§ 6-g. Capital reserve funds for fire districts. 1. As used in this
section:

a. The term "capital improvement" shall mean:

(1) Any physical betterment or improvement or any preliminary studies
and surveys relative thereto.

(2) Land or rights in land.

(3) Any furnishings, equipment, machinery or apparatus for any
physical public betterment or improvement acquired at the time when such
betterment or improvement is constructed, reconstructed or acquired.

b. The term "equipment" shall include any equipment, machinery or
apparatus not included in the definition of the term "capital
improvement" and for the acquisition of which a period of probable
usefulness has been provided by law.

c. The term "obligations" shall include bonds, notes, certificates or
other evidences of indebtedness.

2. The board of fire commissioners of any fire district may establish
capital reserve funds for the financing of all or a part of the cost of:

a. The construction, reconstruction or acquisition of a specific
capital improvement or the acquisition of a specific item or specific
items of equipment.

b. The construction, reconstruction or acquisition of a type of
capital improvement or the acquisition of a type of equipment.

3. If the board of fire commissioners authorizes the establishment of
a capital reserve fund for the financing of all or part of the cost of
the construction, reconstruction or acquisition of a specific capital
improvement or the acquisition of a specific item or specific items of
equipment, it shall set forth in such authorization the estimated
maximum cost thereof.

4. Any resolution of the board of fire commissioners authorizing the
establishment of a reserve fund shall not take effect until approved by
the affirmative vote of a majority of the electors of such fire district
affected, qualified to vote at an annual election of fire district
officers, voting on such proposition. Any special election shall be held
in the manner provided in section one hundred seventy-nine of the town
law, as amended from time to time.

A proposition for the submission of any such resolution of the board
of fire commissioners to the approval of the said qualified electors
pursuant to this section, shall contain an abstract of such resolution
concisely stating the purposes and effect thereof. The fire district
secretary shall prepare such abstract with the advice of the attorney
for the fire district, if there be one, and forthwith transmit the
proposition to the board of fire commissioners in the form in which it
is to be submitted at such annual or special election of such fire
district. If there be more than one such proposition to be voted upon at
such election, each proposition shall be separately and consecutively
numbered.

5. There may be paid into any such capital reserve fund:

a. Such an amount as may be provided therefor in the annual budget of
the fire district adopted pursuant to section one hundred eighty-one of
the town law or pursuant to section one hundred eighty-one-a of the town
law.

b. Such revenues as are not required by law to be paid into any other
fund or account, including the proceeds from the sale of any capital
improvement or equipment owned by such fire district.

6. The moneys in each such capital reserve fund shall be deposited and
secured in the manner provided by section ten of this article. The board
of fire commissioners or the fire district treasurer of such fire
district, if the board of fire commissioners shall delegate such duty to
him, may invest the moneys in each such fund in the manner provided in
section eleven of this article. Any interest earned or capital gains
realized on the moneys so deposited or invested shall accrue to and
become part of each such fund. The separate identity of each such fund
shall be maintained, whether its assets consist of cash or investments
or both.

7. An expenditure from a reserve fund shall be made only upon
authorization by the board of fire commissioners and for a specific
capital improvement or a specific item or specific items of equipment,
the cost of which may be financed therefrom. However, if a proposed
expenditure is from a fund established for a type of capital improvement
or equipment and if it is required by law that the authorization by such
board of fire commissioners of the issuance of obligations for such
capital improvement or equipment be subject to a permissive or mandatory
referendum, then the authorization of such an expenditure shall be
subject to a permissive referendum. Within ten working days after the
adoption by a board of fire commissioners of a resolution described in
this section as being subject to a permissive referendum, the fire
district secretary, in the same manner as provided for notice of annual
elections, shall publish a notice which shall set forth the date of the
adoption of the resolution and contain an abstract of such resolution
concisely stating the purposes and effect thereof. The notice shall
specify that such resolution was adopted subject to a permissive
referendum. Any such resolution of the board of fire commissioners shall
not take effect until thirty days after its adoption; nor until approved
by the affirmative vote of a majority of the electors of such fire
district affected, qualified to vote at an annual election of fire
district officers, voting on such proposition, if within thirty days
after its adoption there be filed with the fire district secretary a
petition signed and acknowledged or proved in the same manner as a deed
to be recorded, by resident taxpayers of such fire district, owning
taxable real property aggregating at least one-quarter of the assessed
valuation of all the taxable real property of the fire district as such
valuations appear upon the latest completed assessment roll of the town
or towns in which said fire district is located, protesting against such
resolution and requesting that it be submitted to the qualified electors
of the fire district affected for their approval or disapproval. If such
petition be so filed not more than forty-five days nor less than thirty
days prior to an annual election of fire district officers, a
proposition for the approval of such resolution shall be submitted at
such annual election of fire district officers. If a petition be so
filed at any other time, a proposition for the approval of such
resolution shall be submitted at a special fire district election to be
held not more than forty days after the filing of such petition. If,
within five days after the filing of such petition, a written objection
thereto be filed with the fire district secretary, and a verified
petition setting forth the objections be presented by the person so
filing such objections to the supreme court or any justice thereof of
the judicial district in which such fire district or any part thereof is
located, such court or justice within twenty days shall determine any
question arising thereunder and make such order as justice may require.
Such proceeding shall be heard and determined in the manner prescribed
by section 16-116 of the election law. A proposition for the submission
of any such resolution of the board of fire commissioners to the
approval of the said qualified electors pursuant to this section, shall
contain an abstract of such resolution concisely stating the purposes
and effect thereof. The fire district secretary shall prepare such
abstract with the advice of the attorney for the fire district, if there
be one, and forthwith transmit the proposition to the board of fire
commissioners in the form in which it is to be submitted at such annual
or special election of such fire district. If there be more than one
such proposition to be voted upon at such election, each proposition
shall be separately and consecutively numbered.

