N.Y. Municipal Home Rule § 38: Provisions for obtaining state reimbursement for county and city charter creation and revision

§ 38. Provisions for obtaining state reimbursement for county and city

charter creation and revision.

1. Legislative Findings and Purpose. The Legislature finds that

development of modernized county and city government is necessary and

desirable to effectuate state purposes in as much as said governments

are called upon to implement state programs to provide for the health

and welfare of the citizens of the state, and in many cases are the

recipients of substantial state assistance. In order to encourage and

promote the development and revision of charter government at both the

county and city level as is provided under this article so that county

and city government will be more efficient, more effective and more

responsive to the needs of the people, state financial aid shall be

granted to counties and cities, to particularly reimburse authorized

charter expenditures in the manner and subject to the conditions

prescribed in this section.

2. Granting authority. The office for local government, by and through

its commissioner or his duly authorized officers and employees, shall

administer, carry out and approve grants of state funds, within

appropriation therefore, for reimbursement of authorized charter

expenditures as defined herein, that are conducted by counties or

cities. The office for local government shall adopt, amend and rescind

such rules, regulations and guidelines as may be necessary to the

performance of its functions, powers and duties under this section. The

office for local government shall allocate grants under this article

among the municipalities that have submitted applications in such a

manner as will most nearly provide an equitable distribution of the

grants among municipalities, taking into consideration such factors as

the size of the population, the urgency of the charter studies, the need

for funds to carry out the purposes of this article, and the potential

of the municipalities concerned to use the funds most effectively.

3. Authorized charter expenditures. For the purpose of this section

"authorized charter expenditures" shall mean those expenditures paid in

the first instance by a county or city in the preparation of a proposed

charter law or a proposed local law providing for new or revised city

charter which has been adopted by the governing body of a county or

city, as the case may be, for submission to the electorate at a general

or special election as is provided in Section thirty-three and Section

thirty-six of this article, and which costs are further deemed necessary

and appropriate under regulations promulgated by the office for local

government for the creation and development of the proposed charter law.

No expenditure which has not been specifically designated by the local

governing body for charter study and approved by the office for local

government shall be considered an "authorized charter expenditure."

4. Reimbursement limitations. State reimbursement shall be granted

under this section for authorized charter expenditures as follows:

(a) Up to forty per centum of the cost of authorized charter

expenditures up to a limit of twenty-five thousand dollars in any one

state fiscal year for any county or city.

(b) No county or city shall be eligible for reimbursement of an

authorized charter expenditure for a period of ten years following

receipt of a reimbursement under this section.