In re Griffiss Local Dev. Corp. v. State Auth. Budget Office

• Decision Date: 16 June 2011
• Docket Number: 510005
• Parties: In the Matter of GRIFFISS LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Appellant, v. STATE OF NEW YORK AUTHORITY BUDGET OFFICE et al., Respondents.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

2011 NY Slip Op 05150

In the Matter of GRIFFISS LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Appellant, v. STATE OF NEW YORK AUTHORITY BUDGET OFFICE et al., Respondents.

510005

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

Decided and Entered: June 16, 2011

Calendar Date: April 26, 2011

Before: Mercure, J.P., Peters, Lahtinen, Malone Jr. and Stein, JJ.

Saunders Kahler, L.L.P., Utica (James S. Rizzo of counsel), for appellant.

Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Paul Groenwegen of counsel), for respondents.

J. Wade Beltramo, New York State Conference of Mayors & Municipal Officials, Albany, for New York State Conference of Mayors & Municipal Officials, amicus curiae. Harris Beach, P.L.L.C., Pittsford (Shawn M. Griffin of counsel), for New York State Economic Development Council, amicus curiae.

Stein, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Lynch, J.), entered December 21, 2009 in Albany County, which, among other things, dismissed petitioner's application, in a combined proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 and action for declaratory judgment, to review a determination of respondent Authority Budget Office requiring petitioner to comply with the Public Authorities Accountability Act of 2005.

Respondent Authority Budget Office (hereinafter respondent)¹ made a preliminary determination that petitioner — a not-for-profit local development corporation whose sole purpose is the redevelopment of the former Griffiss Air Force Base in the City of Rome, Oneida County — was a public authority and, as such, was subject to the Public Authorities Accountability Act of 2005 (see L 2005, ch 766 [hereinafter PAAA])The PAAA imposes numerous requirements on entities subject to its provisions including, among other things, audits, reporting duties and board member training (see Public Authorities Law §§ 2800-2806, 2824-2825). . After considering petitioner's arguments in opposition to its preliminary determination, respondent reaffirmed its position and rendered a final determination that petitioner was subject to the PAAA. When its further protests were unsuccessful, petitioner commenced this combined CPLR article 78 proceeding and declaratory judgment action seeking, among other things, to annul respondent's determination that it was required to comply with the PAAA and a declaration that the PAAA has no applicability to petitioner. Finding that petitioner "was created by Oneida County with the cooperation of the City of Rome and [a predecessor organization]," Supreme Court determined that petitioner was a "'local authority,'" issued a declaration that petitioner is subject to the PAAA and dismissed the petition. Upon petitioner's appeal, we now affirm.

We agree with Supreme Court's well-reasoned determination that petitioner is a local authority, subject to the provisions of the PAAA. The intention of the Legislature in enacting the PAAA was to "improve oversight, accountability, and transparency [with respect to] public authorities, thereby strengthening public confidence in their important work" (Senate Introducer Mem in Support, Bill Jacket, L 2005, ch 766, at 7). Toward that end, the PAAA defines a local authority as "a not-for-profit corporation affiliated with, sponsored by, or created by a county, city, town or village government" (Public Authorities Law § 2 [2] [b], as amended by L 2005, ch 766, § 2).

Initially, we reject petitioner's contention that such definition is unconstitutionally vague. "Legislative enactments enjoy a 'presumption of constitutionality, imposing a heavy burden on a party trying to overcome it'" (State of New York v Dennin, 17 AD3d 744, 747 [2005], lv dismissed 5 NY3d 824 [2005], quoting Matter of Carpenter Tech. Corp. v Commissioner of Taxation & Fin., 295 AD2d 830, 834 [2002], lv denied 99 NY2d 501 [2002]; see People v Taylor, 9 NY3d 129, 150 [2007]). "A statute withstands an attack for vagueness if it contains sufficient standards to afford a reasonable degree of certainty so that a person of ordinary intelligence is not forced to guess at its meaning and to safeguard against arbitrary enforcement" (Salvatore v City of Schenectady, 139 AD2d 87, 89 [1988] [internal citations omitted]). It is not necessary that all statutory terms be defined (see Matter of Flow v Mark IV Constr. Co., 288 AD2d 779, 780 [2001]; Matter of Addei v State Bd. for Professional Med. Conduct, 278 AD2d 551, 552 [2000]). In our view, a plain reading of Public Authorities Law § 2 (2) (b) by a person of ordinary intelligence gives fair notice of what the statute means and to whom it applies with a reasonable degree of certainty (see Foss v City of Rochester, 65 NY2d247, 253 [1985]), and the terms set forth therein, although undefined, are sufficiently clear to prevent unfettered discretion in determining which not-for-profit corporations are subject to the PAAA (see generally People v Stuart, 100 NY2d 412, 430 [2003, Kaye, Ch. J., concurring]; Matter of Morrissey v Apostol, 75 AD3d 993, 996 [2010]; Salvatore v City of Schenectady, 139 AD2d at 89).

Turning to the merits, we begin with the ordinary meaning of the relevant terms. The meaning of the word "create" is "to bring into existence" or "to produce or bring about by a course of action" (Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster. com/dictionary/create [accessed June 10, 2011]). The term "sponsor" has been defined as "one who assumes responsibility for some other person or thing" and "a person or an organization that pays for or plans and carries out a project or activity" (Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sponsor [accessed June 10, 2011]). The term "affiliated" means "associated with" (Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary, http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary /affiliated [accessed June 10, 2011]; see Black's Law Dictionary 63 [8th ed 2004]). Ascribing the plain and ordinary meaning to those terms (see generally Friedman v Connecticut Gen. Life Ins. Co., 9 NY3d 105, 115 [2007]), we are of the view that petitioner was created by, sponsored by and/or affiliated with the local government within the meaning of the PAAA and, thus, qualifies as a "local authority" for purposes of the statute.

Griffiss Air Force Base, located in the City of Rome, Oneida County, was closed by the...