The city shall have the power to contract indebtedness for any
municipal purpose, if authorized by the Local Finance Law of the State
of New York or any other state law, to accomplish any lawful purpose
to the extent authorized for such purpose and subject to the provisions
of this Charter. The city shall have the power to raise money to defray
the cost of the carrying on of the general government and for the
doing of any of the things authorized by law, by general taxation
and by local assessment where authorized, not to exceed the amounts
otherwise provided by law.
Any bond ordinance hereafter adopted by the Council authorizing
the issuance of bonds of the city, other than bond ordinances expressly
excepted hereafter, shall be subject to a permissive referendum to
be called and conducted under the same procedures for permissive referenda
set forth in the Municipal Home Rule Law.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the Municipal Home Rule Law,
the City Clerk shall, within ten (10) days after the adoption of any
bond ordinance which is subject to a permissive referendum, publish
a notice in the official newspaper of the city, which notice shall
state the date of adoption of such bond ordinance and that such bond
ordinance was adopted subject to a permissive referendum and shall
contain a summary of such ordinance and state that a full copy of
said ordinance is available, free of charge, from the City Clerk.
Any bond ordinance which is subject to a permissive referendum
shall not take effect until the time limits for a permissive referendum
as provided in the Municipal Home Rule Law have expired without a
petition being presented, or until approved by an affirmative vote
of a majority of the qualified electors of the city after the filing
of a petition pursuant to the Municipal Home Rule Law. If a petition
be filed as provided by the Municipal Home Rule Law, a proposition
for approval of the bond ordinance therein described shall be submitted
at the next general election in the city unless the Council, within
thirty (30) days after the filing, shall direct by resolution that
such proposition be submitted at a special election which shall be
held not less than ninety (90) days nor more than one hundred twenty
(120) days after the filing of such petition.
Any such petition may be made upon separate sheets, and the
signatures to each shall be signed and authenticated in the manner
provided by the Election Law for the signing and authentication of
designating petitions insofar as applicable. The several sheets so
signed and authenticated, when fastened together and offered for filing,
shall be deemed to constitute one (1) petition. The City Clerk shall
examine each such petition so filed with the City Clerk and shall,
not later than thirty (30) days after the date of filing, transmit
to the Council a certificate that he/she has examined it and found
that it complies or does not comply, as the case may be, with the
requirements of the law. If, within thirty (30) days after the filing
of any such petition, a written objection thereto is filed with the
Supreme Court, or any Justice thereof, of the judicial district in
which the city is located, such Court or Justice shall determine any
question arising thereunder and make such order as justice may require.
Such proceeding shall be heard and determined in the manner prescribed
by § 335 of the Election Law.
In the event that the Council shall determine to submit a proposition
for the approval of a bond ordinance at a special election, the Council
shall, in a resolution making the determination, specify the date
of such special election, whether voting machines or paper ballots
will be used, the persons to act as election inspectors as hereinafter
provided, the hours during which the polls will remain open at such
special election, which shall include at least three (3) consecutive
hours between 7:00 in the morning and 7:00 in the evening, the polling
place or places therefor and the text of the proposition to be submitted
thereat. The City Clerk shall cause notice of any such special election
to be published once in the official newspaper of the city not less
than ten (10) nor more than twenty (20) days before the date of such
election, which notice shall state the date of the election, the hours
during which the polls will remain open, the polling place or places
and the text of the proposition to be submitted thereat. Such notice
shall also contain an abstract of the bond ordinance referred to in
such proposition, briefly summarizing the subject matter thereof.
The Council shall select from the election inspectors previously designated
for general election purposes pursuant to the Election Law not fewer
than two (2) nor more than four (4) persons to act as election inspectors
for each polling place at which such a special election shall be held.
In other respects, such special election shall be conducted, the votes
canvassed and the results certified and returned so far as practicable
in the manner prescribed by the Election Law to the extent not inconsistent
with this section.
The qualifications for voting on a proposition for the approval
of a bond ordinance submitted at either a special or general election
pursuant to this section shall be the same as the qualifications for
voting upon the election of city officers.
In the event that a proposition for the approval of any bond
ordinance shall be submitted at an election pursuant to this Article,
the City Clerk shall cause a notice of such submission to be published
once not less than ten (10) nor more than twenty (20) days before
the date of such election, which notice shall set forth the text of
such proposition, summarizing the subject matter thereof and stating
that a true copy of the same may be obtained, free of charge, from
the City Clerk.
The provisions of this Article pertaining to permissive referenda
shall not apply to any bond ordinance authorizing the issuance of
bonds in an amount of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.)
or less, nor to any bond ordinance authorizing the issuance of bonds
for capital improvements of which more than fifty per centum (50%)
of the cost thereof is to be levied by assessments upon property especially
benefited thereby, nor to any bond ordinance authorizing the issuance
of bonds for the payments of judgments or compromised or settled claims
against the city or awards or sums payable by the city pursuant to
a determination by a court, officer, body or agency acting in an administrative
or quasi-judicial capacity, or providing for the construction or maintenance
of sewer treatment facilities or water pollution control facilities.
Payment of all taxes for state and county purposes shall be
made as collected, or by the end of the calendar year for which the
warrant for the same is delivered, whichever shall occur first, without
interest or penalty.
