Terms of Service & Use

Effective Date: September 14, 2026

These Terms of Service & Use (“Terms”) govern your use of the CostsNYC website and our other services, including all related content, features, and services provided at www.costsnyc.com (the “Website”). By accessing or using the Website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use this Website or our other services.

CostsNYC is an independent civic-information resource. CostsNYC is not affiliated with, authorized by, sponsored by, or speaking on behalf of the City of New York or any New York City, state, or federal government agency.

The Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and King Movement, LLC (“CostsNYC”) regarding your use of the Website and any other services we offer, unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing by us. CostsNYC may amend these Terms and any part of this website, including the Privacy Policy, at any time. The parties are bound by the latest version of the agreement.

1. Acceptable Use & User Responsibilities

1.1 Intended Use

The purpose of this website and our services is to provide civic education, research, analysis, and public information to help people understand New York City government plans, policies, programs, processes, their potential effects, and opportunities for civic participation (including tools that help you prepare your own public comment), among other things, as determined from time to time by CostsNYC.

By using this website or any of our services, you acknowledge that the aforementioned is in line with your intended use, and CostsNYC shall not be held liable for any other use of this website or anything herein.

1.2 Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

(a) Use the Website for any illegal purpose, or in violation of any local, state, national, or international law.
(b) Violate or misappropriate, or encourage others to violate or misappropriate, the rights of third parties, including intellectual property rights.
(c) Post, upload, or distribute any content that is unlawful, defamatory, libelous, inaccurate, or that a reasonable person could deem objectionable, profane, indecent, pornographic, harassing, threatening, hateful, or otherwise inappropriate.
(d) Interfere in any way with security-related features of the Website.
(e) Interfere with the operation or any user’s enjoyment of the Website, including by uploading or disseminating viruses, adware, spyware, worms, or other malicious code, making unsolicited offers or advertisements to other users, or attempting to collect personal information about users or third parties without their consent.
(f) Access, monitor, or copy any content or information of the Website using any robot, script, spider, scraper, or other automated means, or for any purpose use a manual process to collect information or content, or use the Website as part of any machine learning or similar algorithmic activity, without CostsNYC’s express prior written permission (collectively, “Prohibited Technological Tools”).
(g) Perform any fraudulent activity, including impersonating any person or entity, claiming false affiliations, accessing the accounts of other users without permission, or falsifying your identity or any information about you.
(h) Copy, reproduce, rent, lease, sell, transfer, assign, sublicense, modify, publish, disclose, distribute, display, or prepare derivative works of the Website or any materials related to our services.
(i) Except to the extent permitted by applicable law or expressly permitted in these Terms, reverse engineer, disassemble, or decompile the Website, including any corresponding source code, without prior written consent from us.
(j) Sell or otherwise transfer the access granted herein.

2. Intellectual Property

2.1 Overall

CostsNYC is the sole and exclusive owner, or rightful licensee (including via the fair use doctrine), of all CostsNYC-created content on this website, including all original writing, analysis, summaries, classifications, taxonomies, organization and selection of information, graphics, software, and branding available through this website and all services operated by CostsNYC. These materials are protected by copyright law and trademark law, and you do not have a license to use them for any purpose other than those expressly granted by us herein.

2.2 Third-Party, Government, and Public-Domain Material

Some content on the Website is drawn from or references third-party sources, government publications, public records, or other externally sourced materials. That material remains subject to its own applicable ownership, licensing, or public-domain status, and CostsNYC does not claim ownership over it. CostsNYC’s original analysis, summaries, and presentation of that material remain protected as described in Section 2.1.

2.3 Website Ownership

The Website and all Website content not otherwise provided for in these Terms (including text, graphics, branding, layout, software, and design) is owned exclusively by CostsNYC and is protected under U.S. copyright, trademark, and intellectual property laws.

2.4 Your Draft Comments & Other User-Provided Information

If you use our tools to prepare a draft public comment, or you otherwise submit information to us (for example, through an intake, workflow, or signup form), you retain ownership of that content. You grant CostsNYC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to store and process it solely to provide the Website’s features to you (such as saving your progress) and to improve our services. CostsNYC does not operate a public directory or marketplace of user-submitted content, and nothing you submit is published or shared with third parties except as you direct (for example, by using an official submission link) or as described in our Privacy Policy.

