N.Y. General Municipal Law § 763 – Effective date of elector initiated consolidation plan; permissive referendum

1. Local government entities consolidated pursuant to an elector initiated consolidated plan shall continue to be governed as before consolidation until the effective date of the consolidation specified in such plan, which date shall be no less than forty-five days after final approval of such plan pursuant to subdivision three of section seven hundred sixty-two or subdivision four of section seven hundred sixty-four of this title.
2. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, the elector initiated consolidation plan shall not take effect if, no later than forty-five days after final approval thereof pursuant to subdivision three of section seven hundred sixty-two or subdivision four of section seven hundred sixty-four of this title, electors of a local government entity to be consolidated pursuant to such plan shall:
1. (a) file an original petition, containing not less than the number of signatures provided for in subdivision three of this section, seeking a referendum on the question whether the elector initiated consolidation plan shall take effect, with the clerk of the town in which the entity or the greater portion of its territory is located, except that if the entity is a village the original petition of electors from the village shall be filed with the clerk of the village; and
2. (b) thereafter less than a majority of the electors in the entity vote in the affirmative on such question at a referendum.
3. The petition shall be circulated, signed and authenticated in substantial compliance with the provisions of section seven hundred fifty-seven of this title, shall contain the signatures of at least twenty-five percent of the number of electors or fifteen thousand electors, whichever is less, in the local government entity to be consolidated, and shall be accompanied by a cover sheet containing the name, address and telephone number of an individual who signed the petition and who will serve as a contact person.
4. Within ten days of the filing of the petition seeking a referendum on whether the elector initiated dissolution plan shall take effect, the clerk with whom the petition was filed shall make a final determination regarding the sufficiency of the number of signatures on the petition and provide timely written notice of such determination to the contact person named in the cover sheet accompanying the petition. The contact person or any individual who signed the petition may seek judicial review of such determination in a proceeding pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules. Upon the clerk's determination that the petition contains no less than the required number of signatures, the governing body of the local government entity to which such petition applies shall within thirty days enact a resolution calling for a referendum by the electors of such entity on the question whether to approve the elector initiated consolidation plan and set a date for such referendum in accordance with subdivision five of this section.
5. The referendum on the question whether the elector initiated consolidation plan shall take effect shall be submitted at a special election to be held not less than sixty or more than ninety days after enactment of a resolution pursuant to subdivision four of this section, provided, however, that in cases where a town or village general election falls within such period, the referendum question may be considered during a town or village general election.
6. Notice of the referendum shall be given to the electors of the local government entity to which the petition applies by publication in a newspaper having a general circulation within the boundaries of the entity at least once a week for four consecutive weeks immediately prior to the referendum. The notice shall include, but not be limited to:
1. (a) a summary of the contents of the resolution and elector initiated consolidation plan;
2. (b) a statement as to where may be examined a copy of the resolution and elector initiated consolidation plan;
3. (c) the time and place or places at which the referendum will be held, in accordance with subdivision five of this section; and
4. (d) such other matters as may be necessary to call, provide for and give notice of the referendum and to provide for the conduct thereof and the canvass of the returns thereupon.
7. In a referendum held pursuant to this section, the referendum question shall be placed before the electors of the local government entity to which the petition applies in a form reading substantially as follows: "The voters of the (insert type and name of each local government entity to which the consolidation plan applies) having previously voted to consolidate, shall the elector initiated consolidation plan take effect? YES ____ NO _____"
8. The elector initiated consolidation plan shall not take effect unless a majority of the electors voting in the local government entity to which the petition applies vote in favor of such plan taking effect. If such a majority vote does not result, the referendum shall fail and consolidation shall not take effect.