2023 New York Laws › TWN - Town › Article 11 - Fire, Fire Alarm and Fire Protection Districts › 187 - Exclusion of a Fire District From a Water Supply District.

§  187.  Exclusion of a fire district from a water supply district. 1.
  Petition. Whenever a fire district shall be located  wholly  within  the
  boundaries  of  a  water  supply  district  which  shall  have no bonded
  indebtedness,  a  written  petition  as  hereinafter  provided  may   be
  presented  to  the  town  board  of  the  town in which the water supply
  district is located asking for the exclusion of the area included in the
  fire district from the water supply district.  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 in  the  election  law
  for  the  authentication  of nominating petitions, by resident taxpayers
  owning taxable real  property  aggregating  at  least  one-half  of  the
  assessed valuation of all the taxable real property of the fire district
  owned  by  resident taxpayers, as such valuations appear upon the latest
  completed assessment  roll  of  said  town.  Such  petition  shall  have
  endorsed  thereon  the  approval  of  a  majority  of  the board of fire
  commissioners of such fire district. The town board shall hold a  public
  hearing  upon  such  petition  within  the  limits  of  the water supply
  district and shall cause a notice thereof to be published and posted  in
  the  same  manner  provided  for  hearings  held pursuant to section one
  hundred seventy-one hereof. Such notice shall contain a  description  of
  the  fire district referred to in the petition and specify the time when
  and the place where the town board will meet to consider  such  petition
  and  to  hear  all  the persons interested in the subject concerning the
  same. After a hearing held upon notice  as  provided  hereinbefore,  and
  upon  the evidence given thereat, the town board shall determine whether
  it is in the public interest to  grant  the  relief  sought.  If  it  is
  determined  that  it  be  not in the public interest to grant the relief
  sought, it shall deny the petition, but if it is determined that  it  be
  in the public interest, it may grant the relief sought by the petition.
2.  Filing  of  determination.  Whenever  the town board shall adopt a
  resolution excluding the area included in a fire district from  a  water
  supply  district,  the  town  clerk shall cause a certified copy of such
  resolution to be duly recorded in the office of the clerk of the  county
  in  which  such  fire  district  is located and a certified copy of such
  resolution to  be  filed  with  the  secretary  of  the  board  of  fire
  commissioners  of  said district. When so recorded such resolution shall
  be presumptive evidence of the regularity of the exclusion of such  fire
  district  from  the water supply district. The expense of such recording
  shall be a charge against the  fire  district.  The  said  determination
  shall  be  final  and  conclusive  unless a proceeding for review in the
  manner provided by article seventy-eight of the civil practice  law  and
  rules  has  been  commenced  within  thirty days from the time of filing
  thereof.
3.  Liability  for  indebtedness;  apportionment  of  liabilities  and
  property.  If the town board shall grant a petition for the exclusion of
  the territory of a fire district from a water supply  district  and  the
  territory  included  within  the  boundaries  of the fire district be so
  excluded, such territory within such fire district shall not be relieved
  from bearing its proportionate share of any  liability  or  indebtedness
  incurred  for  water supply district purposes while such territory was a
  part of such water supply district, and until such liability shall  have
  been  discharged  or  such  indebtedness  paid  the  proportionate share
  thereof to which such territory would be  liable  if  it  had  not  been
  excluded  from  the  water  supply district, in accordance with assessed
  valuations as appear on the latest completed  assessment  roll  of  said
  town,  shall  be  added to the annual budget of the fire district by the
  town board.
The proportion of the liability created or the  indebtedness  incurred
  in  behalf of the water supply district and payable by a tax against the
  property within the fire district which shall be  assumed  by  the  fire
  district  and  the  apportionment  of  the  personal  and  real property
  belonging  to the water supply district shall be determined according to
  the relative assessed valuation of the personal  and  real  property  in
  that portion of the water supply district without the fire district, and
  that portion within the fire district, in the following manner: The town
  board  of the town when acting as a board for the water supply district,
  exclusive of a member who may reside in the fire district and the  board
  of  commissioners  of the fire district being unable to agree within six
  months after the exclusion of the fire district from  the  water  supply
  district  becomes  final  upon  the  proportion  of  the  debt  and  the
  apportionment of the personal and real property, then the supreme  court
  shall  have  power to determine such division and to enforce such award,
  division and determination as shall be made in the premises in a suit in
  equity to be brought in the name of either of said parties.