§ 195. County aid for construction, improvement and maintenance of town highways. 1. The board of supervisors of a county may aid a town or towns in the construction or improvement of a town highway or town highways therein, and shall designate the highway or highways which the town or towns are to construct or improve by the aid of the county. Such county may prepare a map showing the highways to be improved under this section in that county. This section shall not apply to the construction, improvement or maintenance of any such highway with state moneys, as defined by article six, except provisions hereof which, by that article, are expressly made applicable thereto. No highway or part thereof within the county road system established as provided in article six shall be constructed or improved under the provisions of this section, except with the consent of the commissioner of transportation and in accordance with a written outline of the work, approved by him, showing the course, width, thickness and type of the proposed road.

2. The board may by resolution direct the county superintendent to supervise the preparation of grade and culvert work of a road so designated by said map for improvement, by the town superintendent of the town in which such improvement shall be made, and upon the county superintendent's certification that the road is prepared and that the town is equipped with sufficient machinery to properly perform the work, such machinery to be furnished by the town and used during the road's construction, the construction of an improved road or town highway may proceed under the direction of the county superintendent of highways or of a committee known as the highway officials of the county as hereinafter provided. The construction work shall be under the charge and supervision of a competent person designated by the county superintendent by and with the advice and consent of the town board and the compensation of such person shall be a town charge. In the event the board of supervisors of any county in which roads are to be constructed under this section shall so determine, the same may be constructed by the county to be paid for by the town and county as herein provided and constructed under the direct personal supervision of the county superintendent of highways or some person designated by him; and for that purpose such county superintendent of highways, or his nominee, shall have power and authority to employ labor and teams, purchase necessary material and do all work necessary for the construction of such highway. The board of supervisors with the county superintendent of highways shall have power and authority to purchase at the expense of the county any machinery which they may deem necessary to be used in the construction of such highways.

3. The employment of convict labor on roads so constructed shall be authorized and permitted, in the discretion of the commissioner of correction, upon the requisition of the county superintendent of highways. The board of supervisors of Erie county shall have power, if they deem it proper, to employ convicts, sentenced to be confined in a penitentiary situate within the territorial limits of such county and liable to be employed at hard labor, upon any highway or work connected therewith within such county, and such board of supervisors shall have power to make all necessary appointments, rules and regulations for such employment within such county, including the right to fix a per diem compensation for such employment at a rate not to exceed ten cents.

4. A board of supervisors of a county shall decide whether the direction of the work shall be by the county superintendent of highways or a committee known as the highway officials of the county. The highway officials of the county under this section shall consist of the county superintendent, three members of the board, appointed by the chairman. The supervisor of the town in which a road or town highway is being improved shall be a member of the said committee on all questions involving the work in the town of which he is the supervisor. Unless the advice and direction of the county superintendent of highways or of the highway officials shall be followed in the prosecution of the work, no liability therefor shall accrue to the county for its share of the cost of work.

5. Upon ordering the construction of an improved road or town highway under this section, the board of supervisors shall, by resolution, determine the proportions thereof to be borne by the county and town or towns respectively. The part, if any, to be borne by a town, as shown by such determination may be a town charge, and the residue shall be a county charge. The amounts to be borne by the county shall be provided for by a tax, to be levied upon the taxable property of the county and collected in the same manner as for other county charges and shall be paid into the county treasury. The amount thereof to be borne by the town may by resolution of the town board, be paid from any funds in such town that may be legally used for highway purposes.

6. The board of supervisors may, in its discretion, appropriate and make immediately available from county funds either the whole of the moneys to complete the construction of such road or town highway or the part thereof to be provided by the county. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent the county or town from financing its share, in whole or in part, pursuant to the local finance law.

7. Where the improvement of a road to be constructed or improved at the joint expense of a county and a town or towns therein involves or necessitates the widening of a highway already existing or acquirement or extinguishment of any easements or rights in land within or without the boundaries of an existing highway, the board of supervisors of such county or the town board or town boards of the town or towns through which such road passes, separately or in combination, may acquire land for such widening and acquire or extinguish such easements and rights in land. The cost of acquiring such lands and of acquiring or extinguishing such easements and rights in land the expenses connected therewith shall be deemed a part of the cost of the construction or improvement of such highway.

8. The board of supervisors shall, from time to time, impose upon the taxable property of the county a tax sufficient to pay at maturity any county obligations issued to carry out the purposes of this section, and interest thereon, and upon the taxable property of any town a tax sufficient to pay at maturity any such obligations of the town, and interest. Payments from time to time by the county treasurer of moneys provided under this section shall be made for the prosecution of such work upon the certificate of the county superintendent countersigned by the chairman of the board of supervisors. Said orders shall be drawn to the order of the supervisors of the respective towns where roads or town highways are being constructed to be disbursed by them, upon vouchers approved by the town superintendent or person designated in his stead, in accordance with the agreement as provided by section two hundred and eighty-four of this chapter. The board of supervisors may determine that the amount, if any, to be borne by the town shall be paid by the town into the county treasury, and the whole of such money including the share of the county and of the town, if any, shall be paid out by the county treasurer on orders drawn by the county superintendent of highways and countersigned by the chairman of the board of supervisors to be accounted for on forms of report as may be prescribed by the state comptroller and printed in the next issue of the proceedings of the board of supervisors.

Such roads and highways, when completed and accepted by the board of supervisors shall be thereafter repaired and maintained by the towns wherein such highways are located in the same manner as all other town highways; except there shall be raised annually by the county and by the town a tax of not less than one hundred dollars per mile for each mile of highways improved in a town under the provisions of this section. The amount thereof to be borne by the county or by the town or towns shall be apportioned by the board of supervisors. The part, if any, to be borne by a town or towns, as shown by such apportionment, shall be a charge against the town or towns and the residue shall be a county charge. The amount to be borne by the county shall be provided for by a tax to be levied upon the taxable property of the county and collected in the same manner as for other county charges and shall be paid into the county treasury. The amount thereof to be borne by the town shall, by resolution of the town board, be paid from any funds in such town that may be legally used for highway purposes. The resolution providing for such apportionment shall also indicate the amount which shall be paid to each such town, and a certified copy thereof shall be filed with the county treasurer. On receipt of such money the supervisor shall credit the amount to the town highway fund. The board of supervisors may determine that such highways be thereafter repaired and maintained under the supervision and direction of the county superintendent of highways and thereafter the amount, if any, to be borne by the town shall be paid by the town into the county treasury and the whole of such money including the share of the county and of the town, if any, shall be paid out by the county treasurer for the repair and maintenance of such highways on orders signed by the county superintendent of highways, and countersigned by the chairman of the board of supervisors.

9. The board of supervisors may aid a town, or towns, in the repair and maintenance of a highway formerly constructed by the state and abandoned to a town by official order of the commissioner of transportation or a predecessor thereof in the same manner as is provided for the repair and maintenance of a highway built under the provisions of this section and outlined under subdivision eight above.