2.5 Trademarks

“CostsNYC”, the CostsNYC logo, and all related branding are trademarks exclusively owned by CostsNYC. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

2.6 Intellectual Property Protections, Prohibitions & Complaints

The Services are protected by applicable copyright and other intellectual property laws. No CostsNYC-created materials from the Services may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way without our express prior permission. If you believe that your content has been used in a way that constitutes copyright infringement or otherwise violates applicable intellectual property law, please contact us at costsnyc@proton.me with the following information:

An electronic or physical signature of the copyright owner or authorized representative.
A description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed.
A description of where the allegedly infringing material is located on the Website.
Your address, telephone number, and email address.
A written statement of your good faith belief that the complained use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or applicable law.
A statement, made under penalty of perjury, attesting to the accuracy of the above information and your authority to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Once duly received, we will act upon any complaint in accordance with our dispute resolution policies.

3. Limitation of Liability; Disclaimers & Indemnification

3.1 Limitation of Liability

CostsNYC will not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, equitable, special, punitive, exemplary, or any other damages resulting from your use of this website, including all the content, information, products, and services. CostsNYC is not liable for loss of profits, revenue, data, or use, incurred by you, whether the liability arises out of breach of contract, tort, negligence, warranty, or otherwise, even if the other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

3.2 Civic-Information & Accuracy Disclaimer

CostsNYC works to present information accurately, but government plans, policies, programs, and processes can change, be amended, superseded, delayed, or corrected, and public information can be incomplete or contain errors. CostsNYC does not guarantee that any information on the Website is current, complete, or error-free. When accurate or up-to-date information matters, you should consult the linked official government or primary source directly.

3.3 Sources and Interpretive Content

CostsNYC may summarize, organize, classify, and analyze official government publications and other public information to make it easier to understand. These summaries, categories, and analyses reflect CostsNYC’s own interpretation and do not alter, replace, or supersede the underlying official materials, which control in the event of any discrepancy.

3.4 User Responsibility

You assume personal responsibility for utilizing the information provided on this Website. CostsNYC is not responsible for anyone’s actions or non-actions during or after use of our Website or services, and you accept full responsibility for the use, or non-use, of the information on our Website or in any of our services.

3.5 No Endorsement Disclaimer

Publishing and promotion of any information, activities, or happenings do not imply endorsement of any persons, organizations, efforts or contents thereof. All individuals should conduct independent due diligence.

3.6 Civic Participation Disclaimer

Using the Website, preparing or submitting a public comment, contacting an agency, or otherwise participating in a civic or government process we reference does not guarantee consideration, a response, a policy change, any benefit, or any other particular outcome from any government agency or other party. Where our tools help you prepare a comment, you are responsible for reviewing it and, where applicable, submitting it through the relevant official channel.

3.7 Third-Party Links Disclaimer

The Website may link to government and other third-party websites. Those sites control their own content, and we do not control, endorse, or guarantee it. Linking to a third-party or government site does not imply affiliation with, endorsement by, or incorporation of that site’s content into CostsNYC.

3.8 Privacy Disclaimer

By using this site, you agree to data collection per our Privacy Policy.

3.9 Indemnification

You agree that you will be personally responsible for your use of the Website and any of our services. You further agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless CostsNYC, along with any of its owners or agents, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including attorneys’ and accounting fees and costs) arising out of or in any way connected with: (i) any information or draft comments you have submitted to us; (ii) your violation of the Terms or any applicable law or regulation; (iii) your violation of any third-party right, including any intellectual property, publicity, confidentiality, property, or privacy right; or (iv) any disputes or issues between you and any third party. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, and in such case, you agree to cooperate with our defense of such claim.

4. Notices

All notices, requests, demands, and other communications under this Agreement shall be in writing and submitted via email to costsnyc@proton.me. Once duly received, we will act upon any matter in accordance with our applicable policies.

5. Governing Law, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration

5.1 Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

5.2 Mandatory Arbitration

Any disputes arising from these Terms shall be resolved exclusively through binding arbitration in New York City, NY, under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

5.3 No Class Actions

Users agree that disputes must be resolved on an individual basis and waive any right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration.

6. Entire Agreement; Waiver

6.1 Entire Agreement

This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and CostsNYC pertaining to this site and the services therein, and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous agreements, representations, and understandings between you and CostsNYC pertaining to this site and the services therein.

6.2 Waivers

No waiver of any provision of this Agreement by CostsNYC shall be deemed, or shall constitute, a waiver of any other provision, whether or not similar, nor shall any waiver constitute a continuing waiver. No waiver shall be binding unless executed in writing by us.

7. Changes to These Terms

7.1 Any Changes

CostsNYC reserves the right to modify or update these Terms at any time. Continued use of the Website constitutes acceptance of any updated Terms.

7.2 Questions

For questions regarding these Terms, contact costsnyc@proton.me.

These Terms of Service & Use were last updated on September 14, 2026.