S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
1200
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
(PREFILED)
January 9, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sen. CARLUCCI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to authorizing
the consolidation of cities and counties; and to amend the municipal
home rule law, in relation to authorizing counties to create and amend
their county charters in order to facilitate the merger of local
governments
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivisions 4 and 13 of section 750 of the general munici-
pal law, as added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, are amended to read
as follows:
4. "Contiguous" shall mean when a portion of a [town or village] LOCAL
GOVERNMENT ENTITY abuts the boundary of another [town or village] LOCAL
GOVERNMENT ENTITY, including a [town or village] LOCAL GOVERNMENT ENTITY
separated from the exact boundary of another [town or village] LOCAL
GOVERNMENT ENTITY by a street, road, railroad, highway, river or other
natural or artificial stream or body of water.
13. "Local government entity" or "entity" shall mean a town, village,
CITY, COUNTY, district, special improvement district, CITY DISTRICT or
other improvement district, including, but not limited to, special
districts created pursuant to articles eleven, twelve, twelve-A or thir-
teen of the town law, library districts, SPECIAL PURPOSE DISTRICTS
CREATED BY COUNTIES UNDER THE COUNTY LAW and other districts created by
law; provided, however, that a local government entity shall not include
school districts[,] OR ANY city [districts or special purpose districts
created by counties under county law] HAVING A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION
OR MORE.
S 2. Subdivision 1 of section 751 of the general municipal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05305-01-3
S. 1200 2
1. Two or more local government entities, whether within the same
county or different counties, may be consolidated into a single local
government entity if each of the local government entities is contiguous
to at least one of the other consolidating local government entities and
if together the local government entities would form a consolidated
local government entity of a kind or class that is authorized under the
laws of the state [of New York]. The requirement that local government
entities be contiguous to consolidate does not apply to entities other
than towns [and], villages, CITIES AND COUNTIES.
S 3. Subdivision 2 of section 753 of the general municipal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
2. cause the proposed joint consolidation agreement, along with a
descriptive summary thereof and a reference to the public place or plac-
es within each entity where a copy thereof may be examined, to be
displayed on a website maintained by each entity or otherwise on a
website maintained by the village, town, CITY and/or county in which the
entities are located; and
S 4. Subdivision 2 of section 754 of the general municipal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
2. The public hearing or hearings shall be held on notice of at least
[ten] TWENTY days, but not more than [twenty] THIRTY days, published in
a newspaper or newspapers having general circulation within each local
government entity to be consolidated and displayed on a website main-
tained by each entity or otherwise on a website maintained by the
village, town, CITY and/or county in which the entities are located. The
notice of the hearing or hearings shall provide a descriptive summary of
the proposed joint consolidation agreement and a reference to the public
place or places within the entities where a copy of such agreement may
be examined.
S 5. Section 755 of the general municipal law, as added by chapter 74
of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
S 755. Referendum resolution for consolidation of towns [or],
villages, CITIES AND COUNTIES. 1. If a joint consolidation agreement
calls for the consolidation of two or more towns, [two or more] villages
[or one or more towns and villages], CITIES AND/OR COUNTIES, then
contemporaneous with the final approval of the joint consolidation
agreement pursuant to subdivision three of section seven hundred fifty-
four of this title, the governing body or bodies of the local government
entities to be consolidated shall enact a resolution calling for a
referendum on the proposed consolidation by the electors in each of the
entities.
2. The resolution calling for the referendum on the proposed consol-
idation shall:
(a) provide (i) the name of each of the towns [and/or], villages,
CITIES AND/OR COUNTIES proposed to be consolidated, (ii) a statement
fully describing the territory to be included within the proposed
consolidated local government entity, (iii) the name of the proposed
consolidated local government entity, and (iv) the date for the referen-
dum, in accordance with subdivision one of section seven hundred fifty-
eight of this title;
(b) state the substance of the question to be submitted to the elec-
tors; and
(c) set forth such other matters as may be necessary to call, provide
for and give notice of the referendum and to provide for the conduct
thereof and the canvass of the returns thereupon.
S. 1200 3
3. The resolution calling for a referendum on the proposed consol-
idation shall have attached to it the final approved version of the
joint consolidation agreement.
S 6. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 757 of the general municipal
law, as added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, are amended to read as
follows:
1. The electors of two or more local government entities may commence
a consolidation proceeding by filing an original petition, containing
not less than the number of signatures provided for in subdivision two
of this section and in the form provided for in subdivision three of
this section, with the clerk of the town, VILLAGE, CITY OR COUNTY in
which the entities or the greater portion of their territory are
located[, except that if one or more of the entities to be consolidated
is a village the original petition of electors from the village shall be
filed with the clerk of the village]. Accompanying the filed petition
shall be a cover sheet containing the name, address and telephone number
of an individual who signed the petition and who will serve as a contact
person.
2. The petition shall contain the signatures of at least [ten] FIVE
percent of the number of electors or five thousand electors, whichever
is less, in each local government entity to be consolidated[; provided,
however, that where the local government entity to be consolidated
contains five hundred or fewer electors, the petition shall contain the
signatures of at least twenty percent of the number of electors]. No
signature on a petition is valid unless it is the original signature of
an elector.
