2023 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.