Section 15-102. Volunteer system

a. The paid department system, as soon as
  practicable, shall be extended over the borough of Staten Island by  the
  commissioner,  and  thereupon  the  present volunteer fire companies now
  maintained therein  shall  be  disbanded.  Any  real  property  and  any
  apparatus,  equipment  or  other personal property owned or used by such
  volunteer forces which may be deemed useful or necessary for the use  of
  the  department, upon the extension of the paid system to the borough of
  Staten Island, shall be purchased by the department of general  services
  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  commissioner at the reasonable value
  thereof.
    b. In the meantime and until the paid  department  shall  be  extended
  over  such borough of Staten Island, such volunteer fire companies shall
  continue to discharge the duties for which they have been associated  or
  incorporated,  and  there shall be paid on the first day of June in each
  year to  the  treasurers  of  such  volunteer  fire  companies,  by  the
  comptroller,  the  following sums: To the treasurer of an engine company
  or chemical engine company twelve hundred dollars, to the treasurer of a
  hook and ladder company ten hundred dollars, to the treasurer of a  hose
  company,  eight  hundred  dollars,  and  to  the  treasurer  of a patrol
  company, eight  hundred  dollars.  The  city,  in  its  discretion,  may
  appropriate  such sum of money as it may deem necessary for the purchase
  of apparatus for the use of  the  several  volunteer  companies  in  the
  borough  of  Staten  Island,  and  for the maintenance of the fire alarm
  system in such borough.
    c. The extension of the paid department system shall  not  affect  the
  rights  and  privileges of any volunteer benevolent association existing
  within the territory where such extension is made.