Section 73-J. Special provisions relating to aid

1. Within one hundred
  twenty  days  after  the  adoption  of  a  state  budget  containing  an
  appropriation  implementing this article, the commissioner shall send to
  the  county  executive,  if  any,  or  the  chairperson  of  the  county
  legislative  body  of  each  rural  county,  a  copy of this article and
  general information relating to the procedure to be followed  to  obtain
  the  aid provided for in this article including, but not limited to, the
  following:
    a. the intent of the program;
    b. program guidelines, including the time when  applications  must  be
  submitted;  the time when applications will be accepted or rejected; the
  time when the applicant must complete the program for which aid has been
  given;
    c. potential county benefit, including an indication of the  level  of
  the  funds  to which each county would be entitled should it participate
  in the program as defined in this article.
    2. The failure to file an application for aid in any  year  shall  not
  impair the right of a rural county to file an application for aid in any
  subsequent year.
    3.  Within  six  months  of the time of receipt of any application for
  aid,  pursuant  to  section  seventy-three-g  of   this   article,   the
  commissioner  shall  notify  the  applicant  that  such  application was
  approved and aid shall be paid to such county or the  commissioner  will
  reject  such  application  and state the reasons for such rejection. The
  rejection  shall  not  disqualify  an  applicant  from  resubmitting  an
  application   for  aid.  In  the  event,  after  consultation  with  the
  commissioner,  the  application  is  modified  it  may   thereafter   be
  resubmitted for further consideration.
    4.  Each  request  submitted  to  the  commissioner  for  a  financial
  assistance grant under this article shall be accompanied by an  itemized
  preliminary  budget,  certified  by  the  chief financial officer of the
  county, identifying expected eligible  costs,  amounts  and  sources  of
  grant funding including any applicable county matching funds.
    a.  Within sixty days after the completion of the grant, as determined
  by the terms of the grant, the chief executive officer of the county, if
  any, or the chairperson of the county legislative body shall forward  to
  the  commissioner  a  certified  financial  statement identifying actual
  costs incurred,  grant  funds  expended  or  encumbered,  including  any
  applicable  county matching funds on forms provided by the commissioner.
  After the expenditure of any applicable county  matching  funds,  should
  any  state funds paid to a county remain unexpended or unencumbered upon
  completion of the grant, as determined by the terms of  the  grant,  the
  commissioner  will  credit  said state funds to the county's planning or
  operating assistance grant for the subsequent year. In no  event,  shall
  the  county's  subsequent  year's  grant  exceed  the  sum of forty-five
  thousand dollars  for  planning  or  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for
  operating aid.
    b.  Should  a county's activities in coordinated public transportation
  services be terminated at any time, the chief executive officer  of  the
  county,  if any, or the chairperson of the county legislative body shall
  advise the commissioner of such termination in writing and return to the
  commissioner any unexpended state funds paid to the county together with
  the final certified financial statement indicating  the  expenditure  of
  any grant funds received.
    5.  Except as provided for in section seventy-three-g of this article,
  any moneys paid to rural counties by the commissioner shall be  paid  in
  quarterly  installments  at the beginning of each quarter, commencing on
  the first day of January of each year, unless the commissioner  approves

