N.Y. Town Law § 50-a: Application

§ 50-a. Application. 1. The provisions of this article may be made

applicable, effective on a January first, after December thirty-first,

nineteen hundred sixty-three, to any town which on such January first:

(a) Has a population of at least twenty-five thousand, or

(b) Has a population of at least seventy-five hundred and is not more

than fifteen miles from a city having a population of at least one

hundred thousand, measured from their respective nearest boundary lines;

provided, however, that the population of such town shall have increased

by at least sixty-five per cent between nineteen hundred forty and

nineteen hundred sixty or by at least forty per cent between nineteen

hundred fifty and nineteen hundred sixty, as shown by the decennial

federal censuses for such years.

The current population of a town shall be determined on the basis of the

most recent decennial federal census or a special population census

taken pursuant to section twenty of the general municipal law and

subdivision five-a of section fifty-four of the state finance law and

certified to the state comptroller pursuant to law.

2. The provisions of this article may be made so applicable to such a

town by resolution of the town board adopted not later than July first

preceding the January first on which the town would become a suburban

town, which resolution also shall provide that the town shall at the

same time become a town of the first class, if it is not then such a

town, and shall elect its officers in compliance with section twelve of

this chapter. Prior to the adoption of such a resolution the town board

shall conduct a public hearing thereon on notice published at least ten

but not more than twenty days before such hearing in a newspaper or

newspapers designated pursuant to subdivision eleven of section

sixty-four of this chapter. Such resolution shall be subject to

referendum on motion of the town board or on petition pursuant to

article seven of this chapter provided, however:

(a) That any such petition shall be filed with the town clerk not

later than September fifth of the year in which the town board shall

have adopted such resolution,

(b) That if the town board, on its own motion, determines that such

resolution shall be subject to referendum or if such a petition be

filed, such referendum shall be had at the election in November of such

year or at a special town election held at least forty days after the

filing of such petition, as the town board shall determine, and in the

event the resolution is approved at such referendum the town shall

become a suburban town on the January first following such referendum,

and

3. At any biennial town election held during and after the November

prior to the January first on which a town is to become a suburban town

pursuant to this section, but not including the election in November, if

any, at which a town's becoming a suburban town is approved pursuant to

this section, there shall be elected only such officers as are required

to be elected to fill elective offices or vacancies therein, as the case

may be, for such town to function as a suburban town and a town of the

first class. With respect to additional appointive offices which such

town is required to have as a suburban town and a town of the first

class, vacancies therein shall exist as of the January first on which

the town becomes a suburban town.

4. After it shall have been finally determined pursuant to this

section that a town shall become a suburban town, the town board shall

have power to determine and make provision for any matter necessarily

involved in the transition from its form of town government at the time

of its becoming a suburban town to its government as a suburban town

under the provisions of this article where such matter is not provided

for by this article.

5. (a) Within ten days after the January first on which a town becomes

a suburban town pursuant to this section, the town clerk shall make a

certificate to such effect and transmit the same to the secretary of

state, in whose office it shall be kept as a public record, provided,

however, that in the case of those towns which became suburban towns on

January first, nineteen hundred sixty-four, such a certificate shall be

made and transmitted to the secretary of state not later than June

first, nineteen hundred sixty-four.

(b) It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to cause to be

published separately, under an appropriate heading, in the appendix of

the session laws of each year and in the appendix of the local laws of

each year, the names of the towns which have become suburban towns and

the dates on which they became suburban towns.