§ 30. Liability for and payment of benefits. Except as otherwise
provided in article five of the workers' compensation law and in section
twenty-one of this chapter:

1. If at the time of injury the volunteer ambulance worker was a
member of an ambulance company of a county, city, town, village or
ambulance district ambulance department, any benefit under this chapter
shall be a county, city, town, village or ambulance district charge, as
the case may be, and any claim therefor shall be audited in the same
manner as other claims against the county, city, town, village or
ambulance district and the amount thereof shall be raised and paid in
the same manner as other county, city, town, village or ambulance
district charges.

2. If at the time of injury the volunteer ambulance worker was a
member of an ambulance company incorporated under the not-for-profit
corporation law, or any other law, and located in a city, village, or
ambulance district, protected under a contract by the ambulance
department or ambulance company of which the volunteer ambulance worker
was a member, any benefit under this chapter shall be a city, village or
ambulance district charge, as the case may be, and any claim therefor
shall be audited in the same manner as other claims against the city,
village or ambulance district and the amount thereof shall be raised and
paid in the same manner as other city, village or ambulance district
charges.

3. If at the time of injury the volunteer ambulance worker was a
member of a voluntary ambulance service as defined in subdivision three
of section three thousand one of the public health law, registered
pursuant to the provisions of section three thousand four of the public
health law or certified pursuant to the provisions of section three
thousand six of the public health law and organized as an unincorporated
association or duly incorporated under the laws of this state not
protected under a contract by the county, city, town, village or
ambulance district, any benefit under this chapter shall be a voluntary
ambulance service charge and any claim therefor shall be audited in the
same manner as other claims against the voluntary ambulance service and
the amount thereof shall be raised and paid in the same manner as other
voluntary ambulance service charges. No charge shall be made against a
voluntary ambulance service that does not have coverage under this
chapter.

4. If at the time of injury the volunteer ambulance worker was a
member of an ambulance company incorporated under the not-for-profit
corporation law, or any other law, and located outside of a city,
village or ambulance district any benefit under this chapter shall be a
town charge and any claim therefor shall be audited and paid in the same
manner as town charges and the amount thereof raised upon the property
liable to taxation in such outside territory protected by such ambulance
company in the same manner as town charges therein are raised.

5. If at the time of injury the volunteer ambulance worker was a
member of an ambulance company or ambulance department operating in, or
maintained jointly by two or more villages, or two or more towns, or two
or more ambulance districts, any benefit under this chapter shall be a
charge against such villages, towns or ambulance districts, in the
proportion that the full valuation of taxable real estate in each bears
to the aggregate full valuation of the taxable real estate of all such
villages, towns or ambulance districts and the amount thereof shall be
audited, raised and paid in the same manner as other village, town or
ambulance district charges. Full valuation shall be determined by
dividing the assessed valuations of taxable real estate of each such
village, town or ambulance district as shown by the latest completed
assessment roll of the village, town or ambulance district by the
equalization rate established by the authorized state agency or officer
for such roll; provided, however, in a county having a county department
of assessment the full valuation in towns and ambulance districts shall
be determined by applying the state equalization rate established for
the town, or the town in which the ambulance district is located, to the
appropriate portion of the last completed county roll.

6. Any political subdivision may finance the payment of any benefits
to be paid and provided under this chapter by the issuance of serial
bonds or capital notes pursuant to the local finance law unless it is
required by some law, other than this chapter, to pay such benefits from
current funds.

7. Any political subdivision may contract for insurance indemnifying
against the liability imposed by this chapter and the cost of such
insurance shall be audited, raised and paid in the same manner as
benefits are required to be audited, raised and paid in this section.

8. Insurance authorized to be purchased pursuant to subdivision seven
of this section may be secured from the state fund or any stock
corporation, mutual corporation, group self-insurers or reciprocal
insurer authorized to transact the business of workers' compensation in
this state. If such insurance is not secured, the political subdivision
liable shall be deemed to have elected to be a self-insurer unless it is
a participant in a county plan of self-insurance or its liability for
benefits under this chapter is covered by a town's participation in a
county plan of self-insurance as provided in subdivision nine of section
sixty-three of the workers' compensation law or is a participant in a
public group self-insurance plan established under subdivision three-a
of section fifty of the workers' compensation law. Every such
self-insurer shall file with the chair of the workers' compensation
board a notice of such election prescribed in form by such chair. For
failure to file such notice within ten days after such election is made,
the treasurer or other fiscal officer of such political subdivision
shall be liable to pay to the chair of the workers' compensation board
the sum of one hundred dollars as a penalty, to be transferred to the
state treasury. A notice of election to be a self-insurer for
compensation and benefits to volunteer ambulance workers under the
provisions of the workers' compensation law and the general municipal
law in effect prior to March first, in the year of enactment of this
chapter, which was filed prior to such date pursuant to the provisions
of subdivision four of section fifty of the workers' compensation law as
in effect prior to such date shall be deemed to be a notice of election
filed under this section unless the chair of the workers' compensation
board is notified to the contrary. The provisions of subdivision five of
section fifty of the workers' compensation law shall be applicable to
such self-insurers.

9. The governing board of a political subdivision liable for the
payment of such benefits may authorize the treasurer or other fiscal
officer thereof to pay the financial benefits provided for in this
chapter to the person entitled thereto without waiting for an award in
any case in the manner provided in section forty-nine of this chapter.
The amount payable prior to an award pursuant to such authorization
shall constitute a settled claim within the meaning of the local finance
law.

10. A contract for ambulance service, for the purposes of this
section, shall be deemed in full force and effect if negotiations are
pending for the renewal thereof.

11. Where a city, village, ambulance district or town is furnished
service by an ambulance company, ambulance department, or any unit
thereof pursuant to a contract entered into prior to the enactment date
of this chapter with another city, village, ambulance district, or an
incorporated ambulance company having its headquarters outside the city,
village or ambulance district receiving such service and the liability
for benefits under this chapter in relation to volunteer ambulance
workers rendering such service pursuant to such contract on and after
the enactment date of this chapter is not covered pursuant to a county
self-insurance plan pursuant to section sixty-three of the workers'
compensation law, the contract may be amended after a public hearing
held in the manner provided by law for the amendment of any such
contract, or at the option of the contracting parties without a public
hearing, to provide for payment by the city, village or ambulance
district receiving such service to the city, village, ambulance district
or town in which such incorporated ambulance company has its
headquarters, of a sum in addition to the amount to be paid for such
service pursuant to the contract, to provide for any increase in cost,
or new or added cost, to such city, village, ambulance district or town
for insurance coverage for liability for benefits under this chapter on
and after the enactment date of this chapter, by reason of the service
rendered pursuant to such contract. Where such service is received
pursuant to a contract entered into prior to the enactment date of this
chapter with an incorporated ambulance company having its headquarters
outside the city, village or ambulance district receiving such service,
then whether or not such contract is amended as provided in this
section, or a contract entered into on or after the enactment date of
this chapter so provides, a city, village or ambulance district
receiving such service on and after the enactment date of this chapter
pursuant to a contract, shall pay to the city, village, ambulance
district or town in which such incorporated ambulance company has its
headquarters a sum in addition to the amount to be paid for such service
pursuant to the contract, to provide for any increase in cost, or new or
added cost, to such city, village, ambulance district or town for
insurance coverage for the liability for benefits under this chapter on
and after the enactment date of this chapter by reason of the service
rendered pursuant to such contract. Any such additional sum so paid
shall not be subject to division with a volunteer ambulance company as
otherwise provided by law in the case of contracts for such service.