3. The petition shall substantially comply with, and be circulated in,
the following form:
PETITION FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONSOLIDATION
We, the undersigned electors and legal voters of (insert type of local
government entity - e.g., town, village, CITY, COUNTY or district) of
(insert name of local government entity), New York, qualified to vote at
the next general or special election, respectfully petition that there
be submitted to the electors and legal voters of (insert type and name
of local government entities proposed to be consolidated), for their
approval or rejection at a referendum held for that purpose, a proposal
to consolidate (insert type and name of local government entity) with
(insert type and name of local government entity or entities).
In witness whereof, we have signed our names on the dates indicated
next to our signatures.
Date Name - print name under signature Home Address
1. _____ _________________________________ ____________
2. _____ _________________________________ ____________
3. _____ _________________________________ ____________
(On the bottom of each page of the petition, after all of the numbered
signatures, insert a signed statement of a witness who is a duly quali-
fied elector of the state of New York. Such a statement shall be
accepted for all purposes as the equivalent of an affidavit, and if it
contains a material false statement, shall subject the person signing it
to the same penalties as if he or she has been duly sworn. The form of
such statement shall be substantially as follows:
I, (insert name of witness), state that I am a duly qualified voter of
the state of New York. Each of the persons that have signed this peti-
tion sheet containing (insert number) signatures have signed their names
in my presence on the dates indicated above and identified themselves to
be the same person who signed the sheet. I understand that this state-
S. 1200 4
ment will be accepted for all purposes as the equivalent of an affida-
vit, and if it contains a materially false statement, shall subject me
to the penalties of perjury.
_________________ _________________________________
Date Signature of Witness)
(In lieu of the signed statement of a witness who is a duly qualified
voter of the state of New York, the following statement signed by a
notary public or a commissioner of deeds shall be accepted:
On the date indicated above before me personally came each of the
electors and legal voters whose signatures appear on this petition sheet
containing (insert number) signatures, who signed the petition in my
presence and who, being by me duly sworn, each for himself or herself,
identified himself or herself as the one and same person who signed the
petition and that the foregoing information they provided was true.
_________________ _________________________________
Date Notary Public or Commissioner of Deeds)
S 7. Subdivision 1 of section 758 of the general municipal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
1. A referendum required by [sections] SECTION seven hundred fifty-
five or seven hundred fifty-seven of this title shall be placed before
the electors of each of the local government entities to be consolidated
at a special election to be held not less than sixty or more than ninety
days after the enactment of a resolution calling for such referendum,
provided, however, that in cases where a [town] STATEWIDE or village
general election falls within such period, the question may be consid-
ered during [a town or village] SUCH general election.
S 8. Subdivision 2 of section 761 of the general municipal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
2. cause the proposed elector initiated consolidation plan, along with
a descriptive summary thereof and a reference to the public place or
places within each entity where a copy thereof may be examined, to be
displayed on a website maintained by each entity or otherwise on a
website maintained by the village, town, CITY and/or county in which the
entities are located; and
S 9. Subdivision 2 of section 762 of the general municipal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
2. The public hearing or hearings shall be held on notice of at least
[ten] TWENTY days, but not more than [twenty] THIRTY days, published in
a newspaper or newspapers having general circulation within each local
government entity to be consolidated and displayed on a website main-
tained by each entity or otherwise on a website maintained by the
village, town, CITY and/or county in which the entities are located. The
notice of the hearing or hearings shall provide a descriptive summary of
the proposed elector initiated consolidation plan and a reference to the
public place or places within the entities where a copy of such agree-
ment may be examined.
S 10. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 763 of the general
municipal law, as added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) file an original petition, containing not less than the number of
signatures provided for in subdivision three of this section, seeking a
referendum on the question whether the elector initiated consolidation
plan shall take effect, with the clerk of the town, VILLAGE, CITY OR
COUNTY in which the entity or the greater portion of its territory is
located[, except that if the entity is a village the original petition
S. 1200 5
of electors from the village shall be filed with the clerk of the
village]; and
S 11. Subdivision 3 of section 763 of the general municipal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
3. The petition shall be circulated, signed and authenticated in
substantial compliance with the provisions of section seven hundred
fifty-seven of this title, shall contain the signatures of at least
[twenty-five] FIVE percent of the number of electors or fifteen thousand
electors, whichever is less, in the local government entity to be
consolidated, and shall be accompanied by a cover sheet containing the
name, address and telephone number of an individual who signed the peti-
tion and who will serve as a contact person.
S 12. Subdivision 6 of section 765 of the general municipal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
6. If a joint consolidation agreement or elector initiated consol-
idation plan provides for the dissolution of a [local justice] COUNTY,
FAMILY, SURROGATE'S, CITY, TOWN OR VILLAGE court, all court records of
such court shall be deposited with a [justice court] judge OR JUSTICE OF
A COURT HAVING LIKE JURISDICTION AS THE COURT DISSOLVED to be designated
by the administrative judge of the judicial district within which the
dissolving [justice] court is located. The designated [justice court]
judge OR JUSTICE shall have authority to execute and complete all unfin-
ished business.
S 13. Subdivision 4 of section 33 of the municipal home rule law is
amended by adding a new paragraph f to read as follows:
F. PROVIDE FOR ANY MATTER OTHERWISE AUTHORIZED BY LAW AS MAY BE
REQUIRED IN ORDER TO CREATE, CONFORM OR ACCOMMODATE A COUNTY CHARTER DUE
TO A MERGER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS WITHIN THE COUNTY PURSUANT TO ARTICLE
SEVENTEEN-A OF THE GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW.
S 14. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day
after it shall have become a law.