172-C - Alteration of boundaries of fire protection district.

§  172-c.  Alteration  of  boundaries of fire protection district. The  town board of a town in which any  fire  protection  district  has  been  established,  or if established in two or more towns, the town boards of  such towns acting jointly by a majority vote of the members of  each  of  such  town boards, upon petition and after a public hearing, or upon the  motion of such town board or town boards after  a  public  hearing,  may  alter the boundaries of such fire protection district in accordance with  such  petition  or  motion  and  exclude  from  the  district  territory  previously located therein. Such petition, if any, shall  be  signed  by  resident  taxpayers  owning  taxable  real property aggregating at least  one-half of the assessed valuation of  all  the  taxable  real  property  owned by resident taxpayers in the territory to be excluded and at least  one-half  of  the  assessed  valuation  of all the taxable real property  owned by resident taxpayers in the remaining territory of the  district.  The  assessed valuations in either case shall be the assessed valuations  of  the  taxable  real  property  as  shown  by  the  latest   completed  assessment-roll of the town. Such petition, if any, shall be signed, and  acknowledged  or  proved in the same manner as a deed to be recorded, or  authenticated in the  manner  provided  by  the  election  law  for  the  authentication of nominating petitions.  Notice of such hearing shall be  given and such hearing held and the subject matter thereof determined in  the  manner  provided herein for hearings upon the establishment of fire  protection districts, except that the notice of hearing shall  state  in  general  terms the purposes of the hearing and the manner in which it is  proposed to  alter  the  boundaries  of  the  district.  Any  resolution  altering  the  boundaries  of  such  fire  protection district made upon  motion of the town board or town boards  without  a  petition  shall  be  subject  to a permissive referendum as provided in article seven of this  chapter. For the purposes of this section, the boundaries of  such  fire  protection  district  shall be deemed to be altered pursuant to petition  of  resident  taxpayers  and  the  territory  described  in  the  notice  excluded,  upon  the  adoption  by  the town board or town boards of the  resolution providing therefor, unless such resolution shall specify some  other date for such purpose, in which  case  such  boundaries  shall  be  deemed  to  be  altered  and  such  territory  excluded  on  the date so  specified, and such alteration of boundaries upon  motion  of  the  town  board  or  town  boards  without  a  petition  shall become effective as  provided in section ninety-one of this chapter.    Unless  renegotiated,  any  existing  contract for the supplying of fire protection to any such  fire protection district shall be carried out in the same manner  as  if  such  boundaries  had  not  been  altered or territory excluded from the  district.