NY Town L § 179 (2021)
2021 New York Laws TWN - Town Article 11 - Fire, Fire Alarm and Fire Protection Districts 179 - Special District Elections to Vote Upon Appropriations.

§  179.  Special  district elections to vote upon appropriations.  The board of fire commissioners upon its own motion  may  submit,  and  upon petition,  as  hereinafter  provided,  shall cause to be submitted, at a special or annual fire district election, a proposition:   1. (a) To purchase fire apparatus and fire-fighting vehicles  for  the extinguishment  or  prevention  of  fires  in  said  fire  district,  or motorized equipment for emergency relief squads or fire police squads.  (b) To purchase or install an adequate fire alarm system for the  fire district, or to make necessary additions thereto.  (c) To lease, purchase, construct, reconstruct, alter, repair or equip suitable  buildings  for  the  preservation,  protection  and storing of vehicles, apparatus and equipment of  the  fire  district  and  for  the social  and  recreational  use  of the firefighters and residents of the district, and purchase the necessary lands therefor.  (d) To expend in any one fiscal year, or to expend annually, an amount in excess of the amount authorized by subdivision  eighteen  of  section one  hundred  seventy-six of this chapter, as amended from time to time, to be expended annually without the adoption of a  proposition  therefor for any of the purposes authorized by the provisions of this article. If the  proposition  authorizes  an  annual  expenditure,  it shall state a maximum amount which may be expended annually in excess  of  the  amount authorized by subdivision eighteen of section one hundred seventy-six of this  chapter,  as amended from time to time, and such amount may not be exceeded thereafter unless authorized at a fire district election. If  a proposition  authorizes  an  annual expenditure, the authorization shall continue in effect until changed by vote of a district election.  (e) To purchase permanent or  temporary  rights  to  take  water  from cisterns,  wells  and  bodies of water and water-courses within the fire district for the purposes, and subject to the limitations, set forth  in subdivision twelve-a of section one hundred seventy-six of this chapter.  (f) To purchase or construct fire suction pools in bodies of water and water-courses,  fire cisterns and fire wells, including necessary pipes, pumps, hydrants and other facilities in  connection  therewith,  and  to purchase  and lease necessary real property and rights in land and water therefor, for the purposes, and subject to the limitations, set forth in subdivision twelve-a of section one hundred seventy-six of this chapter.   2. Any sum authorized to be expended, pursuant to subdivision  one  of this  section, shall be raised by tax and shall be spent only during the fiscal year for which such tax is to be levied but nothing contained  in this  section shall be construed to prevent the financing in whole or in part, pursuant to the local finance law,  of  expenditures  pursuant  to section  one  hundred seventy-six of this chapter. If the proposition is approved at  an  election  held  in  any  fiscal  year  after  September twentieth,  or  after  October  twentieth  in the case of fire districts located wholly within the county of Westchester, the  proposition  shall not  become  effective  for the purpose of levying taxes until the first day of September of the fiscal year succeeding the fiscal year in  which such proposition is approved.   3.  Such  petition  shall be signed, and acknowledged or proved in the same manner as a deed to be recorded, or  authenticated  in  the  manner provided by the election law for authentication of nominating petitions, by  resident taxpayers owning taxable real property aggregating at least one-quarter of the assessed valuation of all the taxable  real  property of  the  district owned by resident taxpayers, as such valuations appear upon the latest completed assessment roll of said town. Notice  of  such special  district election shall be given in the same manner as provided herein for annual district elections. The special election shall be held on a Tuesday, provided that such date is not a public holiday, and shall  be  conducted  and  scheduled  in  a   manner   that   maximizes   voter participation.  The  polls  shall remain open for the receipt of ballots from six o'clock in the evening to nine o'clock in the evening and  such additional  consecutive  hours  prior  thereto  as  the  board  of  fire commissioners may determine. The secretary  of  the  fire  commissioners shall  prepare  the ballots which shall separately state and number each proposition to be voted upon.   4. Every elector of the town who shall be a registered  voter  of  the town and who shall have resided in the district for the period of thirty days  next preceding a special or annual fire district election shall be qualified to vote upon such proposition.