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Board of Fire Commissioners
| John Komarisky - Chairman |
'25-'29 |
| William J. Feocco - Vice Chairman |
'23-'27 |
| David Morris |
'24-'28 |
| S. Gordon Bowen |
'26-'30 |
| Michael Dennis |
'22-'26 |
| Heather Christopher - Secretary/Treasurer |
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The Sennett Fire District was established on 1942. The Board of Fire Commissioners consists of five (5) elected members and an appointed secretary/treasurer. Members of the board are elected to five (5) year terms on a rotating basis. These elections are held annually on the second Tuesday of December.
A fire district is a political subdivision of the state located within one or more towns, with an elected governing body. A fire district is a public corporation established for the purpose of providing fire protection and responding to certain other emergencies. The New York State Constitution (Article X) recognizes that fire districts have certain characteristics of general purpose municipal corporations, such as powers to incur indebtedness and to require the levy of taxes. A fire district is almost a completely autonomous political entity; it has its own elected governing body, its own administrative officers, and it must observe its own expenditure limitations. However, it is dependent upon the parent town or towns for its initial creation, extension, and dissolution.
Generally, a fire district can levy taxes and incur debt without approval from any other governmental entity. It is responsible for adopting an annual budget after a public hearing. Once approved, the district’s budget is filed with the town or towns in which the fire district is located; the town board cannot change a fire district budget. As a rule, the town must attach the fire district budget to its own budget and submit them both to the county. The county then levies the fire district tax, and the tax is collected by the town and turned over to the fire district. Fire districts are subject to the State’s property tax cap legislation, which requires local governments to limit their annual increase on property taxes to the lower of 2 percent or the rate of inflation. Additionally, they are required to file annual financial reports with, and are subject to the audit authority of, the Office of the State Comptroller.
To learn more about how fire protection is provided in New York State click this link from OSC.
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