New York Laws
Article 5 - General Powers of Board of Supervisors
233 - Procedure on Tax Limit Increase.

§ 233. Procedure on tax limit increase. 1. In accordance with section
ten of article eight of the constitution, the amount to be raised in any
county by tax on real estate in any fiscal year for county purposes, in
addition to providing for the interest on and the principal of all
indebtedness, shall not exceed an amount equal to one and one-half per
centum of the average full valuation of taxable real estate of such
county, less the amount to be raised by tax on real estate in such year
for the payment of the interest on and the redemption of certificates or
other evidence of indebtedness described in paragraphs A and D of
section five of article eight of the constitution, or renewals thereof.
If any joint indebtedness described in title one-A of article two of the
local finance law is allocated and apportioned, or is excluded, under or
pursuant to such title or any other provision of law for the purpose of
determining the debt-contracting power of a county, city, town, village
or school district, such allocation and apportionment, or exclusion,
shall not limit the amount to be raised in any county outside the
foregoing limitation, or outside such limitation as increased as
hereinafter provided in this section, to provide for the interest on and
the principal of any greater proportionate share of such debt service
which the county has agreed or is required to provide. The total of the
amounts which may be so raised by all participating public corporations
outside any limitation imposed by or pursuant to section ten of article
eight of the constitution to provide for their respective portions of
any payment of principal or of interest on joint indebtedness shall not
exceed the full amount required to be provided by all of such
participants to make any such payment. The average full valuation of
taxable real estate of a county shall be determined by taking the
assessed valuations of taxable real estate on the last completed
assessment rolls and the four preceding rolls of such county, and
applying thereto the ratio which such assessed valuation on each of such
rolls bears to the full valuation, as determined by the state officer or
agency authorized to make such determinations.

2. The limitation imposed by or pursuant to section ten of article
eight of the constitution and subdivision one of this section on the
amount that may be raised in a county by tax on real estate in any
fiscal year for county purposes may be increased from time to time to
not to exceed the two per centum maximum limitation imposed by such
section of the constitution. Any such increase may be effectuated by a
resolution of the board of supervisors:

a. Approved by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the whole number
of its membership, or

b. Approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the whole number
of its membership submitting a proposition for such increase to a
mandatory referendum to be held pursuant to article three of this
chapter. Such proposition shall not become effective until the approval
thereof at such referendum. The board of supervisors shall not have
power to take action pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision unless
the proposed resolution shall have been presented at a meeting of the
board held not less than two weeks and not more than three months before
the meeting at which the vote thereon is taken and a public hearing, at
a time and place fixed by the board, shall have been held on such
proposed resolution after a notice of such hearing, including the time
and place thereof, shall have been published not less than ten days
prior thereto in the official newspapers and also in such other
newspapers having general circulation in the county as shall be
designated by the board for such purpose.

3. A resolution adopted pursuant to subdivision two of this section
shall specify:


a. That the board of supervisors (1) approves the increase in the tax
limitation pursuant to paragraph a of subdivision two of this section,
or (2) that such board approves the submission of a proposition to
increase the tax limitation at a mandatory referendum pursuant to
article three. Where a proposition is so submitted to a mandatory
referendum, the resolution also shall specify whether such proposition
shall be voted upon at a general or special election and the date of
such election, provided, however, that any such date shall be not less
than sixty days after the adoption of such resolution.

b. The constitutional tax limitation then applicable to the county
phrased in terms of percentage and the proposed increased tax limitation
similarly phrased.

c. That such increase shall become effective (1) immediately, in the
event the resolution is adopted pursuant to paragraph a of subdivision
two, or (2) immediately upon the approval of the proposition at the
election in the event a proposition is submitted pursuant to this
section to a mandatory referendum.

d. That in the event a proposition is submitted pursuant to this
section to a mandatory referendum, the form thereof shall be as follows:

"Shall the constitutional real estate tax limitation of the County of
.................... be increased, in accordance with the State
Constitution, Article VIII, Section 10, from the present limit of
.................. % to a limit of ............... %?"

4. Notice of any such election shall be published in the manner
provided in section seventy-seven of the election law for notice of a
general election.

5. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the provisions of the
election law governing the conduct of a general election and the payment
of the expenses thereof shall apply where such an election is held on
the day of the general election in November and the provisions of the
election law governing the conduct of a special election and the payment
of the expenses thereof shall apply where such an election is held on a
day other than that of the general election in November. A proposition
to be voted on pursuant to this section shall be submitted in the manner
provided in the election law and all provisions of such law, not
inconsistent with this chapter, relating to the submission and to the
taking, counting and returning the vote and canvassing the results upon
a proposition or question submitted pursuant to law to the voters of the
state shall apply to such proposition. It shall be the duty of the board
of elections to prepare the ballots, voting machines and other matters
so that such election may be properly had and conducted.

6. The supreme court shall have jurisdiction under article fourteen of
the election law to determine questions of law and fact with respect to
any election conducted pursuant to this section.

7. Upon the completion of its canvass of the votes cast on any
proposition submitted pursuant to this section, the board of elections
shall certify to the board of supervisors the total number of valid
votes cast in favor of and the total number of valid votes cast against
such proposition.

8. Where the constitutional tax limitation is increased by a
resolution of the board of supervisors adopted pursuant to paragraph a
of subdivision two of this section, or where a proposition to increase
such limitation is approved by more than fifty per centum of the duly
qualified voters of the county voting thereon at a mandatory referendum,
the constitutional tax limitation of such county shall be increased in
accordance therewith, and the clerk of the board of supervisors
forthwith shall file with the secretary of state, state comptroller and
county clerk a certified copy of the resolution adopted pursuant to this

section together with his certificate as to the manner in which and the
date on which such increase became effective.

9. It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to cause to be
published separately under an appropriate heading, in the appendix of
the session laws of each year and in the appendix of the local laws of
each year, the names of the counties which have increased their
constitutional tax limitations pursuant to this section, with a
statement of the percentage to which such limitation was so increased
and the date on which such increase became effective.

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