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History
- Referred to rules
Companion bill
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Relates to elections of fire district officers
In Assembly Committee · Local Governments · Sponsor Joel Miller
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S7777
Title of bill
An act to amend the town law, in relation to elections of fire district officers.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends section 175 of article 1 of the town law to include Arlington Fire District and Fairview Fire District within the fire districts required to conduct their annual election on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November from six o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock in the evening.
Section 2 amends section 174 of article 14 of the town law to provide that for specified fire districts, the board of fire commissioners may be expanded through a petition process to include the town supervisor and a taxpayer representative appointed by the town board.
Section 3 provides an effective date.
Justification
It is undeniable that the services that fire districts provide in our communities are vital to the welfare and safety of our residents. On a continuous basis, the firefighters within these districts make important sacrifices in order to advance the public interest.
Higher than average fire district tax rates and recent reports have sparked an increased desire by taxpayers for participation and oversight in the process. This legislation would amend the town law to provide for a more agreeable election date for the election of the board of fire commissioners within these districts. Currently the election of fire district officers for Arlington and Fairview is the second Tuesday of December. It has been noted that there has been minimal public turnout for these elections - in fact, in Arlington, there were only 82 votes in the 2011 fire commissioner election out of 18,782 potential voters. Given the significant functions of the board of fire district officers, including the key role it plays in setting the fire district budget, this lack of participation has an adverse impact upon the confidence arid comfort of the community as a whole with the current electoral process. It is to the benefit of all voters within the community to align the election date with the general election cycle. This will facilitate increased awareness and participation in the fire district election, which can be directly correlated with increased assurance in the process as a whole.
With respect to public input in the operations of the hoard of fire commissioners, a call for more transparency can be addressed without compromising the function of the fire district. This legislation will allow for a petition process in an affected municipality so that representatives of the community may sit on the board of fire commissioners. Through this process, a municipality may consider a proposal to appoint the town supervisor and a taxpayer representative to the board. This will allow for a chief executive office of the municipality and a community representative to directly participate in all board activities, as well as vote on all matters.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
No fiscal impact
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to the election cycle of a fire district next succeeding such date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.