County of Putnam
Local Law #5 of 2013
(Passed at the May 1, 2013 Regular Meeting)
APPROVAL/LOCAL LAW/AMEND SECTION 173-8/CODE OF PUTNAM COUNTY ENTITLED
“ITEM PRICING”
A Local Law to Amend Section 173-8 of the Code of Putnam County entitled “Waiver of
Item Pricing Requirements Based Upon Pricing Accuracy; Consumer Protections.”
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE COUNTY OF PUTNAM, as follows:
Section 1. Section 173-8 of the Code of Putnam County entitled “Waiver of Item Pricing
Requirements Based Upon Pricing Accuracy; Consumer Protections,” is hereby
amended to read as follows:
Section 173-8. Waiver of Item Pricing Requirements Based Upon Pricing Accuracy;
Consumer Protections.
A. Every retail store subject to this chapter may make application in writing
for a waiver of the item pricing requirements as contained herein. The
application shall be submitted to the Director of Consumer Affairs for the
County of Putnam. A separate application shall be required for each retail
store.

B. All written requests for an item pricing waiver shall include a biennial, nonrefundable waiver application fee based upon the store’s square footage of
retail area. Retail area, or retail square footage, means the area designated
in a retail store to display and sell products, provide customer service and
checkout. The retail area does not include storage area, back rooms, stock
area, maintenance areas or other locations which are not intended to be
accessible to consumers. Said waiver application fee shall be set by
Resolution of the Legislature. A schedule of waiver application fees shall
be furnished by the Department of Consumer Affairs upon request, or at
the time of application for such waiver.
C. Waivers shall be valid for a period of two calendar years. Retail stores
must reapply biennially for renewal. The waiver fee and inspection shall
be required with each biennial renewal application, as is required for an
original application. Late application(s) shall be subject to late fees as
determined by the Department of Consumer Affairs.
D. