§ 578 — County assistance under cooperative agreements

§ 578. County assistance under cooperative agreements. 1. The\nlegislative bodies of the counties and the governing boards of the\ncities, towns, villages and school districts or appropriate officers\nthereof authorized by such legislative body or governing board, as the\ncase may be, shall have power to enter into contracts with each other\nfor data processing and other mechanical assistance in the preparation\nof assessment rolls, tax rolls, tax bills and other assessment and\nproperty tax records and for supplies of field books, assessment rolls\nand other assessment and property tax forms.\n 2. (a) The legislative body of a county and the governing body of any\ncity, town, village or school district therein shall have the power to\nenter into contracts with each other for the collection of taxes by the\ncounty treasurer. Such an agreement may either authorize the county\ntreasurer to collect taxes jointly and concurrently with the tax\ncollecting officer of such city, town, village or school district, or\nmay delegate to the county treasurer the sole and exclusive authority to\ncollect taxes for such city, town, village or school district. Such an\nagreement shall be considered a municipal cooperation agreement for\npurposes of article five-G of the general municipal law and shall be\nsubject to all provisions thereof. Any such agreement shall be approved\nby both the city, town, village or school district and the county, by a\nmajority vote of the voting strength of each governing body.\n (b) An agreement that authorizes the county treasurer to collect taxes\njointly and concurrently with the tax collecting officer of such city,\ntown, village or school district shall have no effect upon the tenure,\npowers or duties of the incumbent tax collecting officer, except that\nthe county treasurer shall also be considered a tax collecting officer\nof the city, town, village or school district, with all the powers and\nduties thereof. In no case shall such an agreement be construed to\nempower the tax collecting officer of a city, town, village or school\ndistrict to collect taxes that have been returned to the county\ntreasurer as unpaid.\n (c) An agreement that delegates to the county treasurer the sole and\nexclusive authority to collect taxes for such city, town, village or\nschool district shall have the effect of making the county treasurer the\nsole tax collecting officer of such city, town, village or school\ndistrict, and of abolishing the separate office of tax collecting\nofficer in such city, town, village or school district, for as long as\nthe agreement shall be in effect. Provided, however, that if the office\nto be abolished is elective, the agreement shall be submitted for the\napproval of the electors of the contracting city, town or village in the\nmanner provided by section twenty-three of the municipal home rule law.\nProvided further, that such an agreement shall not take effect during\nthe term of an incumbent tax collecting officer, unless the office\nshould become vacant prior to the expiration of such term. Upon the\ntermination of such an agreement, the office of tax collecting officer\nshall be deemed reestablished as an appointive office of the city, town,\nvillage or school district, unless such office has been abolished or its\nfunctions transferred to another officer pursuant to law.\n