N.Y.
Town Law Section 79-A
Dissolution of certain towns
1.
Any town having no bonded indebtedness may be dissolved and may be annexed to and become a part of an adjoining town in the same county, upon compliance with the following conditions:a.
The submission at a special or biennial town election in the town proposed to be dissolved of a proposition, in the manner provided by article six, for the dissolution of such town and the annexation of the territory therein to a specified adjoining town in the same county, and the approval of such proposition by a majority of the electors voting thereon at such election.b.
The submission at a special or biennial town election in such adjoining town, at the same time as the proposition provided for in the last preceding paragraph is submitted, of a proposition, in the manner provided by article six, for the annexation of the territory of the town proposed to be dissolved, and the approval of such proposition by a majority of the duly qualified electors voting at such election.2.
If such proposition be so approved and adopted, the dissolution and annexation therein provided for shall become effective at the expiration of the thirty-first day of December of the odd numbered year next succeeding the year in which such propositions are so approved and adopted except in the county of Broome where such dissolution and annexation shall become effective at the expiration of the next succeeding even numbered year. Provided, however that such dissolution or annexation shall not affect a fire district or other special improvement district in the territory to be annexed. No election of town officers shall be held in the town so to be dissolved during the year immediately preceding the time such dissolution becomes effective but voters of such town shall have the right to vote at the election in such year for officers of the town to which such town is to be annexed and the board of elections shall make provision for the holding of such election in such town. The terms of office of all town officers of such town shall expire when such dissolution becomes effective, except justices of the peace who shall continue in office until the expiration of the term for which they were elected or appointed and who shall exercise all the powers and duties of and be entitled to compensation as a justice of the peace of the town to which such dissolved town is annexed, provided that they shall not be members of the town board of such town. No successors to such justices of the peace of the town so dissolved shall be elected or appointed.3.
All the property and assets, real and personal, of a town so dissolved, shall become the property and assets of the town to which it is annexed, and all debts and charges of a town so dissolved shall be the liability of and be paid by the town to which it is annexed. All funds and sums of money held by such a town so dissolved or any officer thereof to the credit of such town shall be paid to the supervisor of the town to which such dissolved town is annexed. All the books, records and documents of or on file with the town officers of a town so dissolved, shall be turned over at the expiration of their terms of office to appropriate officers of the town to which such territory is annexed.4.
In case of dissolution and annexation as herein permitted, in the year at the end of which the dissolution and annexation become effective, the retiring supervisor of the town to be so dissolved shall present the assessment roll of such town, as completed by the assessors thereof, to the board of supervisors of the county and such board of supervisors shall cause each of the assessments thereon to be transferred and added to the assessment roll of the town to which such dissolved town is to be annexed, consolidated and treated as one tax roll and each of the pieces of property and all of the assessments so transferred shall thenceforth, for tax purposes, be part of the taxable property and assessments of the town to which such dissolved town is to be annexed.5.
In case of dissolution and annexation as herein permitted, the town board of the town to which the territory of the dissolved town is annexed shall make a proper revision of the election districts in such town.
Source:
Section 79-A — Dissolution of certain towns, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/TWN/79-A (updated Sep. 22, 2014; accessed Apr. 27, 2024).
