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2002 Ops. St. Comp. 1 (2002)

handle is hein.nyscompop/nyscomo2002 and id is 1 raw text is: Opinion 2002-1

Opinion 2002 - 1
This opinion represents the views of the Office of the State Comptroller at the
time it was rendered. The opinion may no longer represent those views if, among
other things, there have been subsequent court cases or statutory amendments
that bear on the issues discussed in the opinion.
REFERENDUM -- Mandatory (content of proposition to establish a service award
program for volunteer firefighters); (need for when amending a service award program
for volunteer firefighters)
VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS -- Service Award Programs (content of proposition to
establish);
(procedure to amend)
GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW §§216(1), (2), (3), 217: When establishing a service award
program for volunteer firefighters, if the program is to provide credit for up to five years of
firefighting service rendered prior to the establishment of the program, the proposition
authorizing the establishment of the program must state, in addition to certain other
information, the extent to which the prior service credit will be provided. There is no
requirement, however, that the proposition contain a statement of the maximum service
credit that may be earned under the program, the program's entitlement age, or the
coverage and amount of any life insurance utilized in the program. Amendments to a
service award program are subject to mandatory referendum, regardless of the effect of
the amendment on the cost of the program.
This is in reply to your request for our opinion as to a number of issues arising in
connection with a service award program for volunteer firefighters. Specifically, you ask:
1. whether a proposition authorizing the establishment of a service award program
must expressly state or refer to the following features of the program: prior
service credit; maximum service credit; entitlement age; and life insurance
coverage and amount;
2. whether an amendment to a service award program which would add or change
any of the above features, without increasing the cost of the program, would be
subject to referendum;
3. assuming that a no-cost amendment to a service award program is not
subject to referendum, whether any increase in cost attributable to an
amendment and, hence the need for a referendum, must be determined on the
basis of the program's annual total cost or cost per firefighter; and
4. assuming that a no-cost amendment to a service award program is not
subject to referendum, whether an amendment that would increase the cost of
the program would be subject to referendum if the increased cost were to be
financed from grant monies from a local business, monies raised through fire
company fund raising activities, or excess funding in the program, including
amounts previously appropriated to fund the frozen initial liability attributable
to prior service credit, but no longer needed for that purpose because that
liability has been paid.
Article 11-A of the General Municipal Law (§214 etJ =g.) authorizes certain political
subdivisions to establish service award programs for volunteer firefighters. Section
216(1) and (2) require a service award program to be established by the adoption of a
resolution by the affirmative vote of at least sixty percent of the governing board of a
political subdivision and the subsequent approval of a proposition by the eligible voters
at a mandatory referendum (see General Municipal Law §216[1], [2], 216-a[2]; see also
1990 Opns St Comp No. 90-57, p 131; 1989 Opns St Comp No. 89-41, p 98).
Section 216(3) of the General Municipal Law specifies the information that must be
stated in a proposition described in section 216(1) or (2). Pursuant to this provision, the

Opinion 2002 - 1

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