In a takeover, the authority's powers would include the freezing of union wages and the suspending of contracts with vendors and consultants.
The Dutch Supreme Court, which was upholding a 2011 appeals court judgment, said that even though United Nations commanders were in charge of the peace mission at Srebrenica, in the days after the Serbian takeover, the Dutch authorities in The Hague had "effective control" over the troops and therefore shared responsibility in the case.
In the hours before the takeover, activists and authorities expressed optimism that the high-seas showdown would not turn violent like Monday's confrontation with the Mavi Marmara, lead ship of an earlier flotilla.
The mayor's office released a statement signaling some reservations about a takeover by the authority, which also controls construction at the World Trade Center.
They cloak their agenda in righteous rhetoric about the dangers of yet another "federal takeover" of state authority.
Under the takeover agreement, the authority buys power from the KeySpan plants and also pays for virtually all the costs, including taxes and fuel, of running the plants.
Mr. Mangano, speaking to reporters after the board's decision, said he was considering a lawsuit to block the takeover, accused the authority of wanting to raise property taxes and urged taxpayers to question its "motivation".
The top executives at the seven city-subsidized companies earn a total of more than $1.8 million a year, according to an article in Newsday in 2002; under a takeover by the authority, most of those salaries could be dispensed with.
Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, a transit riders' advocacy group, said he agreed with the mayor's newly energized push for an authority takeover of the buses, but not without continued subsidies.
