N.Y. Highway Law § 195: County aid for construction, improvement and maintenance of town highways

§ 195. County aid for construction, improvement and maintenance of

town highways. 1. The board of supervisors of a county may aid a town or

towns in the construction or improvement of a town highway or town

highways therein, and shall designate the highway or highways which the

town or towns are to construct or improve by the aid of the county. Such

county may prepare a map showing the highways to be improved under this

section in that county. This section shall not apply to the

construction, improvement or maintenance of any such highway with state

moneys, as defined by article six, except provisions hereof which, by

that article, are expressly made applicable thereto. No highway or part

thereof within the county road system established as provided in article

six shall be constructed or improved under the provisions of this

section, except with the consent of the commissioner of transportation

and in accordance with a written outline of the work, approved by him,

showing the course, width, thickness and type of the proposed road.

2. The board may by resolution direct the county superintendent to

supervise the preparation of grade and culvert work of a road so

designated by said map for improvement, by the town superintendent of

the town in which such improvement shall be made, and upon the county

superintendent's certification that the road is prepared and that the

town is equipped with sufficient machinery to properly perform the work,

such machinery to be furnished by the town and used during the road's

construction, the construction of an improved road or town highway may

proceed under the direction of the county superintendent of highways or

of a committee known as the highway officials of the county as

hereinafter provided. The construction work shall be under the charge

and supervision of a competent person designated by the county

superintendent by and with the advice and consent of the town board and

the compensation of such person shall be a town charge. In the event the

board of supervisors of any county in which roads are to be constructed

under this section shall so determine, the same may be constructed by

the county to be paid for by the town and county as herein provided and

constructed under the direct personal supervision of the county

superintendent of highways or some person designated by him; and for

that purpose such county superintendent of highways, or his nominee,

shall have power and authority to employ labor and teams, purchase

necessary material and do all work necessary for the construction of

such highway. The board of supervisors with the county superintendent of

highways shall have power and authority to purchase at the expense of

the county any machinery which they may deem necessary to be used in the

construction of such highways.

3. The employment of convict labor on roads so constructed shall be

authorized and permitted, in the discretion of the commissioner of

correction, upon the requisition of the county superintendent of

highways. The board of supervisors of Erie county shall have power, if

they deem it proper, to employ convicts, sentenced to be confined in a

penitentiary situate within the territorial limits of such county and

liable to be employed at hard labor, upon any highway or work connected

therewith within such county, and such board of supervisors shall have

power to make all necessary appointments, rules and regulations for such

employment within such county, including the right to fix a per diem

compensation for such employment at a rate not to exceed ten cents.

4. A board of supervisors of a county shall decide whether the

direction of the work shall be by the county superintendent of highways

or a committee known as the highway officials of the county. The highway

officials of the county under this section shall consist of the county

superintendent, three members of the board, appointed by the chairman.

The supervisor of the town in which a road or town highway is being

improved shall be a member of the said committee on all questions

involving the work in the town of which he is the supervisor. Unless the

advice and direction of the county superintendent of highways or of the

highway officials shall be followed in the prosecution of the work, no

liability therefor shall accrue to the county for its share of the cost

of work.

5. Upon ordering the construction of an improved road or town highway

under this section, the board of supervisors shall, by resolution,

determine the proportions thereof to be borne by the county and town or

towns respectively. The part, if any, to be borne by a town, as shown by

such determination may be a town charge, and the residue shall be a

county charge. The amounts to be borne by the county shall be provided

for by a tax, to be levied upon the taxable property of the county and

collected in the same manner as for other county charges and shall be

paid into the county treasury. The amount thereof to be borne by the

town may by resolution of the town board, be paid from any funds in such

town that may be legally used for highway purposes.

6. The board of supervisors may, in its discretion, appropriate and

make immediately available from county funds either the whole of the

moneys to complete the construction of such road or town highway or the

part thereof to be provided by the county. Nothing contained in this

section shall be construed to prevent the county or town from financing

its share, in whole or in part, pursuant to the local finance law.

7. Where the improvement of a road to be constructed or improved at

the joint expense of a county and a town or towns therein involves or

necessitates the widening of a highway already existing or acquirement

or extinguishment of any easements or rights in land within or without

the boundaries of an existing highway, the board of supervisors of such

county or the town board or town boards of the town or towns through

which such road passes, separately or in combination, may acquire land

for such widening and acquire or extinguish such easements and rights in

land. The cost of acquiring such lands and of acquiring or extinguishing

such easements and rights in land the expenses connected therewith shall

be deemed a part of the cost of the construction or improvement of such

highway.

8. The board of supervisors shall, from time to time, impose upon the

taxable property of the county a tax sufficient to pay at maturity any

county obligations issued to carry out the purposes of this section, and

interest thereon, and upon the taxable property of any town a tax

sufficient to pay at maturity any such obligations of the town, and

interest. Payments from time to time by the county treasurer of moneys

provided under this section shall be made for the prosecution of such

work upon the certificate of the county superintendent countersigned by

the chairman of the board of supervisors. Said orders shall be drawn to

the order of the supervisors of the respective towns where roads or town

highways are being constructed to be disbursed by them, upon vouchers

approved by the town superintendent or person designated in his stead,

in accordance with the agreement as provided by section two hundred and

eighty-four of this chapter. The board of supervisors may determine that

the amount, if any, to be borne by the town shall be paid by the town

into the county treasury, and the whole of such money including the

share of the county and of the town, if any, shall be paid out by the

county treasurer on orders drawn by the county superintendent of

highways and countersigned by the chairman of the board of supervisors

to be accounted for on forms of report as may be prescribed by the state

comptroller and printed in the next issue of the proceedings of the

board of supervisors.

Such roads and highways, when completed and accepted by the board of

supervisors shall be thereafter repaired and maintained by the towns

wherein such highways are located in the same manner as all other town

highways; except there shall be raised annually by the county and by the

town a tax of not less than one hundred dollars per mile for each mile

of highways improved in a town under the provisions of this section.

The amount thereof to be borne by the county or by the town or towns

shall be apportioned by the board of supervisors. The part, if any, to

be borne by a town or towns, as shown by such apportionment, shall be a

charge against the town or towns and the residue shall be a county

charge. The amount to be borne by the county shall be provided for by a

tax to be levied upon the taxable property of the county and collected

in the same manner as for other county charges and shall be paid into

the county treasury. The amount thereof to be borne by the town shall,

by resolution of the town board, be paid from any funds in such town

that may be legally used for highway purposes. The resolution providing

for such apportionment shall also indicate the amount which shall be

paid to each such town, and a certified copy thereof shall be filed with

the county treasurer. On receipt of such money the supervisor shall

credit the amount to the town highway fund. The board of supervisors may

determine that such highways be thereafter repaired and maintained under

the supervision and direction of the county superintendent of highways

and thereafter the amount, if any, to be borne by the town shall be paid

by the town into the county treasury and the whole of such money

including the share of the county and of the town, if any, shall be paid

out by the county treasurer for the repair and maintenance of such

highways on orders signed by the county superintendent of highways, and

countersigned by the chairman of the board of supervisors.

9. The board of supervisors may aid a town, or towns, in the repair

and maintenance of a highway formerly constructed by the state and

abandoned to a town by official order of the commissioner of

transportation or a predecessor thereof in the same manner as is

provided for the repair and maintenance of a highway built under the

provisions of this section and outlined under subdivision eight above.