8. The board of fire commissioners may authorize the transfer to the
credit of another capital reserve fund of such fire district all or part
of:

a. The unexpended balance remaining in a fund established pursuant to
this section for a specific capital improvement or a specific item or
specific items of equipment, which improvement has been completed or
acquired, or which equipment has been acquired, after deducting from
such balance a sum sufficient to satisfy all outstanding claims arising
from the construction, reconstruction or acquisition of such capital
improvement or the acquisition of such equipment.

b. The unexpended balance remaining in a fund established pursuant to
this section for a specific item or specific items of equipment which
have not been acquired or a specific capital improvement which has not
been completed or acquired, or remaining in a fund established pursuant
to this section for a type of capital improvement or a type of
equipment. If the proposed transfer is from a fund established for a
specific capital improvement or a specific item or specific items of
equipment, the authorization of such transfer shall be subject to a
permissive referendum if the authorization of the creation of a fund for
such capital improvement or item or items of equipment was subject to a
permissive referendum. A permissive referendum on the authorization of
such transfer shall be governed in the manner provided in subdivision
seven of this section.

9. The fire district treasurer shall keep a separate account for each
fund established. Such account shall show:

a. The date and amount of each sum paid into the fund.

b. The interest earned by such fund.

c. The capital gains or losses resulting from the sale of investments
of the fund.

d. The interest or capital gains which have accrued to the fund.

e. The amount and date of each withdrawal from the fund.

f. The assets of the fund, indicating the cash balance therein and a
schedule of the amounts invested in federal or state obligations. The
fire district treasurer, at the termination of each fiscal year, shall
render a detailed report of the operation and condition of each of such
funds to the board of fire commissioners.

10. The members of the board of fire commissioners are hereby declared
trustees of such funds and shall be subject to all the duties and
responsibilities imposed by law on trustees, and such duties and
responsibilities may be enforced by the fire district or by any board,
commission, agency, officer or taxpayer thereof.

11. The members of the board of fire commissioners shall be guilty of
a misdemeanor if they:

a. Authorize a withdrawal from a fund for any purpose other than for a
capital improvement or an item or items of equipment, the cost of which
has been authorized to be financed in whole or in part from such fund.

b. Expend any money withdrawn from a fund for a purpose other than
that for which it was authorized to be withdrawn.

The provisions of this subdivision shall be considered to be in
addition to any other penalties provided by law.

12. The board of water commissioners of a water district to which the
provisions of article thirteen of the town law apply, and which has the
powers of the fire district commissioners as provided in subdivisions
nine to twenty-four, inclusive, of section one hundred seventy-six of
the town law, may establish capital reserve funds as in this section
provided for the financing of all or a part of the cost of capital
improvements and equipment for fire department and fire protection
purposes, in the same manner and to the same extent that the board of
fire commissioners of a fire district may establish capital reserve
funds for such purposes, and all of the provisions of this section shall
apply in relation to the financing of all or a part of such capital
improvements or equipment, and all references in this section to a fire
district shall be deemed to refer to such water district, and all
references herein to a fire district secretary or treasurer shall be
deemed to refer to the secretary or treasurer of such board of water
commissioners, except that if such board of water commissioners does not
have a treasurer the provisions relating to the fire district treasurer
shall be deemed to refer to the supervisor of the town in which such
water district is located.

13. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, if any
such fire district is situated in whole or in part in a town which is
wholly or partly within the Adirondack park and has within the town
boundaries state lands subject to taxation assessed at more than thirty
per centum of the total taxable assessed valuation of the town as
determined from the assessment rolls of the town, as completed from time
to time, a capital reserve fund for the fire district shall not be
established on and after May first, nineteen hundred forty-eight, unless
the state comptroller, on behalf of the state, shall consent thereto,
and, on and after May first, nineteen hundred forty-eight, in any such
fire district so located, no expenditure or transfer shall be made from
a capital reserve fund heretofore or hereafter established unless the
state comptroller, on behalf of the state, shall consent thereto.