§ 219-d. Authorization to adopt service award programs. 1. No
political subdivision shall be required to adopt a service award
program. Any service award program adopted pursuant to this section
shall be governed by the provisions of this article.

2. A political subdivision may adopt a service award program for the
volunteer ambulance workers of ambulance companies which are either:

(a) a municipal ambulance service of the political subdivision; or

(b) a voluntary ambulance service which provides service to the
political subdivision under contract with the governing board thereof
and has its principal headquarters in the political subdivision.

3. A service award program may be adopted only by resolution of the
governing board of a political subdivision receiving the affirmative
vote of at least sixty percent of the governing board and the approval
of a proposition authorizing the adoption of the program at a referendum
of the electors of the political subdivision.

4. The resolution authorizing adoption of a service award program
shall state:

(a) the name of each volunteer ambulance company having volunteer
ambulance workers who are potential participants in the program;

(b) the entitlement age under the program;

(c) the number of years of ambulance service required to obtain a
nonforfeitable right to a service award;

(d) the activities for which points shall be granted toward a year of
ambulance service;

(e) the amount of the contribution to the program to be made by the
sponsor on behalf of each participant credited with a year of ambulance
service;

(f) the extent to which the program provides for contributions for
ambulance service rendered by a participant during one or more of the
five calendar years immediately preceding the adoption of the program;

(g) in the case of a service award program which provides for
contributions for ambulance service rendered by a participant during one
or more of the five calendar years immediately preceding the adoption of
the program, the timing and method of financing such contributions;

(h) the date as of which the program shall take effect;

(i) in the case of a service award program to take effect on a day
other than the first day of January, whether points toward a year of
ambulance service shall be granted for activities performed prior to the
effective date of the program and on or after the immediately preceding
first day of January; and

(j) the date on which the proposition authorizing the adoption of the
program shall be submitted to referendum.

5. The proposition authorizing adoption of the service award program
shall be submitted to referendum not less than thirty days and not more
than ninety days after the governing board votes to authorize the
adoption of the program. Notice of the referendum shall be published at
least once, not less than fourteen days prior to the date of the
referendum, in the official newspaper of the political subdivision or,
if the political subdivision does not have an official newspaper, in one
or more newspapers having general circulation in the political
subdivision. The referendum shall be conducted and the cost thereof
charged in the same manner as other referenda held by the political
subdivision.

6. The proposition shall state: (a) the estimated annual cost of the
service award program;

(b) the portion of the estimated annual cost of the program, if any,
to be paid by one or more other political subdivisions;

(c) the estimated annual cost per participant;

(d) in the case of a proposition to be voted on at a referendum held
on or after January first, nineteen hundred ninety-five, the estimated
annual administration fee;

(e) the extent to which the program provides for contributions for
ambulance service rendered by a participant during one or more of the
five calendar years immediately preceding the adoption of the program
and the estimated cost thereof; and

(f) in the case of a service award program to take effect on a day
other than the first day of January, whether points toward a year of
ambulance service shall be granted for activities performed prior to the
effective date of the program and on or after the immediately preceding
first day of January.

7. Upon approval of the proposition, the service award program shall
be deemed adopted by the political subdivision in accordance with the
terms of the resolution adopted by the governing board.

8. (a) Once a service award program has been adopted, participation
therein by the sponsor may be terminated, or the amount of the sponsor's
contribution to the program may be changed, or the program may be
amended to provide for contributions for ambulance service rendered by a
participant during one or more of the five calendar years immediately
preceding the adoption of the program, by resolution of the governing
board of the sponsor receiving the affirmative vote of at least sixty
percent of the governing board and the approval of a proposition at a
referendum of the electors of the sponsor.

(b) The entitlement age, the number of years of ambulance service
required to obtain a nonforfeitable right to a service award, and the
activities for which points shall be granted toward a year of ambulance
service may be changed by resolution adopted by the affirmative vote of
at least sixty percent of the governing board of the sponsor without
referendum; provided, that, consistent with the provisions of
subdivision three of section two hundred nineteen-e of this article, if
the effect of the amendment is to increase the number of points granted
for the performance of the activity, decrease the amount of an activity
required to earn the points granted for the performance of the activity,
or both, such amendment shall be subject to a mandatory referendum. Any
amendment to a service award program shall only take effect as of the
first of January next succeeding completion of the proceedings required
for adoption of the amendment and shall only apply prospectively.

(c) The sponsor's participation in a service award program adopted for
the volunteer ambulance workers of one or more ambulance companies
described in paragraph (b) of subdivision two of this section shall be
suspended to the extent that service credit shall not be granted for
activities performed by the volunteer ambulance workers of any such
ambulance company during any period in which the company ceases to
provide service to the sponsor under contract with the governing board
thereof.