§ 38. Provisions for obtaining state reimbursement for county and city
charter creation and revision.

1. Legislative Findings and Purpose. The Legislature finds that
development of modernized county and city government is necessary and
desirable to effectuate state purposes in as much as said governments
are called upon to implement state programs to provide for the health
and welfare of the citizens of the state, and in many cases are the
recipients of substantial state assistance. In order to encourage and
promote the development and revision of charter government at both the
county and city level as is provided under this article so that county
and city government will be more efficient, more effective and more
responsive to the needs of the people, state financial aid shall be
granted to counties and cities, to particularly reimburse authorized
charter expenditures in the manner and subject to the conditions
prescribed in this section.

2. Granting authority. The office for local government, by and through
its commissioner or his duly authorized officers and employees, shall
administer, carry out and approve grants of state funds, within
appropriation therefore, for reimbursement of authorized charter
expenditures as defined herein, that are conducted by counties or
cities. The office for local government shall adopt, amend and rescind
such rules, regulations and guidelines as may be necessary to the
performance of its functions, powers and duties under this section. The
office for local government shall allocate grants under this article
among the municipalities that have submitted applications in such a
manner as will most nearly provide an equitable distribution of the
grants among municipalities, taking into consideration such factors as
the size of the population, the urgency of the charter studies, the need
for funds to carry out the purposes of this article, and the potential
of the municipalities concerned to use the funds most effectively.

3. Authorized charter expenditures. For the purpose of this section
"authorized charter expenditures" shall mean those expenditures paid in
the first instance by a county or city in the preparation of a proposed
charter law or a proposed local law providing for new or revised city
charter which has been adopted by the governing body of a county or
city, as the case may be, for submission to the electorate at a general
or special election as is provided in Section thirty-three and Section
thirty-six of this article, and which costs are further deemed necessary
and appropriate under regulations promulgated by the office for local
government for the creation and development of the proposed charter law.
No expenditure which has not been specifically designated by the local
governing body for charter study and approved by the office for local
government shall be considered an "authorized charter expenditure."

4. Reimbursement limitations. State reimbursement shall be granted
under this section for authorized charter expenditures as follows:

(a) Up to forty per centum of the cost of authorized charter
expenditures up to a limit of twenty-five thousand dollars in any one
state fiscal year for any county or city.

(b) No county or city shall be eligible for reimbursement of an
authorized charter expenditure for a period of ten years following
receipt of a reimbursement under this section.