* § 16. Location and cost of local veterans' service agencies; deputy local directors. 1. A local director shall designate the location of the local and branch offices of the local veterans' service agency within his or her jurisdiction, which offices shall be open during convenient hours. The cost of maintenance and operation of a county veterans' service agency shall be a county charge and the cost of maintenance and operation of a city veterans' service agency shall be a city charge, excepting that the state commissioner with the approval of the veterans' services commission shall allot and pay, from state moneys made available to him or her for such purposes, to each county veterans' service agency and each city veterans' service agency, an amount equal to fifty per centum of its expenditures for maintenance and operation approved by the state commissioner, provided that in no event shall the amount allotted and paid for such approved expenditures incurred in any given year exceed (1) in the case of any county veterans' service agency in a county having a population of not more than one hundred thousand or in the case of any city veterans' service agency in a city having a population of not more than one hundred thousand, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, nor (2) in the case of any county veterans' service agency in a county having a population in excess of one hundred thousand excluding the population of any city therein which has a city veterans' service agency, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, and, in addition thereto, the sum of five thousand dollars for each one hundred thousand, or major portion thereof, of the population of the county in excess of one hundred thousand excluding the population of any city therein which has a city veterans' service agency, nor (3) in the case of any city veterans' service agency in a city having a population in excess of one hundred thousand, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, and, in addition thereto, the sum of five thousand dollars for each one hundred thousand, or major portion thereof, of the population of the city in excess of one hundred thousand. Such population shall be certified in the same manner as provided by section fifty-four of the state finance law.

1. 2. The head of a branch office of a local veterans' service agency shall be a deputy local director of the local veterans' service agency who shall be appointed by the local director of the county or city in which the branch office is located with the approval of the governing body which makes the appropriation for the maintenance of such branch office; provided, however, that the head of a branch office of a local veterans' service agency which operates in and for two or more adjoining towns or adjoining villages in the same county, and hereinafter in this article referred to as a consolidated branch office, shall be appointed by the local director of the county in which the branch office is located with the approval of the governing body of each town or village which makes an appropriation for or toward the maintenance of such branch office, and any town or village is authorized to enter into an agreement with an adjoining town or an adjoining village in the same county, respectively, or with two or more respective adjoining towns or villages in the same county, providing for their joint undertaking to appropriate and make available moneys for or toward the maintenance of such a consolidated branch office. * NB Effective April 1, 2023