N.Y. STF Law § 54-E — New York Code / Act STF / Article 4-A / Section 54-E
State assistance to reimburse municipalities for firefighting costs
Status: in_force

§ 54-e. State assistance to reimburse municipalities for firefighting\ncosts. 1. As used in this section, unless otherwise expressly stated:\n  a. "Normal operating expenses" shall mean those costs, losses and\nexpenses which are ordinarily associated with the maintenance,\nadministration and day-to-day operations of the fire department of a\nmunicipality. Such expenses shall include, but not be limited to, the\nordinary wages of firefighters, administrative and other overhead costs,\ndepreciation, the costs of litigation and the costs of employee's\nbenefits, including insurance, disability, death, or health care whether\nor not such costs are incurred as the result of firefighting services\nrendered to property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York.\n  b. "Firefighting costs" shall mean those expenses and losses which\nwould not have been incurred had not the fire in question taken place.\nSuch costs shall include, but not be limited to, salaries for specially\nemployed personnel, costs of supplies expended, and the lesser of (1)\nthe cost of repairing any destroyed or damaged equipment or (2) the\nvalue of such equipment immediately preceding the fire. Firefighting\ncosts shall not include: normal operating expenses as defined herein,\nany firefighting cost for which the municipality is reimbursed under a\npolicy of insurance or any costs associated with false alarms,\nregardless of cause.\n  c. "Claim" shall mean that amount which is equal to those firefighting\ncosts incurred by a municipality to the extent that such costs exceed\nthe sum of two hundred fifty dollars.\n  d. "Fire" shall mean any instance of destructive and uncontrolled\nburning on property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York\nincluding scorch burns and explosions of combustible dust or solids,\nflammable liquids and gases.\n  e. "Municipality" shall mean any county, city, village, town or fire\ndistrict, having a fire department consisting of personnel, apparatus\nand equipment which has as its purpose protecting property and\nmaintaining the safety and welfare of the public from the dangers of\nfire, or, in the case of a fire protection district or that portion of a\ntown outside a village or fire district, a fire company as defined in\nsection three of the volunteer firefighters' benefit law. The personnel\nof any such fire department may be paid employees or unpaid volunteers\nor any combination thereof.\n  f. "Property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York" shall\nmean real property and improvements thereon and appurtenances thereto in\nwhich the state of New York holds legal fee simple title and further,\nany real property conveyed or made available to the New York state\nhousing finance agency or the dormitory authority of the state of New\nYork under agreements for the financing and construction of facilities\nfor the state university of New York; provided however, with the\nexception of property occupied by the state university of New York, such\nproperty shall not include leasehold interest; provided further, such\nproperty shall not include any property for which a municipality\nreceives any payments-in-lieu of taxes or any other payments, including\nreal property taxes, that are or may be used for providing fire\nprotection to such property.\n  2. Any municipality whose fire department has responded to a fire on\nproperty under the jurisdiction of the state of New York:\n  a. shall, within thirty days after such fire, submit a report, on a\nform prescribed by the office of fire prevention and control, to the\noffice of fire prevention and control stating the location of such a\nfire and the firefighting costs incurred while fighting such a fire; and\n  b. may, within thirty days after such a fire, submit a claim, on a\nform prescribed by the office of fire prevention and control to the\noffice of fire prevention and control pursuant to the provisions of this\nsection.\n  3. The office of fire prevention and control shall review each claim\nto determine if such claim shall be approved, reduced, amended or\nrejected and shall notify the municipality, within sixty days of receipt\nof such claim, as to his determination. The municipality shall notify\nthe office of fire prevention and control within thirty days after\nreceipt of the office of fire prevention and control's notification, as\nto its acceptance or rejection of such determination. Failure to so\nnotify the office of fire prevention and control shall constitute an\nacceptance of the determination. If accepted by the municipality, such\nacceptance shall constitute the final and conclusive determination for\nsuch claim.  If rejected by the municipality, such municipality shall\nresubmit its claim, within thirty days after receipt of the office of\nfire prevention and control's notification, together with its reasons\nfor objection and any additional documentation which may justify its\nclaim. Upon receipt of a resubmitted claim, the office of fire\nprevention and control shall review such claim and within sixty days of\nreceipt of such resubmitted claim, make a final determination as to the\namount to be approved for such claim. If the municipality shall dispute\nsuch final determination it may commence an action, within sixty days of\nsuch final determination, in the court of claims which shall have\njurisdiction to adjudicate the claim and enter judgment, which judgment\nshall be a final determination for purposes of this section and shall be\npayable in accordance with the provisions of subdivisions four and five\nof this section.\n  4. The office of fire prevention and control shall certify all claims\nfor which a final determination has been made. The office of fire\nprevention and control shall submit all claims certified during the\npreceding year to the comptroller of the department of audit and control\non or before April first of each year. Any claim that has been received\nprior to April first of such year, but for which no certification has\nbeen made, shall, for purposes of payment, be considered as a claim for\nthe year in which such certification is made.\n  5. All claims certified by the office of fire prevention and control\nshall be paid annually and shall be paid upon a warrant from the\ncomptroller from funds appropriated in the local assistance fund. In the\nevent such appropriation is insufficient to permit the aggregate annual\npayments authorized under this section, each municipality's payment for\nany claim or claims certified during the preceding year shall be\ndecreased proportionally until the total payments are equal to the\namount appropriated.\n  6. The chief fiscal officer of the municipality shall pay the amounts\nreceived under this section into the fund or funds from which moneys\nwere expended to provide the firefighting services for which a\nreimbursement was made under this section.\n  7. This section shall not in any way impair, limit or modify the\nrights and obligations of any insurer under any policy of insurance.\n  8. The office of fire prevention and control shall annually prepare a\nreport on the effectiveness of this section and shall submit such report\nto the legislature. Such report shall include the number and location of\nany fire on property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York,\nthe number of claims and the amount of each such claim filed pursuant to\nthis section and further, the total amount of all claims filed and the\ntotal amount of payments made under the provisions of this section. The\nfirst such report shall be submitted to the legislature on or before\nJune first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine.\n