Folder 137

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

OCT-16-2001 22:13 P.06

In light of the World Trade Center disaster, New York City is requesting additional financial assistance over a three-year period and a waiver of the COPS guidelines, This financial assistance will enable New York City to mitigate any financial hardship created as a result of the terrorist attack- Furthermore, this relief is a savings of approximately $260 million over three years (or an estimated $88 million per year) to the City and will assure the retention of officers hired under the COPS program for a number of years

Federalizationof New York City Housing Authority Units As part of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act (QHWRA) of 1998 Congress authorized the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to federalize up to 7,000 locally developed public housing units in New York State. In the three years since the passage of the legislation, HUD has failed to designate the units as Federal ones, making them ineligible for federal operating and capital funding.

NYCHA is the largest public housing authority in the United States and operates over 180,000 units providing housing to over 535,00 low income residents throughout the City's five boroughs. The Authority manages hundreds of community, senior and day care centers, in addition to a number of health care clinics, head start centers and resource centers. Last year, the City provided over $34 million operating subsidies to the locally developed units. Additionally, the City's capital contributions to NYCHA developments, which include both Federal and locally developed units, is approximately $60 million annually. As a result of the QHWRA provision, NYCHA would become eligible for $28 million in new operating assistance and $16 million in modernization finds. Eligibility for these additional funds will assist both the City and NYCHA in providing necessary services to public housing residents. The City requests that HUD federalize the requisite units as required by Federal law.

Unlimited Refunding of Bonds The ability to refinance tax-exempt debt to lower debt service costs is an important tool for State and local governments to use in managing and reducing their costs, In 1986, the Internal Revenue Code was amended to prohibit more than one advance refunding of tax- exempt debt. (An advance refunding is a refunding of tax-exempt debt with new debt issued more than 90 days prior to the maturity date or first call date of the existing debt.) This prohibition has unnecessarily limited the City's ability to respond to declining interest rates by lowering its debt service costs through refunding of existing debt. The proposed bill would permit unlimited advance ref endings of tax-exempt debt issued for governmental purposes, so long as the refundings resulted in present value savings. This would result in savings for the City of up to $120 million in the City's 2002 fiscal year.

TANF MOE Relief Pursuant to the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, states are required to spend a certain level of local funds in order to receive Federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

NYC-WTC 000136287