§ 54-e. State assistance to reimburse municipalities for firefighting
costs. 1. As used in this section, unless otherwise expressly stated:

a. "Normal operating expenses" shall mean those costs, losses and
expenses which are ordinarily associated with the maintenance,
administration and day-to-day operations of the fire department of a
municipality. Such expenses shall include, but not be limited to, the
ordinary wages of firefighters, administrative and other overhead costs,
depreciation, the costs of litigation and the costs of employee's
benefits, including insurance, disability, death, or health care whether
or not such costs are incurred as the result of firefighting services
rendered to property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York.

b. "Firefighting costs" shall mean those expenses and losses which
would not have been incurred had not the fire in question taken place.
Such costs shall include, but not be limited to, salaries for specially
employed personnel, costs of supplies expended, and the lesser of (1)
the cost of repairing any destroyed or damaged equipment or (2) the
value of such equipment immediately preceding the fire. Firefighting
costs shall not include: normal operating expenses as defined herein,
any firefighting cost for which the municipality is reimbursed under a
policy of insurance or any costs associated with false alarms,
regardless of cause.

c. "Claim" shall mean that amount which is equal to those firefighting
costs incurred by a municipality to the extent that such costs exceed
the sum of two hundred fifty dollars.

d. "Fire" shall mean any instance of destructive and uncontrolled
burning on property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York
including scorch burns and explosions of combustible dust or solids,
flammable liquids and gases.

e. "Municipality" shall mean any county, city, village, town or fire
district, having a fire department consisting of personnel, apparatus
and equipment which has as its purpose protecting property and
maintaining the safety and welfare of the public from the dangers of
fire, or, in the case of a fire protection district or that portion of a
town outside a village or fire district, a fire company as defined in
section three of the volunteer firefighters' benefit law. The personnel
of any such fire department may be paid employees or unpaid volunteers
or any combination thereof.

f. "Property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York" shall
mean real property and improvements thereon and appurtenances thereto in
which the state of New York holds legal fee simple title and further,
any real property conveyed or made available to the New York state
housing finance agency or the dormitory authority of the state of New
York under agreements for the financing and construction of facilities
for the state university of New York; provided however, with the
exception of property occupied by the state university of New York, such
property shall not include leasehold interest; provided further, such
property shall not include any property for which a municipality
receives any payments-in-lieu of taxes or any other payments, including
real property taxes, that are or may be used for providing fire
protection to such property.

2. Any municipality whose fire department has responded to a fire on
property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York:

a. shall, within thirty days after such fire, submit a report, on a
form prescribed by the office of fire prevention and control, to the
office of fire prevention and control stating the location of such a
fire and the firefighting costs incurred while fighting such a fire; and

b. may, within thirty days after such a fire, submit a claim, on a
form prescribed by the office of fire prevention and control to the
office of fire prevention and control pursuant to the provisions of this
section.

3. The office of fire prevention and control shall review each claim
to determine if such claim shall be approved, reduced, amended or
rejected and shall notify the municipality, within sixty days of receipt
of such claim, as to his determination. The municipality shall notify
the office of fire prevention and control within thirty days after
receipt of the office of fire prevention and control's notification, as
to its acceptance or rejection of such determination. Failure to so
notify the office of fire prevention and control shall constitute an
acceptance of the determination. If accepted by the municipality, such
acceptance shall constitute the final and conclusive determination for
such claim. If rejected by the municipality, such municipality shall
resubmit its claim, within thirty days after receipt of the office of
fire prevention and control's notification, together with its reasons
for objection and any additional documentation which may justify its
claim. Upon receipt of a resubmitted claim, the office of fire
prevention and control shall review such claim and within sixty days of
receipt of such resubmitted claim, make a final determination as to the
amount to be approved for such claim. If the municipality shall dispute
such final determination it may commence an action, within sixty days of
such final determination, in the court of claims which shall have
jurisdiction to adjudicate the claim and enter judgment, which judgment
shall be a final determination for purposes of this section and shall be
payable in accordance with the provisions of subdivisions four and five
of this section.

4. The office of fire prevention and control shall certify all claims
for which a final determination has been made. The office of fire
prevention and control shall submit all claims certified during the
preceding year to the comptroller of the department of audit and control
on or before April first of each year. Any claim that has been received
prior to April first of such year, but for which no certification has
been made, shall, for purposes of payment, be considered as a claim for
the year in which such certification is made.

5. All claims certified by the office of fire prevention and control
shall be paid annually and shall be paid upon a warrant from the
comptroller from funds appropriated in the local assistance fund. In the
event such appropriation is insufficient to permit the aggregate annual
payments authorized under this section, each municipality's payment for
any claim or claims certified during the preceding year shall be
decreased proportionally until the total payments are equal to the
amount appropriated.

6. The chief fiscal officer of the municipality shall pay the amounts
received under this section into the fund or funds from which moneys
were expended to provide the firefighting services for which a
reimbursement was made under this section.

7. This section shall not in any way impair, limit or modify the
rights and obligations of any insurer under any policy of insurance.

8. The office of fire prevention and control shall annually prepare a
report on the effectiveness of this section and shall submit such report
to the legislature. Such report shall include the number and location of
any fire on property under the jurisdiction of the state of New York,
the number of claims and the amount of each such claim filed pursuant to
this section and further, the total amount of all claims filed and the
total amount of payments made under the provisions of this section. The
first such report shall be submitted to the legislature on or before
June first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine.