N.Y. Town Law § 198-a: Special districts for disposal of duck waste in Suffolk county

§ 198-a. Special districts for disposal of duck waste in Suffolk

county. 1. The town board of any town in Suffolk county is hereby

authorized to create a special waste disposal district, or more than one

such district, in said town, outside of any incorporated village or

city, the area of which said special waste disposal district shall be

less than the territorial limits of said town, for the purpose of

constructing, maintaining and operating within said special waste

disposal district a treatment and disposal plant and other facilities,

including the acquisition of necessary land and rights in land, to

provide for the collection, treatment and disposition, or either, of

duck waste. Such special waste disposal district shall be created or

extended in the manner provided by and pursuant to the provisions of

this article relating to the creating or extension of sewer districts

and shall embrace only duck farms as hereinafter defined in this

section. The territory embraced within any such special duck waste

disposal district may be composed of non-contiguous areas or properties.

When so created, it shall be deemed to be an improvement district

created pursuant to the provisions of this article, and shall be subject

to the procedural requirements therein set forth.

2. After a special waste disposal district shall have been

established, the town board, as the governing agency thereof, may

provide for the collection, treatment and disposition, or either, of

duck waste in such district, and for that purpose, may construct, equip,

operate and maintain a collection system or a treatment and disposal

plant, or both, and pipes and sewer lines and connections thereto,

acquire the necessary land and rights in lands therefor, and purchase,

operate and maintain all necessary appliances appurtenant thereto,

including such vehicles as may be required in connection with the

collection, treatment and disposition thereof. The cost of such

construction and equipment and the acquisition of such land and rights

in land shall be at a cost not to exceed the maximum amount proposed to

be expended as stated in the petition. Whenever the town board may

determine it advantageous to do so, it may (a) employ a sufficient

number of persons and provide the necessary equipment to operate and

maintain said collection system or said treatment and disposal plant, or

both, at the expense of said district, and (b) establish from time to

time, charges, fees or rates to be paid by users for such operation and

maintenance and may provide for the payment of said charges in advance.

Such charges, fees or rates may be based upon the volume of duck waste

treated, or upon any other equitable basis as the town board may

determine. Such charges shall be a lien upon the real property for which

or in connection with which the services are rendered. The town board

may provide by ordinance, rule or regulation for the time within which

rates, charges or fees for such operation and maintenance shall be paid,

and may provide a penalty not exceeding ten per centum of the amount

due, when such rates, charges or fees are in arrears for thirty days, or

longer. The town clerk shall annually file with the town board

statements showing unpaid rates, charges or fees in such districts.

Such statements shall contain a brief description of the property for

which or in connection with which such operation and maintenance was

provided, the names of the persons or corporations liable to pay the

same and the amount chargeable to each. The supervisor shall transmit

such statements to the board of supervisors, which shall levy such sums

against the property liable and shall state the amount of the tax in a

separate column in the annual tax rolls of such town under the name of

"duck waste charges". Such tax shall be paid to the supervisor of such

town. All the provisions of the existing laws of the state of New York

covering the enforcement and collection of unpaid town taxes or

assessments for special improvements in the several towns of the county

of Suffolk, not inconsistent herewith, shall apply to the collection of

such unpaid charges for the treatment and disposition of duck waste. All

such rates, charges and fees shall be used for the payment of the cost

of the management, maintenance and operation of the duck waste

collection, treatment and disposition service, or for the enlargement or

replacement of the same. The town board may adopt from time to time

ordinances, rules and regulations for the collection, treatment and

disposition of duck waste in the special waste disposal districts in the

town and the use of the equipment therein, and, in addition to the

remedies provided in section one hundred and thirty-five of this chapter

for the enforcement thereof or for the punishment of violators, the town

board may enforce compliance with such rules, ordinances and regulations

by discontinuing the duck waste and other waste matter collection,

treatment or disposal service.

3. The expense of the establishment of a special waste disposal

district and of constructing a waste disposal system therein, as

authorized by subdivision two of this section, shall be assessed, levied

and collected from the several lots and parcels of land within the

district in the same manner and at the same time as other town charges,

unless the petition for the establishment thereof shall provide that the

expense thereof shall be assessed by the town board upon the several

lots and parcels of land in said district especially benefited by the

improvement in proportion to the amount of benefit which the improvement

shall confer upon the same, in which case such expense shall be assessed

in such manner.

4. After the improvement has been constructed and completed it shall

be maintained by the town board and the expense thereof shall be a

charge upon the district in the manner as may be determined by the town

board in accordance with subdivision two of this section.

5. Whenever the town board shall determine it necessary to acquire

additional lands or rights in land in order to maintain the waste

disposal system or to increase, improve and reconstruct the facilities

thereof and the appurtenances thereto, it is authorized to do so by

following the procedure set forth in section two hundred and two-b of

this article.

6. The town board may provide for the payment of the cost of any

public improvement hereby authorized by making funds available therefor

pursuant to the local finance law. The period of probable usefulness of

any public improvement authorized by this act is hereby determined to be

twenty-five years. In case the expense of the establishment of the

special waste disposal district is to be assessed, levied and collected

from the several lots and parcels of land within the district in the

same manner and at the same time as other town charges, the provisions

of section two hundred thirty-one-a of this chapter shall be applicable.

In case the expense of the establishment of the special waste disposal

district is to be assessed upon benefited property in proportion to the

amount of benefit which the improvement shall confer upon the same, the

provisions of section two hundred thirty-one of this chapter shall

apply.

7. For purposes of this section, the term "duck waste" shall mean duck

excrement, offal and corpses, or any other waste, material or substance

resulting from the raising and processing of ducks for commercial use,

and the term "duck farm" shall mean any farm or property on which more

than five thousand ducks per year are raised for commercial purposes.