Validates certain acts of the Mount Morris central school district with regard to two capital improvement projects and provides for payment of state aid for such projects

BILL NUMBER:S4407

Title of bill

An act to validate certain acts of the Mount Morris central school district with regard to certain capital improvement projects

Purpose

Validates certain acts of the Mount Morris central school district with regard to two capital improvement projects and provides for payment of state aid for such projects.

Summary of provisions

Section 1. Finds that two capital improvement projects of the Mount Morris Central School District designated as project numbers 0001-005 and 0001-006 are approved and eligible for State aid.

Section 2. Finds that all acts taken by Mount Morris Central School District and its agents in relation to final cost reports are legalized, validated, ratified, and confirmed, notwithstanding any failure to comply with other required provisions, laws, or regulations. Any amount due and payable to the Mount Morris Central School District for school years prior to the 2014-15 school year shall be paid pursuant to the provisions of paragraph c of subdivision 5 of section 3604 of the Education Law.

Section 3. Directs the Education Department to consider the approved costs of the projects as valid and proper if final project cost reports were submitted to the Department of Education by December 31, 2012; the final project cost reports are approved by the Commissioner; and all State funds expended by the school and documented in the final cost reports were properly spent; and the late submission of the final cost reports were the result of an inadvertent administrative or ministerial oversight by the school district without any fraudulent or improper intent.

Section 4. Provides that this act shall take effect immediately.

Justification

A delay in the filing of final cost reports related to two capital improvement projects has resulted in a penalty to the school in the amount of $2,457,364. This sum is composed of an assessed take-back on already paid State aid and a penalty going forward for the remainder of the life of the school's bonding agreement. An additional bond percentage adjustment to a lower 79.432% has resulted in the loss of a further $1,417,318 that this bill is not seeking to recover. The loss resulting from these take-backs and the bond percentage adjustment demonstrate the substantial burden to the school and its local taxpayers. These unforeseen and unanticipated expenses account for 28 percent of the school district's entire annual budget.

Local taxpayers should not be burdened with the significant undue expense as a result of this filing error committed several years ago. Today's Mount Morris residents and the 538 students who attend Mount Morris Central School should not be so severely penalized due to the

series of oversights that occurred over the course of several years many years ago by individuals no longer even associated with the district.

This bill would ensure that any amount due and payable to the Mount Morris Central School District for previous years shall be paid.

Legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.