§ 16. Location and cost of local veterans' service agencies; deputy
local directors. 1. A local director shall designate the location of the
local and branch offices of the local veterans' service agency within
his or her jurisdiction, which offices shall be open during convenient
hours. The cost of maintenance and operation of a county veterans'
service agency shall be a county charge and the cost of maintenance and
operation of a city veterans' service agency shall be a city charge,
excepting that the state commissioner with the approval of the veterans'
services commission shall allot and pay, from state moneys made
available to him or her for such purposes, to each county veterans'
service agency and each city veterans' service agency, an amount equal
to fifty per centum of its expenditures for maintenance and operation
approved by the state commissioner, provided that in no event shall the
amount allotted and paid for such approved expenditures incurred in any
given year exceed (1) in the case of any county veterans' service agency
in a county having a population of not more than one hundred thousand or
in the case of any city veterans' service agency in a city having a
population of not more than one hundred thousand, the sum of twenty-five
thousand dollars, nor (2) in the case of any county veterans' service
agency in a county having a population in excess of one hundred thousand
excluding the population of any city therein which has a city veterans'
service agency, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, and, in
addition thereto, the sum of five thousand dollars for each one hundred
thousand, or major portion thereof, of the population of the county in
excess of one hundred thousand excluding the population of any city
therein which has a city veterans' service agency, nor (3) in the case
of any city veterans' service agency in a city having a population in
excess of one hundred thousand, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars,
and, in addition thereto, the sum of five thousand dollars for each one
hundred thousand, or major portion thereof, of the population of the
city in excess of one hundred thousand. Such population shall be
certified in the same manner as provided by section fifty-four of the
state finance law.

2. The head of a branch office of a local veterans' service agency
shall be a deputy local director of the local veterans' service agency
who shall be appointed by the local director of the county or city in
which the branch office is located with the approval of the governing
body which makes the appropriation for the maintenance of such branch
office; provided, however, that the head of a branch office of a local
veterans' service agency which operates in and for two or more adjoining
towns or adjoining villages in the same county, and hereinafter in this
article referred to as a consolidated branch office, shall be appointed
by the local director of the county in which the branch office is
located with the approval of the governing body of each town or village
which makes an appropriation for or toward the maintenance of such
branch office, and any town or village is authorized to enter into an
agreement with an adjoining town or an adjoining village in the same
county, respectively, or with two or more respective adjoining towns or
villages in the same county, providing for their joint undertaking to
appropriate and make available moneys for or toward the maintenance of
such a consolidated branch office.