2023 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.