§ 1196-b. Definitions. As used or referred to in this title, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context: 1. "Authority" shall mean a water authority or sewerage authority or water and sewerage authority organized pursuant to the provisions of this title. 2. "Bonds" shall mean bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness issued by an authority pursuant to this title. 3. "Chief executive officer" shall mean the chief elected official of a municipality. 4. "Comptroller" shall mean the comptroller of the state. 5. "Construction" shall mean the acquisition, erection, building, alteration, improvement, increase, enlargement, extension, reconstruction, renovation or rehabilitation of a water, sewerage or water and sewerage system, as the case may be, as defined herein; the inspection and supervision thereof; and the engineering, architectural, legal, fiscal and economic and environmental investigations and studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, procedures and other actions incidental thereto. 6. "Cost", as applied to any project, shall include the cost of construction, the cost of the acquisition of all property, including both real, personal and mixed, the cost of demolishing, removing or relocating any buildings or structures on lands so acquired including the cost of acquiring any lands to which such buildings or structures may be moved or relocated, the cost of all systems, facilities, machinery, apparatus and equipment, financing charges and bond discount, interest to the extent not paid or provided for from revenues or other sources, the cost of engineering and architectural surveys, plans and specifications, the cost of consultants' and legal services, the cost of lease guarantee or bond insurance, other expenses necessary or incidental to the construction of such project and the financing of the construction thereof, including the amount authorized in the resolution of an authority providing for the issuance of bonds to be paid into any reserve or special fund from the proceeds of such bonds and the financing of the placing of any project in operation, including the reimbursement to any municipality, state agency, the state, the United States government, or any other person for expenditures that would be costs of the project hereunder. 7. "Distribution system" shall mean the water facility or facilities employed to deliver water from a transmission facility, or where there is no transmission facility, from a supply facility, to the ultimate consumers of water. 8. "District" shall mean the authority district established at the time of organization of an authority by the governing body or bodies of the municipality or municipalities for whose benefit the authority is established by special act of the legislature, or as it may be amended by such governing body or bodies, all in accordance with the provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-six-c of this title. 9. "Governing body" shall mean:

(a) In the case of a city, county, town, or village or district corporation, the finance board as such term is defined in the local finance law.

(b) In the case of a public benefit corporation, the members thereof. 10. "Municipality" shall mean any city, county, town, village, or county or town acting on behalf of an improvement district. 11. "Real property" shall mean lands, structures, franchises and interests in land, waters, lands under water, groundwater riparian rights and air rights and any and all things and rights included within said term and includes not only fee simple absolute, but also any and all lesser interests including, but not limited to, easements, rights of way, uses, leases, licenses and all other incorporeal hereditaments and every estate, interest or right, legal or equitable, including terms for years and liens thereon by way of judgments, mortgages or otherwise. 12. "Sewage" shall mean the water-carried human or animal wastes from residences, buildings, industrial establishments or other places, together with such groundwater infiltration and surface water as may be present. The admixture with sewage of industrial or other waste also shall be considered "sewage" within the meaning of this title. 13. "Sewerage facility" or "sewerage facilities" shall mean any plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, rehabilitated or constructed or planned for the purpose of collecting, treating and disposing of sewage, including main, trunk, intercepting, connecting, lateral, outlet or other sewers, outfall, pumping stations, treatment and disposal plants, groundwater recharge basins, back-flow prevention devices, sludge dewatering or disposal equipment and facilities, clarifiers, filters, phosphorus removal equipment, and other plants, structures, equipment, vehicles, conveyances, real or personal property or rights therein and appurtenances thereto necessary or useful and convenient for the collection, conveyance, pumping, treatment, neutralizing, storing and disposing of sewage. 14. "Sewerage system" shall mean the sewage collection, pumping, treatment neutralizing, storage and disposal system or systems in the possession of, or under the jurisdiction and control of, a municipality, including all additions, increases, enlargements, extensions or improvements thereto. 15. "State" shall mean the state of New York. 16. "State agency" shall mean any state office, public benefit corporation, department, board, commission, bureau or division, or other agency or instrumentality of the state. 17. "Supply facility" shall mean a water facility employed to make groundwater or surface water available for delivery into a transmission facility or distribution system. 18. "System revenues" shall mean rates, rents, fees, charges, payments and other income and receipts derived from users of a water system or sewerage system of a municipality including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, investment proceeds and proceeds of insurance, condemnation, sales or other dispositions of assets, together with all federal, state or municipal aid. 19. "Transmission facility" shall mean a water facility used to carry water from a supply facility to a distribution system. 20. "Water facility" or "water facilities" shall mean any plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, rehabilitated, or constructed for the purpose of supplying, transmitting, distributing or treating water, including but not limited to surface or groundwater reservoirs, basins, dams, canals, aqueducts, standpipes, conduits, pipelines, mains, pumping stations, water distribution systems, compensating reservoirs, intake stations, waterworks or sources of water supply, wells, purification or filtration plants or other treatment plants and works, connections, water meters, rights of flowage or diversion and other plants, structures, equipment, conveyances, real or personal property or rights therein and appurtenances thereto necessary or useful and convenient for the accumulation, supply, transmission, treatment or distribution of water. 21. "Water project" shall mean any sewerage facility, water facility or water and sewerage facility, as the case may be, including the planning, development, financing or construction thereof.