Section 858. Purposes and powers of the agency

The purposes of the agency
  shall be to promote, develop, encourage and  assist  in  the  acquiring,
  constructing,  reconstructing,  improving,  maintaining,  equipping  and
  furnishing industrial, manufacturing, warehousing, commercial,  research
  and   recreation   facilities  including  industrial  pollution  control
  facilities, educational or  cultural  facilities,  railroad  facilities,
  horse  racing  facilities  and  continuing  care retirement communities,
  provided, however, that, of agencies  governed  by  this  article,  only
  agencies  created for the benefit of a county and the agency created for
  the benefit of the city of New  York  shall  be  authorized  to  provide
  financial  assistance  in  any  respect  to a continuing care retirement
  community, and thereby advance the job  opportunities,  health,  general
  prosperity  and  economic welfare of the people of the state of New York
  and to improve their recreation opportunities, prosperity  and  standard
  of  living;  and  to carry out the aforesaid purposes, each agency shall
  have the following powers:
    (1) To sue and be sued;
    (2) To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;
    (3) To  acquire,  hold  and  dispose  of  personal  property  for  its
  corporate purposes;
    (4)  To  acquire  by  purchase,  grant,  lease,  gift, pursuant to the
  provisions of the eminent domain procedure law, or otherwise and to use,
  real property or rights or easements therein necessary for its corporate
  purposes in compliance with the local zoning  and  planning  regulations
  and  shall take into consideration regional and local comprehensive land
  use plans and state designated heritage area management  plans,  and  to
  sell,  convey, mortgage, lease, pledge, exchange or otherwise dispose of
  any such property in such manner as the agency shall determine.  In  the
  case of railroad facilities, however, the phrase to use real property or
  rights  or  easements  therein  shall  not  be  interpreted  to  include
  operation by the agency of rail service upon or in conjunction with such
  facilities.
    (5) To make by-laws for the management and regulation of  its  affairs
  and,  subject  to agreements with its bondholders, for the regulation of
  the use of a project or projects.
    (6) With the consent of the municipality, to use agents, employees and
  facilities of the  municipality,  paying  the  municipality  its  agreed
  proportion of the compensation or costs;
    (7)  To  appoint  officers,  agents  and employees, to prescribe their
  qualifications and to fix their compensation and to pay the same out  of
  funds of the agency;
    (8)  (a)  To  appoint  an  attorney,  who  may  be  the counsel of the
  municipality, and to fix the attorney's compensation for services  which
  shall  be  payable  to  the  attorney,  and to retain and employ private
  consultants for professional and technical assistance and advice;
    (b) An attorney acting as bond counsel for a project  must  file  with
  the  agency  a  written  statement in which the attorney identifies each
  party to the transaction which such attorney represents. If bond counsel
  provides any legal services to parties other than the agency the written
  statement must describe the nature of legal services  provided  by  such
  bond  counsel to all parties to the transaction, including the nature of
  the services provided to the agency.
    (9) To make contracts and  leases,  and  to  execute  all  instruments
  necessary  or  convenient  to  or  with any person, firm, partnership or
  corporation, either public  or  private;  provided,  however,  that  any
  extension of an existing contract, lease or other agreement entered into
  by an agency with respect to a project shall be guided by the provisions
  of this article;

    (10)  To  acquire,  construct,  reconstruct, lease, improve, maintain,
  equip or furnish one or more projects;
    (11)  To accept gifts, grants, loans, or contributions from, and enter
  into contracts or other transactions with, the  United  States  and  the
  state  or  any agency of either of them, any municipality, any public or
  private corporation or any other legal  entity,  and  to  use  any  such
  gifts, grants, loans or contributions for any of its corporate purposes;
    (12)  To borrow money and to issue bonds and to provide for the rights
  of the holders thereof;
    (13) To grant options to renew any lease with respect to  any  project
  or projects and to grant options to buy any project at such price as the
  agency may deem desirable;
    (14)  To  designate  the  depositories  of  its money either within or
  without the state;
    (15) To enter into agreements requiring payments  in  lieu  of  taxes.
  Such agreements shall be in writing and in addition to other terms shall
  contain: the amount due annually to each affected tax jurisdiction (or a
  formula by which the amount due can be calculated), the name and address
  of the person, office or agency to which payment shall be delivered, the
  date on which payment shall be made, and the date on which payment shall
  be  considered  delinquent  if  not paid. Unless otherwise agreed by the
  affected tax  jurisdictions,  any  such  agreement  shall  provide  that
  payments  in  lieu  of  taxes  shall  be  allocated  among  affected tax
  jurisdictions in proportion to the amount of real property tax and other
  taxes which would have been received by each affected  tax  jurisdiction
  had  the  project  not  been  tax exempt due to the status of the agency
  involved in the project. A copy of any such agreement shall be delivered
  to each affected tax jurisdiction within fifteen  days  of  signing  the
  agreement.  In  the  absence  of any such written agreement, payments in
  lieu of taxes  made  by  an  agency  shall  be  allocated  in  the  same
  proportions  as  they  had been prior to January first, nineteen hundred
  ninety-three for so long as the agency's  activities  render  a  project
  non-taxable by affected tax jurisdictions;
    (16) To establish and re-establish its fiscal year; and
    (17)  To  do  all  things  necessary  or  convenient  to carry out its
  purposes and exercise the powers expressly given in this title.