§ 38 — Provisions for obtaining state reimbursement for county and city charter creation and revision

§ 38. Provisions for obtaining state reimbursement for county and city\ncharter creation and revision.\n 1. Legislative Findings and Purpose. The Legislature finds that\ndevelopment of modernized county and city government is necessary and\ndesirable to effectuate state purposes in as much as said governments\nare called upon to implement state programs to provide for the health\nand welfare of the citizens of the state, and in many cases are the\nrecipients of substantial state assistance. In order to encourage and\npromote the development and revision of charter government at both the\ncounty and city level as is provided under this article so that county\nand city government will be more efficient, more effective and more\nresponsive to the needs of the people, state financial aid shall be\ngranted to counties and cities, to particularly reimburse authorized\ncharter expenditures in the manner and subject to the conditions\nprescribed in this section.\n 2. Granting authority. The office for local government, by and through\nits commissioner or his duly authorized officers and employees, shall\nadminister, carry out and approve grants of state funds, within\nappropriation therefore, for reimbursement of authorized charter\nexpenditures as defined herein, that are conducted by counties or\ncities. The office for local government shall adopt, amend and rescind\nsuch rules, regulations and guidelines as may be necessary to the\nperformance of its functions, powers and duties under this section. The\noffice for local government shall allocate grants under this article\namong the municipalities that have submitted applications in such a\nmanner as will most nearly provide an equitable distribution of the\ngrants among municipalities, taking into consideration such factors as\nthe size of the population, the urgency of the charter studies, the need\nfor funds to carry out the purposes of this article, and the potential\nof the municipalities concerned to use the funds most effectively.\n 3. Authorized charter expenditures. For the purpose of this section\n"authorized charter expenditures" shall mean those expenditures paid in\nthe first instance by a county or city in the preparation of a proposed\ncharter law or a proposed local law providing for new or revised city\ncharter which has been adopted by the governing body of a county or\ncity, as the case may be, for submission to the electorate at a general\nor special election as is provided in Section thirty-three and Section\nthirty-six of this article, and which costs are further deemed necessary\nand appropriate under regulations promulgated by the office for local\ngovernment for the creation and development of the proposed charter law.\nNo expenditure which has not been specifically designated by the local\ngoverning body for charter study and approved by the office for local\ngovernment shall be considered an "authorized charter expenditure."\n 4. Reimbursement limitations. State reimbursement shall be granted\nunder this section for authorized charter expenditures as follows:\n (a) Up to forty per centum of the cost of authorized charter\nexpenditures up to a limit of twenty-five thousand dollars in any one\nstate fiscal year for any county or city.\n (b) No county or city shall be eligible for reimbursement of an\nauthorized charter expenditure for a period of ten years following\nreceipt of a reimbursement under this section.\n