§ 38. Provisions for obtaining state reimbursement for county and city charter creation and revision.

1. Legislative Findings and Purpose. The Legislature finds that development of modernized county and city government is necessary and desirable to effectuate state purposes in as much as said governments are called upon to implement state programs to provide for the health and welfare of the citizens of the state, and in many cases are the recipients of substantial state assistance. In order to encourage and promote the development and revision of charter government at both the county and city level as is provided under this article so that county and city government will be more efficient, more effective and more responsive to the needs of the people, state financial aid shall be granted to counties and cities, to particularly reimburse authorized charter expenditures in the manner and subject to the conditions prescribed in this section.

2. Granting authority. The office for local government, by and through its commissioner or his duly authorized officers and employees, shall administer, carry out and approve grants of state funds, within appropriation therefore, for reimbursement of authorized charter expenditures as defined herein, that are conducted by counties or cities. The office for local government shall adopt, amend and rescind such rules, regulations and guidelines as may be necessary to the performance of its functions, powers and duties under this section. The office for local government shall allocate grants under this article among the municipalities that have submitted applications in such a manner as will most nearly provide an equitable distribution of the grants among municipalities, taking into consideration such factors as the size of the population, the urgency of the charter studies, the need for funds to carry out the purposes of this article, and the potential of the municipalities concerned to use the funds most effectively.

3. Authorized charter expenditures. For the purpose of this section "authorized charter expenditures" shall mean those expenditures paid in the first instance by a county or city in the preparation of a proposed charter law or a proposed local law providing for new or revised city charter which has been adopted by the governing body of a county or city, as the case may be, for submission to the electorate at a general or special election as is provided in Section thirty-three and Section thirty-six of this article, and which costs are further deemed necessary and appropriate under regulations promulgated by the office for local government for the creation and development of the proposed charter law. No expenditure which has not been specifically designated by the local governing body for charter study and approved by the office for local government shall be considered an "authorized charter expenditure."

4. Reimbursement limitations. State reimbursement shall be granted under this section for authorized charter expenditures as follows:

(a) Up to forty per centum of the cost of authorized charter expenditures up to a limit of twenty-five thousand dollars in any one state fiscal year for any county or city.

(b) No county or city shall be eligible for reimbursement of an authorized charter expenditure for a period of ten years following receipt of a reimbursement under this section.