Section 50-A. Application

1.  The provisions of this article may be made
  applicable, effective on a January first, after  December  thirty-first,
  nineteen hundred sixty-three, to any town which on such January first:
    (a) Has a population of at least twenty-five thousand, or
    (b)  Has a population of at least seventy-five hundred and is not more
  than fifteen miles from a city having  a  population  of  at  least  one
  hundred thousand, measured from their respective nearest boundary lines;
  provided, however, that the population of such town shall have increased
  by  at  least  sixty-five  per  cent  between nineteen hundred forty and
  nineteen hundred sixty or by at least forty per  cent  between  nineteen
  hundred  fifty  and  nineteen  hundred  sixty, as shown by the decennial
  federal censuses for such years.
  The current population of a town shall be determined on the basis of the
  most recent decennial federal census  or  a  special  population  census
  taken  pursuant  to  section  twenty  of  the  general municipal law and
  subdivision five-a of section fifty-four of the state  finance  law  and
  certified to the state comptroller pursuant to law.
    2.  The provisions of this article may be made so applicable to such a
  town by resolution of the town board adopted not later than  July  first
  preceding  the  January  first on which the town would become a suburban
  town, which resolution also shall provide that the  town  shall  at  the
  same  time  become  a  town of the first class, if it is not then such a
  town, and shall elect its officers in compliance with section twelve  of
  this  chapter. Prior to the adoption of such a resolution the town board
  shall conduct a public hearing thereon on notice published at least  ten
  but  not  more  than  twenty  days before such hearing in a newspaper or
  newspapers  designated  pursuant  to  subdivision  eleven   of   section
  sixty-four  of  this  chapter.  Such  resolution  shall  be  subject  to
  referendum on motion of the  town  board  or  on  petition  pursuant  to
  article seven of this chapter provided, however:
    (a)  That  any  such  petition  shall be filed with the town clerk not
  later than September fifth of the year in which  the  town  board  shall
  have adopted such resolution,
    (b)  That  if  the town board, on its own motion, determines that such
  resolution shall be subject to referendum  or  if  such  a  petition  be
  filed,  such referendum shall be had at the election in November of such
  year or at a special town election held at least forty  days  after  the
  filing  of  such petition, as the town board shall determine, and in the
  event the resolution is approved  at  such  referendum  the  town  shall
  become  a  suburban town on the January first following such referendum,
  and
    3. At any biennial town election held during and  after  the  November
  prior  to the January first on which a town is to become a suburban town
  pursuant to this section, but not including the election in November, if
  any, at which a town's becoming a suburban town is approved pursuant  to
  this  section, there shall be elected only such officers as are required
  to be elected to fill elective offices or vacancies therein, as the case
  may be, for such town to function as a suburban town and a town  of  the
  first  class.  With  respect to additional appointive offices which such
  town is required to have as a suburban town and  a  town  of  the  first
  class,  vacancies  therein  shall exist as of the January first on which
  the town becomes a suburban town.
    4. After it shall  have  been  finally  determined  pursuant  to  this
  section  that  a town shall become a suburban town, the town board shall
  have power to determine and make provision for  any  matter  necessarily
  involved  in the transition from its form of town government at the time
  of its becoming a suburban town to its government  as  a  suburban  town

  under  the  provisions of this article where such matter is not provided
  for by this article.
    5. (a) Within ten days after the January first on which a town becomes
  a  suburban  town  pursuant to this section, the town clerk shall make a
  certificate to such effect and transmit the same  to  the  secretary  of
  state,  in  whose  office it shall be kept as a public record, provided,
  however, that in the case of those towns which became suburban towns  on
  January  first, nineteen hundred sixty-four, such a certificate shall be
  made and transmitted to the secretary  of  state  not  later  than  June
  first, nineteen hundred sixty-four.
    (b)  It  shall  be  the  duty of the secretary of state to cause to be
  published separately, under an appropriate heading, in the  appendix  of
  the  session  laws of each year and in the appendix of the local laws of
  each year, the names of the towns which have become suburban  towns  and
  the dates on which they became suburban towns.