N.Y. Town Law § 181: Annual budget and levy of taxes

§ 181. Annual budget and levy of taxes. 1. The fiscal year of each

fire district shall begin on the first day of January and end on the

thirty-first day of December.

For each fiscal year, the board of fire commissioners of each fire

district shall prepare and adopt an annual budget in accordance with

this section.

2. (a) On or before the twenty-first day prior to the public hearing

required by subdivision three of this section, the board of fire

commissioners shall prepare and adopt a proposed budget for the ensuing

fiscal year. Within the limitations specified in this article, the

proposed budget shall contain detailed estimates in writing of the

amount of revenues to be received and the appropriations required for

expenditures to be made during such fiscal year for the purposes of such

fire district.

(b) On or before the last date provided by law for the adoption of the

proposed budget, the board of fire commissioners shall prepare an

estimate of the fund balance which shall be affixed to the proposed

budget as an appendix thereto. The estimate of fund balance shall

include a breakdown of such fund balance estimated for encumbrances,

amounts estimated to be expended for the ensuing fiscal year, amounts

reserved for stated purposes pursuant to law, including reserve funds

established pursuant to the general municipal law, and the remaining

unappropriated unreserved fund balance as that term is defined in

section one hundred three of this chapter, provided that the remaining

estimated unappropriated unreserved fund balance for each fund shall not

exceed a reasonable amount, consistent with prudent budgeting practices,

necessary to ensure the orderly operation of the fire district and the

continued provision of services, taking into account factors including,

but not limited to, the size of the fund, cash flows, the certainty with

which the amounts of revenues and expenditures can be estimated, and the

fire district's experience in prior fiscal years. For those districts

which employ the cash basis of accounting, fund balance means the cash

surplus estimated to be on hand at the close of the current fiscal year

less claims payable therefrom and amounts reserved pursuant to law for

stated purposes, including reserve funds established pursuant to the

general municipal law.

(c) Upon adoption of the proposed budget by the board of fire

commissioners, the proposed budget shall be filed in the office of the

fire district secretary and maintained as a public document available

for inspection and copying. The fire district secretary shall also

reproduce a sufficient number of copies of the proposed budget for

distribution upon request to the public and at no cost to the public. In

addition, if the fire district maintains an internet website, the fire

district secretary shall cause the proposed budget to be posted and

maintained on the fire district's website until the day after the public

hearing on the proposed budget.

3. (a) The board of commissioners of each fire district shall hold a

public hearing during the third week of October to discuss the contents

of the proposed budget. The hearing shall be conducted and scheduled in

a manner that maximizes participation. Notice of such public hearing

shall be published at least once in the official newspaper, or if no

official newspaper has been designated, in any newspaper having general

circulation in the district. At least five days shall elapse between the

date of the first publication of the notice and the date specified for

the hearing. The notice of hearing shall state the date, time and the

place where the public hearing will be held, the purpose thereof and

that a copy of the proposed budget is available at the office of the

town clerk or clerks and fire district secretary where it may be

inspected by any interested person during office hours. In the case of a

fire district that maintains an internet website, the notice of hearing

shall also state that the proposed budget is posted on the fire

district's website. The town clerk or clerks shall cause a copy of the

notice to be posted on the signboard of the town or towns, maintained

pursuant to subdivision six of section thirty of this chapter, not later

than five days before the day designated for such hearing. The notice

shall also be posted on the municipal and/or fire district website or

websites, if one exists. At such hearing, any person may be heard in

favor of or against the proposed budget as compiled, or for or against

any item or items therein contained.

(b) After the public hearing, the board of fire commissioners may

adopt changes, alterations and revisions to the proposed budget subject

to the requirements of paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this section,

except that the board of fire commissioners shall not add or increase an

appropriation to a capital reserve fund. On or before the fourth day of

November, the board of fire commissioners shall adopt as the annual

budget of the fire district either the proposed budget or the proposed

budget as changed, altered or revised after the public hearing. In the

event that the board of fire commissioners fails to adopt the annual

budget by such date, the proposed budget with such changes, alterations

and revisions as shall have been adopted by the board of fire

commissioners by that date shall constitute the annual budget of the

fire district.

(c) Within three days after the adoption of the annual budget of a

fire district, the fire district secretary shall prepare and deliver to

the town clerk of each town in which the fire district is located two

certified copies of the annual budget. Neither the town board, town

supervisor, town clerk nor any other officer or employee of the town

shall make any change to the annual budget of the fire district.

4. After the annual budget of a fire district has been affixed to the

annual budget adopted by the town board and a certified copy presented

to the board of supervisors of the county in which the town is situated

as required by section one hundred fifteen of this chapter, the board of

supervisors shall assess and levy upon the taxable real property within

the several fire districts the amounts to be raised by tax for the

purposes of the respective districts as specified in such annual fire

district budget and shall cause the amount so assessed and levied to be

collected, in the same manner and at the same time and by the same

officers as town taxes are assessed, levied and collected. When such

taxes are collected, the amount thereof shall be paid to the supervisor

of the town and by him immediately paid to the treasurer of the

respective fire districts. If a fire district includes taxable property

located in more than one town, the amount to be assessed, levied and

collected upon the property within each of such towns shall be

apportioned in accordance with section eight hundred six of the real

property tax law.

5. In any case where a parcel of real property separately assessed on

the town assessment roll shall be divided by the line of the fire

district or of any zone established therein as provided in subdivision

twenty-seven of section one hundred seventy-six of this chapter, it

shall be the duty of the town assessors, after the valuation of the

whole of such parcel shall have been fixed, to determine what proportion

of such valuation is on account of that part of such parcel lying within

the limits of the fire district or of such zone or zones, and the

assessors shall enter such proportion separately on the assessment roll.

The valuation of the real property lying within such fire district or

within such zone or zones, as so fixed and determined, shall be the

valuation subject to taxation for the purposes of such fire district or

of such zone or zones.

6. The treasurer of each fire district shall prepare and file annually

in the office of the town clerk of each town in which any part of such

fire district shall be located, and in the office of the state

comptroller, a financial statement setting forth in detail the receipts

and expenditures of such fire district. Such statement shall be filed in

such offices within sixty days after the close of the fiscal year of the

fire district.