NY Town L § 194 (2021)
2021 New York Laws TWN - Town Article 12 - District and Special Improvements 194 - Establishment or Extension of Districts.

§  194.  Establishment  or  extension of districts. 1. After a hearing held upon notice as hereinbefore provided and upon  the  evidence  given thereat,  the  town board shall determine by resolution: (a) whether the petition is signed, and acknowledged or  proved,  or  authenticated,  as required by law and is otherwise sufficient;  (b)  whether  all the property and property owners within the proposed district or extension are benefited thereby;  (c) whether  all  the  property  and  property  owners  benefited  are included within the limits of the proposed district or extension;  (d)  whether it is in the public interest to grant in whole or in part the relief sought.   2. (a) If the town board shall determine  that  the  petition  is  not signed, and acknowledged or proved, or authenticated, as required by law or  that it is otherwise insufficient, or if it is determined that it be not in the public interest to grant in  whole  or  in  part  the  relief sought, the town board shall deny the petition.  (b) If the town board shall determine that the petition is signed, and acknowledged  or  proved,  or  authenticated,  as required by law and is otherwise sufficient and that it is in the public interest to grant  the relief  sought, either in whole or in part, but shall find that any part or portion of the  property  or  property  owners  within  the  proposed district or extension are not benefited thereby or that certain property or property owners benefited thereby have not been included therein, the town  board shall specify the necessary changes of the boundaries of the proposed district or extension to be made  in  order  that  all  of  the property  and property owners and only such property and property owners as are benefited shall be included  within  such  proposed  district  or extension,  and  the  board  shall  call a further hearing at a definite place and time not less than fifteen  nor  more  than  twenty-five  days after such determination. Notice of such further hearing shall be posted and published in the manner provided in section one hundred ninety-three hereof except that such notice shall also specify the manner in which it is  proposed  to  alter  the  boundaries  of  the  proposed  district or extension. Such further hearing shall be conducted in the same manner as an original hearing upon a petition. If and when the  town  board  shall determine  in  the  affirmative  all  of  the  questions  set  forth  in subdivision one of this  section,  the  board  may  adopt  a  resolution approving  the  establishment  or  extension  of  the  district  as  the boundaries shall be finally  determined  and  the  construction  of  the improvement  or providing of the service therein, but no such resolution so approving shall be adopted unless the petition shall comply with  the requirements  of  section  one  hundred  ninety-one as to sufficiency of signers as the boundaries of the proposed district or extension shall be finally determined.   3. (a) Within ten days after the adoption of a resolution  by  a  town board  approving  the  establishment  or extension of a district and the construction of an improvement or the providing of  a  service  therein, the  town  clerk  of  the  town  shall  file  a  certified  copy of such resolution, in duplicate, in the office of the state department of audit and control at Albany,  New  York,  together  with  an  application,  in duplicate,  for permission to create or extend such district as the case may  be.  Such  application  shall  be  executed  and  verified  by  the supervisor,  or  such  other officer of the town as the town board shall determine, and shall include the following:  (1)  A  certified  copy  of  the  petition  (omitting,  however,   the signatures,  and  acknowledgments  or proofs, or authentications) and in the instance of a sewer, drainage or water district, of the map and plan accompanying the same;  (2) An itemized statement of the then outstanding indebtedness of  the town  for  all purposes, as evidenced by bonds, bond anticipation notes, capital notes  and  budget  notes;  the  amount  of  joint  indebtedness contracted  or  incurred for a joint service or a joint water, sewage or drainage  project  and  the  amount  of  such indebtedness allocated and apportioned to the town, as defined in title one-a of the local  finance law;  the  amount  of the indebtedness proposed to be contracted for the improvement; the amount of budgetary appropriations for the  payment  of any  such  indebtedness,  whether  or  not such appropriations have been realized as cash, and  the  amounts,  purposes  and  probable  dates  of issuance of any bonds, bond anticipation notes, capital notes and budget notes  which the town has authorized to be issued but which in fact have not been issued on the date of such application;  (3) A statement of  the  aggregate  assessed  valuation  of  the  real property situated in the proposed district or extension thereof, as such assessed  valuations  are shown on the last completed assessment roll of the town prior to the date of such application;  (4) A statement of the average full  valuation  of  the  taxable  real property of the town. Such average full valuation shall be determined in accordance  with  the  provisions  of the first paragraph of subdivision seven-a of section 2.00 of the local finance law;  (5) A statement as to the manner in which it is  proposed  to  finance the cost of the improvement.  (b)  Whenever  such an application shall be filed in the office of the department of audit and control, the state comptroller shall within five days thereafter give notice thereof to the board of supervisors  of  the county in which such proposed district or extension is located by filing with   the  clerk  of  such  board  of  supervisors  one  copy  of  such application. At any time within  fifteen  days  of  the  filing  of  the application, the board of supervisors may file an objection, in writing, in  the  office of the department of audit and control. In addition, the state comptroller shall determine whether the public  interest  will  be served by the creation or extension of the district and also whether the cost  thereof  will be an undue burden upon the property of the proposed district  or  extension.   The   state   comptroller   may   make   such determinations  upon  the original or any amended application, or in his discretion may require the submission of additional information or  data in  such  form  and  detail as he shall deem sufficient, or may cause an investigation to be made, to aid him in making the determinations  above mentioned.   4.  Upon the expiration of fifteen days from the date of the filing of such application with the clerk of the board  of  supervisors  and  upon reaching  a  determination,  the  comptroller  shall  make  an order, in duplicate, granting or denying permission for the creation or  extension of  the  district and shall file one copy of such order in the office of the state department of audit and control at Albany, New York,  and  the other  in the office of the town clerk of the town in which the proposed district or extension is located. The  town  clerk  shall  present  such order to the town board of the town at the next meeting thereof.   5.  If the state comptroller shall deny permission for the creation or extension of the district, the town board shall forthwith adopt an order denying the petition. If the state comptroller  shall  grant  permission therefor, the town board may adopt an order establishing the district or extension as the boundaries shall be finally determined.   6.  Except  as otherwise provided by section two hundred two-b of this article, the permission of the state comptroller shall not  be  required for the establishment or extension of a district and the construction of an  improvement  or  the  providing  of  a service therein, including an  increase  in  the  maximum  amount  proposed  to  be  expended  for  the improvement  in  a  district, unless it is proposed or required that the town in which such district or extension is located  shall  finance  the cost  thereof by the issuance of the bonds, notes, certificates or other evidences of indebtedness of the town therefor or it  is  proposed  that debt  service  on  obligations issued to finance the costs of facilities acquired be assumed, pursuant  to  subdivision  twelve  of  section  one hundred  ninety-eight  of  this  article,  and, if the state comptroller shall have  computed  average  estimated  costs  for  similar  types  of districts, the cost of the district or extension to the typical property or,  if different, the costs of the district or extension to the typical one or two family home, as stated in the notice of hearing, is above the average  estimated  cost  to  typical  properties  or  homes   for   the establishment  or  extension  of  similar  types  of districts as may be annually computed  by  the  state  comptroller.  The  state  comptroller annually shall provide to towns notice of the average cost thresholds as may be computed in accordance with this section.