N.Y. Town Law § 179: Special district elections to vote upon appropriations

§ 179. Special district elections to vote upon appropriations. The

board of fire commissioners upon its own motion may submit, and upon

petition, as hereinafter provided, shall cause to be submitted, at a

special or annual fire district election, a proposition:

1. (a) To purchase fire apparatus and fire-fighting vehicles for the

extinguishment or prevention of fires in said fire district, or

motorized equipment for emergency relief squads or fire police squads.

(b) To purchase or install an adequate fire alarm system for the fire

district, or to make necessary additions thereto.

(c) To lease, purchase, construct, reconstruct, alter, repair or equip

suitable buildings for the preservation, protection and storing of

vehicles, apparatus and equipment of the fire district and for the

social and recreational use of the firefighters and residents of the

district, and purchase the necessary lands therefor.

(d) To expend in any one fiscal year, or to expend annually, an amount

in excess of the amount authorized by subdivision eighteen of section

one hundred seventy-six of this chapter, as amended from time to time,

to be expended annually without the adoption of a proposition therefor

for any of the purposes authorized by the provisions of this article. If

the proposition authorizes an annual expenditure, it shall state a

maximum amount which may be expended annually in excess of the amount

authorized by subdivision eighteen of section one hundred seventy-six of

this chapter, as amended from time to time, and such amount may not be

exceeded thereafter unless authorized at a fire district election. If a

proposition authorizes an annual expenditure, the authorization shall

continue in effect until changed by vote of a district election.

(e) To purchase permanent or temporary rights to take water from

cisterns, wells and bodies of water and water-courses within the fire

district for the purposes, and subject to the limitations, set forth in

subdivision twelve-a of section one hundred seventy-six of this chapter.

(f) To purchase or construct fire suction pools in bodies of water and

water-courses, fire cisterns and fire wells, including necessary pipes,

pumps, hydrants and other facilities in connection therewith, and to

purchase and lease necessary real property and rights in land and water

therefor, for the purposes, and subject to the limitations, set forth in

subdivision twelve-a of section one hundred seventy-six of this chapter.

2. Any sum authorized to be expended, pursuant to subdivision one of

this section, shall be raised by tax and shall be spent only during the

fiscal year for which such tax is to be levied but nothing contained in

this section shall be construed to prevent the financing in whole or in

part, pursuant to the local finance law, of expenditures pursuant to

section one hundred seventy-six of this chapter. If the proposition is

approved at an election held in any fiscal year after September

twentieth, or after October twentieth in the case of fire districts

located wholly within the county of Westchester, the proposition shall

not become effective for the purpose of levying taxes until the first

day of September of the fiscal year succeeding the fiscal year in which

such proposition is approved.

3. Such petition shall be signed, and acknowledged or proved in the

same manner as a deed to be recorded, or authenticated in the manner

provided by the election law for authentication of nominating petitions,

by resident taxpayers owning taxable real property aggregating at least

one-quarter of the assessed valuation of all the taxable real property

of the district owned by resident taxpayers, as such valuations appear

upon the latest completed assessment roll of said town. Notice of such

special district election shall be given in the same manner as provided

herein for annual district elections. The special election shall be held

on a Tuesday, provided that such date is not a public holiday, and shall

be conducted and scheduled in a manner that maximizes voter

participation. The polls shall remain open for the receipt of ballots

from six o'clock in the evening to nine o'clock in the evening and such

additional consecutive hours prior thereto as the board of fire

commissioners may determine. The secretary of the fire commissioners

shall prepare the ballots which shall separately state and number each

proposition to be voted upon.

4. Every elector of the town who shall be a registered voter of the

town and who shall have resided in the district for the period of thirty

days next preceding a special or annual fire district election shall be

qualified to vote upon such proposition.