What's happening
This bill authorizes the town of Massena to issue up to $5 million in bonds to cover pension contribution deficits for former Massena Memorial Hospital employees.
Why it matters
Allows Massena to take on debt to address immediate pension obligations. , which can prevent short-term financial crisis for the town and former hospital employees, but may create long-term repayment responsibilities for local taxpayers.
Sets a 30-year repayment period for these bonds. , meaning the financial impact will be spread across several decades, affecting future town budgets and potentially limiting fiscal flexibility for other needs.
Permits the town board to raise taxes specifically to pay off this new debt. , directly impacting residents and businesses in Massena through potentially higher property taxes or other local levies.
Ensures any excess funds borrowed must be strictly accounted for under state oversight. , providing some safeguards against misuse, but also indicating a high level of state involvement in local fiscal management due to the seriousness of the deficit.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Let Massena Issue Pension Bonds
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to local government
- Referred to local government
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.
Massena Can Borrow For Pensions
In Assembly Committee · Local Governments · Sponsor Scott Gray
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
692
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
Introduced by Sen. STEC -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
AN ACT to authorize the town of Massena to issue bonds to cover the cost of pension contributions due by the town for employees of the former Massena Memorial Hospital
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. (a) The town of Massena, county of Saint Lawrence, is hereby authorized to issue serial bonds, subject to the provisions of section 10.10 of the local finance law, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000), for the specific object or purpose of liquidating actual deficits in its general fund at the close of the fiscal year as certified by the state comptroller. In anticipation of the issuance and sale of such serial bonds, bond anticipation notes are hereby authorized to be issued.
(b) The specific object or purpose of this issuance is hereby declared to be a public purpose which the town is hereby authorized to accomplish and the period of probable usefulness thereof is hereby authorized to be thirty years.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, general, special or local, the town board is hereby authorized to levy a tax to be collected in annual installments sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on said bonds and bond anticipation notes and to adopt a bond resolution authorizing the serial bonds authorized to be issued pursuant to this section.
(d) Amounts provided from the proceeds of obligations issued pursuant to this section in excess of the amount of the deficit as confirmed by the state comptroller shall be accounted for in the same manner as prescribed by the state comptroller pursuant to section 36 of the general municipal law.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00101-01-5
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to authorize the town of Massena to issue bonds to cover the cost of pension contributions due by the town for employees of the former Massena Memorial Hospital
Purpose
Allows the Town of Massena to issue bonds not to exceed $5 million to cover the cost of the pension contributions due by the town for employ- ees of the former Massena Memorial Hospital.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 - details the amount and provisions related to the bonding authority of the Town of Massena.
Section 2 - marks the effective date.
Justification
The Town of Massena recently transferred its municipal hospital to St. Lawrence Health Systems with the help of the New York State Department of Health. Unfortunately, there was not sufficient funding to cover all of the outstanding liabilities, including the town's obligations to St. Lawrence County for its workers' compensation insurance and pension liabilities.
Though the town used assets and reserves to satisfy the county, the pension liability remains too large for the town to pay from reserves and current revenues.
This bill would provide Massena with the ability to bond the liability detailed above and pay the pension system. This would allow the town to pay the bonds over time in an effort to minimize the overall impact on taxpayers.
Legislative history
2023-2024: S3094 reported to Finance; A5140 referred to Local Govern- ments
2021-2022: S9104 Passed Senate, A10409 referred to local governments
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.