§ 108-701. Police Department

(a) Upon the effective date of the merger, the geographic area formerly covered by the then abolished Village of Bristol shall constitute a Police Department Special Service District for the purpose of providing police protection therein.

(b) All costs required to support said Special Service District shall be paid for by the taxpayers receiving said services by a special assessment property tax on the grand list of the property in the area covered by said Special Service District, to be assessed annually by the Selectboard and added to such taxpayers' regular general property taxes and due as a part thereof at the same time and which shall be a lien on such property and shall be collected in the same manner as such regular general property taxes, including fees and interest charges. The Police Department of this Special Service District of the Town of Bristol shall be maintained separate from all other departments of the Town, and no part of the revenues therefrom may be used for any other purpose than for the Police Department. The Selectboard shall each year hold a special meeting for the purpose of adoption by the voters residing within said Special Service District of the annual budget of the Police Department Special Service District and the amount thereof to be raised by the special assessment property tax.

(c) The Town of Bristol may adopt and enforce rules, regulations, or ordinances concerning the Police Department, including but not limited to provisions providing for tenure of police officers during good behavior with removal only after hearing and for cause, except for reducing the number of officers for reasons of economic necessity.

(d) Said Special Service District may be modified with the separate approval of both the voters residing within said District as existing and the voters residing within any area proposed to be enlarged or diminished. Such respective approvals shall be expressed by the affirmative vote of a majority of such voters present and voting at special meetings thereof. However, the voters of the Town of Bristol at an annual or special Town meeting warned for the purpose may vote to abolish said Special Service District in favor of making the Police Department a townwide Police Department whose cost will become a part of the general budget expense of the Town of Bristol.

(e) The procedure for warning and holding each of the aforementioned special meetings shall be the same as the warning and holding of a special Town meeting, except that the legal voters shall be only those who are entitled to vote at the particular special meeting. (Added 1994, No. M-20, § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 1995.)