Sale of water district facilities

§ 275. Sale of water district facilities. 1. The board of supervisors
may sell all or any part of the water supply and distribution system of
a county water district to a water authority or to a joint water works
system established pursuant to article five-B of the general municipal
law, provided, however, that the sale shall have been approved by a
majority vote of the qualified electors of the district voting thereon.
Such referendum shall be held in the manner prescribed in section one
hundred and one hundred two of this chapter, except, however, that only
those electors shall be qualified to vote who are residents of the
district and owners of property in the district assessed upon the last
completed town or city assessment roll, as the case may be.

2. The proceeds of the sale of a part of a water supply and
distribution system shall be deposited in a reserve fund established for
the purpose of retiring outstanding obligations issued on behalf of the
county water district to finance the cost of the facilities sold and
shall be expended only for such purpose, except as provided below. If
the proceeds exceed the sum of all installments of principal of and
interest on such indebtedness due or to become due, or if, when all such
outstanding obligations shall have been retired, any moneys remain
unexpended in the reserve fund, such excess moneys may be used for any
purpose properly chargeable against the entire district.

3. If it is proposed that all of the property and facilities of the
district be sold, the proposition submitted to referendum shall provide,
as a part thereof, for dissolution of the district as well as for sale
of such property and facilities. If the proposition for sale and
dissolution is approved, the moneys received from such sale must be set
aside in a reserve fund and used to amortize outstanding obligations, as
provided in subdivision two of this section. Any excess over and above
the amount necessary to be set aside in a reserve fund and used to
retire indebtedness, as aforesaid, together with any other moneys of the
district, shall be disposed of to the credit of real property within the
district by any equitable method described in the proposition submitted
to referendum.

4. If no provision for distribution of such excess is made in the
proposition, the excess proceeds shall first be apportioned to each town
and city upon the basis of the true equalized value of real estate
within the district computed in the manner prescribed in section eight
hundred four of the real property tax law. The amount thus apportioned
to a town or a city shall be further apportioned on the basis of
assessed valuation among the several parcels of land situated in the
district, as shown on the last completed assessment roll of the town or
city. The amounts so determined shall be credited to each such parcel of
land in reduction of county and town taxes or county and city taxes, as
the case may be, on so many successive tax rolls as may be necessary to
exhaust such amounts. When a tax is required to be levied by the city,
the county treasurer, or comparable officer or body, shall certify to
the proper city officer the amount available for credit against such
tax. The aggregate amount credited in any year in reduction of town or
city taxes shall be paid over to the proper town or city officer from
the available excess moneys.

5. If there be any real property in the district which is wholly
exempt from general taxation, but which, while exempt from general
taxation, paid, as an assessment for benefit, a proportionate share of
the cost of the improvement, the amount apportioned to such real
property shall be refunded to the owner or owners thereof as shown on
the last completed assessment roll at the time of the distribution.