§ 195. County aid for construction, improvement and maintenance of
town highways. 1. The board of supervisors of a county may aid a town or
towns in the construction or improvement of a town highway or town
highways therein, and shall designate the highway or highways which the
town or towns are to construct or improve by the aid of the county. Such
county may prepare a map showing the highways to be improved under this
section in that county. This section shall not apply to the
construction, improvement or maintenance of any such highway with state
moneys, as defined by article six, except provisions hereof which, by
that article, are expressly made applicable thereto. No highway or part
thereof within the county road system established as provided in article
six shall be constructed or improved under the provisions of this
section, except with the consent of the commissioner of transportation
and in accordance with a written outline of the work, approved by him,
showing the course, width, thickness and type of the proposed road.

2. The board may by resolution direct the county superintendent to
supervise the preparation of grade and culvert work of a road so
designated by said map for improvement, by the town superintendent of
the town in which such improvement shall be made, and upon the county
superintendent's certification that the road is prepared and that the
town is equipped with sufficient machinery to properly perform the work,
such machinery to be furnished by the town and used during the road's
construction, the construction of an improved road or town highway may
proceed under the direction of the county superintendent of highways or
of a committee known as the highway officials of the county as
hereinafter provided. The construction work shall be under the charge
and supervision of a competent person designated by the county
superintendent by and with the advice and consent of the town board and
the compensation of such person shall be a town charge. In the event the
board of supervisors of any county in which roads are to be constructed
under this section shall so determine, the same may be constructed by
the county to be paid for by the town and county as herein provided and
constructed under the direct personal supervision of the county
superintendent of highways or some person designated by him; and for
that purpose such county superintendent of highways, or his nominee,
shall have power and authority to employ labor and teams, purchase
necessary material and do all work necessary for the construction of
such highway. The board of supervisors with the county superintendent of
highways shall have power and authority to purchase at the expense of
the county any machinery which they may deem necessary to be used in the
construction of such highways.

3. The employment of convict labor on roads so constructed shall be
authorized and permitted, in the discretion of the commissioner of
correction, upon the requisition of the county superintendent of
highways. The board of supervisors of Erie county shall have power, if
they deem it proper, to employ convicts, sentenced to be confined in a
penitentiary situate within the territorial limits of such county and
liable to be employed at hard labor, upon any highway or work connected
therewith within such county, and such board of supervisors shall have
power to make all necessary appointments, rules and regulations for such
employment within such county, including the right to fix a per diem
compensation for such employment at a rate not to exceed ten cents.

4. A board of supervisors of a county shall decide whether the
direction of the work shall be by the county superintendent of highways
or a committee known as the highway officials of the county. The highway
officials of the county under this section shall consist of the county
superintendent, three members of the board, appointed by the chairman.
The supervisor of the town in which a road or town highway is being
improved shall be a member of the said committee on all questions
involving the work in the town of which he is the supervisor. Unless the
advice and direction of the county superintendent of highways or of the
highway officials shall be followed in the prosecution of the work, no
liability therefor shall accrue to the county for its share of the cost
of work.

5. Upon ordering the construction of an improved road or town highway
under this section, the board of supervisors shall, by resolution,
determine the proportions thereof to be borne by the county and town or
towns respectively. The part, if any, to be borne by a town, as shown by
such determination may be a town charge, and the residue shall be a
county charge. The amounts to be borne by the county shall be provided
for by a tax, to be levied upon the taxable property of the county and
collected in the same manner as for other county charges and shall be
paid into the county treasury. The amount thereof to be borne by the
town may by resolution of the town board, be paid from any funds in such
town that may be legally used for highway purposes.

6. The board of supervisors may, in its discretion, appropriate and
make immediately available from county funds either the whole of the
moneys to complete the construction of such road or town highway or the
part thereof to be provided by the county. Nothing contained in this
section shall be construed to prevent the county or town from financing
its share, in whole or in part, pursuant to the local finance law.

7. Where the improvement of a road to be constructed or improved at
the joint expense of a county and a town or towns therein involves or
necessitates the widening of a highway already existing or acquirement
or extinguishment of any easements or rights in land within or without
the boundaries of an existing highway, the board of supervisors of such
county or the town board or town boards of the town or towns through
which such road passes, separately or in combination, may acquire land
for such widening and acquire or extinguish such easements and rights in
land. The cost of acquiring such lands and of acquiring or extinguishing
such easements and rights in land the expenses connected therewith shall
be deemed a part of the cost of the construction or improvement of such
highway.

8. The board of supervisors shall, from time to time, impose upon the
taxable property of the county a tax sufficient to pay at maturity any
county obligations issued to carry out the purposes of this section, and
interest thereon, and upon the taxable property of any town a tax
sufficient to pay at maturity any such obligations of the town, and
interest. Payments from time to time by the county treasurer of moneys
provided under this section shall be made for the prosecution of such
work upon the certificate of the county superintendent countersigned by
the chairman of the board of supervisors. Said orders shall be drawn to
the order of the supervisors of the respective towns where roads or town
highways are being constructed to be disbursed by them, upon vouchers
approved by the town superintendent or person designated in his stead,
in accordance with the agreement as provided by section two hundred and
eighty-four of this chapter. The board of supervisors may determine that
the amount, if any, to be borne by the town shall be paid by the town
into the county treasury, and the whole of such money including the
share of the county and of the town, if any, shall be paid out by the
county treasurer on orders drawn by the county superintendent of
highways and countersigned by the chairman of the board of supervisors
to be accounted for on forms of report as may be prescribed by the state
comptroller and printed in the next issue of the proceedings of the
board of supervisors.

Such roads and highways, when completed and accepted by the board of
supervisors shall be thereafter repaired and maintained by the towns
wherein such highways are located in the same manner as all other town
highways; except there shall be raised annually by the county and by the
town a tax of not less than one hundred dollars per mile for each mile
of highways improved in a town under the provisions of this section.
The amount thereof to be borne by the county or by the town or towns
shall be apportioned by the board of supervisors. The part, if any, to
be borne by a town or towns, as shown by such apportionment, shall be a
charge against the town or towns and the residue shall be a county
charge. The amount to be borne by the county shall be provided for by a
tax to be levied upon the taxable property of the county and collected
in the same manner as for other county charges and shall be paid into
the county treasury. The amount thereof to be borne by the town shall,
by resolution of the town board, be paid from any funds in such town
that may be legally used for highway purposes. The resolution providing
for such apportionment shall also indicate the amount which shall be
paid to each such town, and a certified copy thereof shall be filed with
the county treasurer. On receipt of such money the supervisor shall
credit the amount to the town highway fund. The board of supervisors may
determine that such highways be thereafter repaired and maintained under
the supervision and direction of the county superintendent of highways
and thereafter the amount, if any, to be borne by the town shall be paid
by the town into the county treasury and the whole of such money
including the share of the county and of the town, if any, shall be paid
out by the county treasurer for the repair and maintenance of such
highways on orders signed by the county superintendent of highways, and
countersigned by the chairman of the board of supervisors.

9. The board of supervisors may aid a town, or towns, in the repair
and maintenance of a highway formerly constructed by the state and
abandoned to a town by official order of the commissioner of
transportation or a predecessor thereof in the same manner as is
provided for the repair and maintenance of a highway built under the
provisions of this section and outlined under subdivision eight above.