  an  alternative method of payment in accordance with subdivision nine of
  this section.
    6.  Except as provided for in section seventy-three-g of this article,
  a rural county's apportionment of funds  made  available  in  accordance
  with   this   article   may  be  used  for  capital,  operating  and  or
  administrative assistance to provide rural  public  transportation.  The
  commissioner,   in   consultation   with  the  interagency  coordinating
  committee on rural public transportation, may  award  other  grants  for
  operating and capital expenses.
    7.  Recipients  of  aid shall annually submit to the commissioner such
  data as he or she may deem  necessary  to  review  the  program  and  to
  recommend future funding levels.
    8.  Following  formal  adoption of a rural county's coordinated public
  transportation  service  plan  and  approval  of  that   plan   by   the
  commissioner,  and  upon  receipt  of written notice from a rural county
  that its coordinated public transportation service is about to  commence
  in  accordance  with  such approved plan, the commissioner shall forward
  operating aid applications to the chief executive officer of the county,
  if any, or the chairperson of the county legislative  body,  along  with
  instructions  and  a  timetable  for  their completion. The commissioner
  shall advise the applicant county of his action on each such application
  within ninety days of its receipt.
    9. Funds appropriated  for  the  purpose  of  implementation  of  this
  article  may be allocated in whole or in part to a rural county prior to
  the time actual expenditures  are  incurred  if  the  payment  is  first
  approved  by the commissioner. Applications for advance payment shall be
  made by the county in accordance with rules of  the  commissioner.  Each
  application  shall  specifically  state  why  such  advance  payment  is
  required.
    10. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations  in  order
  to implement the provisions of this article.
    11.  When  a  rural  county  has adopted and implemented a coordinated
  public  transportation  service  plan  in  accordance  with  rules   and
  regulations  issued  by  the  commissioner pursuant to the provisions of
  this article and such plan has been approved by the  commissioner,  then
  the  department  may, from among all applications within said county for
  financial aid to purchase vehicles provided by section sixteen (b) (two)
  of the  federal  Urban  Mass  Transportation  Act  of  nineteen  hundred
  sixty-four  as amended, give priority consideration for funding to those
  applications that provide coordinated public transportation  service  in
  accordance with the county's plan.
    12.  When  included  and operated as an integral part of a coordinated
  public transportation service plan  approved  by  the  commissioner  and
  adopted  pursuant to the provisions of this article, and consistent with
  the Urban Mass Transportation Act  of  nineteen  hundred  sixty-four  as
  amended,  vehicles  obtained  through  section sixteen (b) (two) of said
  federal Urban Mass Transportation Act, may be eligible to carry  persons
  other  than  elderly  and disabled on a regular basis, provided that the
  transportation needs of elderly and/or disabled persons described in the
  recipient's original section sixteen (b) (two) grant application are met
  by  the  adopted  coordinated  public  transportation  service  and  the
  transportation  needs of other elderly and disabled persons in the rural
  county are met under the county's adopted plan.
    13. Public transportation providers utilizing state or federal transit
  assistance moneys for the purchase of vehicles pursuant to this article,
  may purchase said vehicles through state contract or by  public  bid  as
  required by section one hundred three of the general municipal law.

    14.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provisions  of  this  article to the
  contrary, no application  for  financial  assistance  made  pursuant  to
  section  seventy-three-g  of  this  article  shall  be  awarded  by  the
  commissioner for less than fifty-five thousand dollars or for less  than
  the amount requested unless the commissioner shall, in writing, prior to
  making  the  award, each year certify the reasons why such applicant was
  awarded less than fifty-five thousand dollars or  an  amount  less  than
  requested.  Such  certification,  including the reasons for such action,
  shall be sent to the applicant, the interagency  coordinating  committee
  on  rural  public  transportation,  the  secretary of the senate finance
  committee, the secretary of the assembly ways and means  committee,  the
  director  of  the  office  of  rural  affairs  and  the  director of the
  legislative commission on the development of rural resources.
    15. Notwithstanding any  other  provisions  of  this  article  to  the
  contrary,   no  grant  for  operating  aid,  as  authorized  by  section
  seventy-three-h of this article, shall be made by  the  commissioner  to
  any  county  for  less than thirty-five thousand dollars in any one year
  unless the commissioner shall, in writing, prior to  making  the  grant,
  each  year  certify  the  reasons  why such county was awarded less than
  thirty-five thousand dollars. Such certification including  the  reasons
  for   such  action  shall  be  sent  to  such  county,  the  interagency
  coordinating committee on rural public transportation, the secretary  of
  the  senate  finance  committee,  the secretary of the assembly ways and
  means committee, the director of the office of  rural  affairs  and  the
  director  of  the  legislative  commission  on  the development of rural
  resources.