§ 28. Payments from earnings. 1. There shall be paid annually out of the earnings of the company, after providing for all taxes, assessments and expenses, a sum for interest on and amortization of the mortgage indebtedness of all mortgages of the company, depreciation charges and reserves if, when and to the extent deemed necessary by the commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be, plus a dividend of six per centum on outstanding stock and interest not exceeding six per centum on the outstanding income debentures of the company; the obligation in respect of such payments shall be cumulative, and any deficiency in interest, amortization, depreciation, reserves, if any, and dividends in any year shall be paid either from any cash surplus derived from earnings remaining in the treasury of the company in excess of the amount necessary to provide such cumulative annual sums or from the first available earnings in subsequent years. If, at the end of any three year period, the gross receipts should exceed the payments or charges necessary for the purposes of the project or projects and are not needed for a sinking fund, reserves or other purposes, the balance may be paid in further reduction of any indebtedness to the extent and upon terms and conditions approved by the commissioner and the state comptroller or by the supervising agency, as the case may be. A sinking fund may be authorized by the commissioner or the supervising agency, to purchase and retire bonds, income debentures or stock of the company at a price approved by the commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be, not exceeding par value thereof with accrued or unpaid dividends or interest or if it be not practical to purchase such stock or income debentures at a price so approved, the money in such sinking fund may be added to the surplus of such company. Any stock or income debentures purchased out of such sinking fund shall be cancelled and shall not be reissued.

2. Anything contained in this article to the contrary notwithstanding, a company which receives a loan from the state, the New York state housing finance agency or a municipality after July first, nineteen hundred sixty-nine, or a mutual company which has been duly authorized to issue income debentures to finance the modernization or replacement of project improvements or the acquisition and installation of energy saving equipment and which is otherwise authorized to pay dividends upon its shares or interest upon its income debentures, may, with the approval of the commissioner or the supervising agency as the case may be, pay such dividends or interest in excess of six per centum per annum, but in no event shall any such rate exceed the interest rate prescribed by the superintendent of financial services pursuant to section fourteen-a of the banking law, provided, however, if the voting stock of a mutual company has not been issued and delivered to the stock subscribers, then the additional authorization of such stock subscribers is required to be obtained by a majority vote.

3. No director or officer of a company shall receive, directly or indirectly, any salary, compensation or emolument from such company, as such director or officer or in any other capacity, unless authorized by the commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be.