2023 New York Laws › MHR - Municipal Home Rule › Article 4 - Powers of Counties and Cities to Adopt Charters › Part 3 - State Assistance--County--City › 38 - Provisions for Obtaining State Reimbursement for County and City Charter Creation and Revision.

§ 38. Provisions for obtaining state reimbursement for county and city
charter creation and revision.
1.  Legislative  Findings  and  Purpose.  The  Legislature  finds that
development of modernized county and city government  is  necessary  and
desirable  to  effectuate  state purposes in as much as said governments
are called upon to implement state programs to provide  for  the  health
and  welfare  of  the  citizens  of the state, and in many cases are the
recipients of substantial state assistance. In order  to  encourage  and
promote  the  development and revision of charter government at both the
county and city level as is provided under this article so  that  county
and  city  government  will  be  more efficient, more effective and more
responsive to the needs of the people,  state  financial  aid  shall  be
granted  to  counties  and  cities, to particularly reimburse authorized
charter expenditures  in  the  manner  and  subject  to  the  conditions
prescribed in this section.
2. Granting authority. The office for local government, by and through
its  commissioner  or  his duly authorized officers and employees, shall
administer,  carry  out  and  approve  grants  of  state  funds,  within
appropriation   therefore,   for  reimbursement  of  authorized  charter
expenditures as defined  herein,  that  are  conducted  by  counties  or
cities.  The  office for local government shall adopt, amend and rescind
such rules, regulations and  guidelines  as  may  be  necessary  to  the
performance  of its functions, powers and duties under this section. The
office for local government shall allocate  grants  under  this  article
among  the  municipalities  that  have  submitted applications in such a
manner as will most nearly provide  an  equitable  distribution  of  the
grants  among  municipalities, taking into consideration such factors as
the size of the population, the urgency of the charter studies, the need
for funds to carry out the purposes of this article, and  the  potential
of the municipalities concerned to use the funds most effectively.
3.  Authorized  charter  expenditures. For the purpose of this section
"authorized charter expenditures" shall mean those expenditures paid  in
the  first instance by a county or city in the preparation of a proposed
charter law or a proposed local law providing for new  or  revised  city
charter  which  has  been  adopted  by the governing body of a county or
city, as the case may be, for submission to the electorate at a  general
or  special  election as is provided in Section thirty-three and Section
thirty-six of this article, and which costs are further deemed necessary
and appropriate under regulations promulgated by the  office  for  local
government for the creation and development of the proposed charter law.
No  expenditure  which has not been specifically designated by the local
governing body for charter study and approved by the  office  for  local
government shall be considered an "authorized charter expenditure."
4.  Reimbursement  limitations.  State  reimbursement shall be granted
under this section for authorized charter expenditures as follows:
(a) Up  to  forty  per  centum  of  the  cost  of  authorized  charter
expenditures  up  to  a limit of twenty-five thousand dollars in any one
state fiscal year for any county or city.
(b) No county or city  shall  be  eligible  for  reimbursement  of  an
authorized  charter  expenditure  for  a  period  of ten years following
receipt of a reimbursement under this section.