N.Y. Town Law § 202: Expenses of improvement; how raised

§ 202. Expenses of improvement; how raised. 1. The expense of any

public improvement made under authority of this article shall include

the amount of all contracts, the costs of all lands and interests

therein necessarily acquired including the total payments of principal

remaining on obligations assumed pursuant to paragraph (b) of

subdivision twelve of section one hundred ninety-eight, the costs of

erection of necessary buildings for operation or administration of the

improvement, printing, publishing, interest on loans, legal and

engineering services and all other expenses incurred or occasioned by

reason of the improvement or project. The town board, upon the

submission of a verified statement of the cost of preparation of the map

and plan accompanying a petition for the establishment of a sewer,

wastewater disposal, drainage, water or water quality treatment

district, and upon the submission of a verified statement of the cost to

petitioners for legal services rendered in a proceeding for

establishment or extension of any improvement district, may refund to

the petitioners the reasonable cost thereof and include the amount or

amounts refunded as a part of the cost of the improvement. In addition,

the town board may apportion against and charge to the cost of making

any improvement an allowance for any services rendered by the town

attorney, town engineer or any salaried town employee, when such

services have been necessary to or occasioned by reason of the making of

the particular improvement.

2. The expense of the establishment of a sewer, sewage disposal,

wastewater disposal, drainage or water quality treatment district and of

constructing a trunk sewer or drainage system therein and of

constructing lateral sewers, drains and water mains pursuant to

paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section one hundred ninety-nine, and

of constructing street improvements pursuant to section two hundred

shall be borne by local assessment upon the several lots and parcels of

lands which the town board shall determine and specify to be especially

benefited by the improvement, and the town board shall apportion and

assess upon and collect from the several lots and parcels of land so

deemed benefited, so much upon and from each as shall be in just

proportion to the amount of benefit which the improvement shall confer

upon the same.

3. The expense of the establishment of a park, public parking, water,

lighting, snow removal, water supply, water, water storage and

distribution, sidewalk, refuse and garbage, aquatic growth control

district, ambulance district, harbor improvement district, watershed

protection improvement district, public dock district, fallout shelter

district, or beach erosion control district, and providing improvements

or services, or both, therefor, and of constructing lateral water mains

pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section one hundred

ninety-nine, shall be assessed, levied and collected from the several

lots and parcels of land within the district for each purpose in the

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

otherwise provided by law. In the event that any order adopted pursuant

to section two hundred nine-d of this chapter for the establishment of a

water district, sidewalk district, a public parking district, a refuse

and garbage district, an aquatic growth control district, lighting

district, watershed protection improvement district, or beach erosion

and control district or that any petition for the establishment of a

water district, sidewalk district, a public parking district, a refuse

and garbage district, an aquatic growth control district, lighting

district, or beach erosion control district, shall contain a statement

that the cost of constructing the water system, sidewalks, lighting

system, or acquiring and improving lands for public parking or for

refuse and garbage purposes or for beach erosion control, or for

watershed protection improvement district or for aquatic growth control,

shall be assessed by the town board in proportion as nearly as may be to

the benefit which each lot or parcel will derive therefrom, the amount

to be raised for the payment of the principal and interest of the bonds

issued for the construction of the water system, sidewalks, lighting

system, or acquiring and improving lands for public parking or for

refuse and garbage purposes or for beach erosion control, or for aquatic

growth control, or for watershed protection improvement district

pursuant to such petition or order, shall be assessed on the lands

within such district in the same manner as provided in the case of trunk

sewers. The expense of constructing lateral water mains pursuant to

paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section one hundred ninety-nine

shall be assessed, levied and collected from the several lots and

parcels of land within the district in proportion to the area of such

lot or parcel of land to the total area of the district.

4. Except as provided in section two hundred four of this article, in

all districts in which assessments have heretofore been levied upon an

ad valorem basis, assessments shall hereafter be levied upon the same

basis. In all districts in which assessments have heretofore been levied

upon a benefit basis, assessments shall hereafter be levied upon the

same basis.

5. The expense of any extension to an existing water, sewer,

wastewater disposal or drainage district shall include all the costs and

expenses occasioned by reason of such extensions and in addition thereto

such proportion of the cost of any reservoir or reservoirs, standpipes,

water purification works, pumping stations and main water lines,

including lands, of the original district and such proportion of the

cost of the outfall and trunk sewer and sewage disposal or treatment

works including lands of the original district, as the town board shall

determine. If the expense of constructing an improvement in a district

shall be borne by local assessment upon the lands deemed especially

benefited by the improvement and in proportion to the amount of benefit

which the improvement conferred upon the same, the expense of an

extension to such district shall be borne by local assessment upon the

several lots and parcels of land within the extension which the town

board shall determine and specify to be especially benefited by the

improvement, and the town board shall apportion and assess upon and

collect from the several lots and parcels of land so deemed benefited,

so much upon each as shall be in just proportion to the amount of

benefit which the improvement shall confer upon the same. If the expense

of constructing or providing an improvement in a district shall be

assessed, levied and collected from the several lots or parcels of land

within the district in the same manner and at the same time as other

town charges, the expense of an extension to such district shall also be

assessed, levied and collected from the several lots and parcels of land

within such extension in the same manner and at the same time as other

town charges.

6. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision five of this section,

whenever pursuant to section two hundred six-a of this article, all

expenses of a district, including all extensions thereto, shall

thereafter be charged against the entire area of the district as

extended, then the cost of all improvements for the original district

and any extensions thereto, together with the cost of any further

improvements authorized pursuant to section one hundred ninety-nine or

two hundred two-b of this article, shall be assessed against the area of

the entire district, as extended, utilizing a single consolidated

assessment roll.