2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 15 - Water Resources › Title 21 - River Regulation by Storage Reservoirs › 15-2121 - Apportionment of Cost.

§ 15-2121. Apportionment of cost.
1.  If  proceedings to review the final order of the board determining
  that such proposed reservoir shall be  made  have  not  been  instituted
  within  sixty  days from the date of the filing of the same, or upon the
  filing of a modification thereof as directed by order of the court,  the
  board  shall,  as soon thereafter as practicable, prepare an estimate of
  the total cost of such reservoir, including interest on certificates  of
  indebtedness  issued  prior  to  the effective date of the Local Finance
  Law, or on notes, to the maturity  thereof  and  compensation  for  real
  estate  and  all  damages  suffered  by  reason thereof and all expenses
  necessarily incurred or to be incurred in connection therewith, and make
  a complete and verified statement thereof.
2. The board shall then apportion such cost, less the amount which may
  be chargeable to the state, among the public corporations and parcels of
  real estate benefited, in proportion to the amount of benefit which will
  inure to each such public corporation  and  parcel  of  real  estate  by
  reason  of  such  reservoir. Such apportionment shall be made in writing
  and shall  show  the  name  of  each  public  corporation  and  a  brief
  description  of  each  parcel  of real estate benefited; the name of the
  owner, or owners, of each such parcel of real estate, so far as  can  be
  ascertained;  the  proportion  of such cost less the amount which may be
  chargeable to the state to be borne by each, expressed in decimals;  and
  the  amount  to  be paid by each such public corporation or the owner or
  owners of each such parcel of real estate.
3. Such amount shall be determined by multiplying the total cost  less
  the  amount  which  may  be  chargeable  to  the  state  by  the decimal
  representing  the  proportion  thereof  to  be  borne  by  each   public
  corporation or parcel of real estate.
4. The board, or a majority of the members thereof, before making such
  apportionment shall view the premises and public corporations benefited.
  Such  apportionment  shall be approved by the board and certified to the
  department  for  its  approval.  Upon  the  approval  thereof   by   the
  department,  the  board shall cause a copy thereof to be served upon the
  chairman or other presiding officer of the county  legislative  body  of
  each  county,  the  mayor of each city, the supervisor of each town, and
  the mayor of each village, named in the  apportionment,  or  if  service
  cannot  be  had  upon  such  chairman, mayor, or supervisor, then upon a
  member of the county legislative body of the county, an alderman of  the
  city  or  member  of  the  governing board thereof, a member of the town
  board of the town, or a trustee of the village, and to be filed  in  the
  office  of  the  county  clerk  of  each  county  in  which  any  public
  corporation or real property thereby affected is located.    After  such
  service and filing of such apportionment and determination, notice shall
  be  given  by  the  board,  of publication of a time and place where the
  board will meet to hear any public corporation or  person  aggrieved  by
  the  same. The affidavit of the person serving or publishing such notice
  shall be evidence of such service or publication.
5. The board shall meet at the time and place specified and  hear  all
  persons  and  public  corporations  interested  in  or aggrieved by such
  apportionment  and  may  approve  of  or  modify  the  same.   If   such
  apportionment  and  determination  be modified by the board it shall not
  become effective until approved by the department  and  a  copy  thereof
  served  and  filed in the same manner as upon the completion of the same
  in the first instance. Any public corporation or any person  deeming  it
  or   himself   aggrieved  may  upon  notice  to  the  board  review  the
  determination of the board in the same manner as a review is had of  the
  determination  of  a  board  of  assessors in making an assessment. Such
  apportionments as so modified and  as  further  modified  by  any  final

  judgment  or  order  made  in  proceedings  to review the same as herein
  provided shall be final and conclusive.
6.  The amount of the total cost and expense of such reservoir and the
  maintenance and operation thereof including the amount of  a  reasonable
  return  to  the  state  as  herein  provided for, which each such public
  corporation and each such parcel of real estate is to pay and bear shall
  be based upon the proportion of cost as determined in the apportionment.
  If the total cost of such reservoir shall exceed the estimate  made  and
  apportioned  as  hereinbefore  provided, the amount of such excess cost,
  less the  amount  which  may  be  chargeable  to  the  state,  shall  be
  apportioned  among  the  public  corporations and parcels of real estate
  benefited, by an additional apportionment to be made in the same  manner
  and  by  the  same procedure as the original apportionment, and shall be
  levied, assessed and collected in the manner provided in section 15-2123
  hereof. Such apportionment and determination, when  finally  made,  also
  shall  be deemed to fix and determine the apportionment and the basis of
  apportionment  of  all  subsequent  expenses  to  be  incurred  in   the
  maintenance  and  operation of such reservoir, including the amount of a
  reasonable return to the state, if any, as provided for in title  21  of
  this article.
7. If powers be developed after such apportionment has been made or if
  for any other reason any public corporation or any parcel of real estate
  becomes  liable  equitably  for  such  subsequent expenses, a subsequent
  apportionment may be made in the same manner and  subject  to  the  same
  review as the original apportionment. Provided, however, that before any
  such  apportionment  of  costs  or  any assessment is made by the board,
  public corporations or owners  of  property  liable  for  the  same  may
  execute and deliver to the board a consent, executed and acknowledged in
  like  manner  as  a  deed,  by  which they acknowledge that they are the
  public corporations and owners of property benefited by the  improvement
  and   consent  to  bear  the  cost  thereof,  less  any  sum  previously
  appropriated by the state therefor, together with charges  provided  for
  in  section  15-2125  of  title 21 of this article, and to have the same
  assessed against them or their property as  in  this  article  provided.
  Such  consent  may also provide, as a condition of its acceptance by the
  board, for the basis on which the assessment for the  improvement  shall
  be made upon the parties consenting.
8. The board may accept or reject such consent. If it accepts the same
  it must be by resolution providing for the levy of the entire assessment
  upon  the  public  corporations  and property of the parties filing such
  consent, on the basis of benefits received, if any,  determined  by  the
  terms  of  the  consent,  or  if  no basis of assessment be fixed by the
  consent, on the basis of the benefits shared  by  such  parties  in  the
  manner provided in title 21 of this article. If such consent be accepted
  by  the  board,  a certified copy thereof shall be filed by the board in
  the office of the county clerk  of  each  county  in  which  any  public
  corporation or real property affected by the assessment is located. Such
  a  consent, when executed by a public corporation, must be authorized by
  the governing body thereof.