserves may only be used to pay employees for accrued leave time due to them when they leave district employment.
During the testimony of the New York State School Boards Association to the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committees on the 2010-2011 Executive Budget, it was stated very clearly that access to these funds would be a great asset and that they strongly support the proposal to allow districts to withdraw funds in order to maintain educational programming in the 2010-11 school year. Given the severity of this fiscal crisis, making use of these funds to offset program cuts and higher local taxes is of paramount importance to districts across the state.
Comptroller DiNapoli has also expressed his support for allowing school districts to use this excess money to benefit taxpayers, and has called on the legislature to adopt such a change. This bill has been written in conjunction with his office to provide that school districts which have set aside excess ELBAR reserves will be able to access their money without going through the New York State Comptroller's office. Comptroller DiNapoli believes that since it is their money, they should be able to access it. This legislation would allow the School Districts of New York State with excess funds in their EBALR accounts to use those funds to help support schools and relieve the burden placed on the taxpayers of New York State.
Prior legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.