2023 New York Laws › TWN - Town › Article 6 - Town Elections › 81 - Election Upon Proposition.

§  81.  Election  upon  proposition.  The  town board may upon its own
motion and shall upon a petition, as hereinafter provided, cause  to  be
submitted at a special or biennial town election, a proposition:
1. In any town:
(a)  To erect a monument or monuments within the town in commemoration
of any person or event.
(b) To purchase, lease, construct, alter or remodel  a  town  hall,  a
town  lockup  or any other necessary building for town purposes, acquire
necessary lands therefor, and equip and furnish such buildings for  such
purposes, or to demolish or remove any town building.
(c)  To  establish  airports,  landing  fields, public parking places,
public parks or playgrounds, acquire the necessary lands  therefor,  and
equip the same with suitable buildings, structures and apparatus.
(d)  To vote upon or determine any question, proposition or resolution
which may lawfully be submitted, pursuant to this chapter or any general
or special law.
(e) To dredge, bulkhead, dock and otherwise improve any navigable,  or
other  waterway,  within  the  town,  and  to  rent,  purchase and equip
necessary machinery for such dredging,  docking,  bulkheading  or  other
improvement, and supply the necessary labor and material therefor.
(f)  To  provide for the collection and disposition of garbage, ashes,
rubbish and other waste matter in the town by (1) the award  of  one  or
more  contracts  for  the collection and disposition of the same, (2) by
the purchase, operation and maintenance of apparatus and  equipment  for
the  collection and transportation of the same, (3) by the construction,
operation and maintenance of a disposal or incinerator plant or  (4)  by
any combination of (1), (2) and (3).
2. In any town of the first class:
(a) To increase the number of council members from four to six.
(b)  To  establish  or  abolish  the  ward  system for the election of
council members in towns having four or six council members.
(c) To decrease the number of council members from four to two.
(d) To increase the number of council members from two to four.
3. In a town  of  the  second  class  having  five  thousand  or  more
population   according   to  the  latest  federal  or  state  census  or
enumeration or having an assessed valuation of ten  million  dollars  or
more,  as shown by the latest completed assessment-roll of such town, or
adjoining a city having a population of three hundred thousand or  more,
as shown by the latest federal or state census or enumeration, to change
the classification of such town to that of a town of the first class.
4.  Such petition shall be subscribed and authenticated, in the manner
provided by the  election  law  for  the  authentication  of  nominating
petitions,  by electors of the town qualified to vote upon a proposition
to raise and expend money, in number equal to at least five  per  centum
of  the  total  votes cast for governor in said town at the last general
election held for the election of state officers, but such number  shall
not  be less than one hundred in a town of the first class nor less than
twenty-five in a town of the second class. If such a petition  be  filed
in  the office of the town clerk not less than sixty days, nor more than
seventy-five days, prior to a biennial town  election,  the  proposition
shall be submitted at such biennial election. If a petition be presented
at  any  other  time,  a special election shall be called to be held not
less than sixty days, nor more than seventy-five days after  the  filing
of such petition.
5.  A  proposition  for  the consolidation or dissolution of a town or
district shall be  noticed,  conducted,  canvassed  and  otherwise  held
pursuant   to,  and  in  accordance  with,  the  provisions  of  article
seventeen-A of the general municipal law; and a petition to  consolidate

or  dissolve  a  town or district shall be subscribed, authenticated and
otherwise governed pursuant to, and in accordance with, that article.
Any expenditure approved pursuant to this section shall be paid for by
taxes  levied  for  the  fiscal  year in which such expenditure is to be
made. However, nothing contained in this section shall be  construed  to
prevent the financing in whole or in part, pursuant to the local finance
law,  of  any  expenditure  enumerated  in  this  section  which  is not
authorized pursuant to this section.
Any expenditure financed in whole from moneys appropriated from  surplus
funds shall not be subject to referendum.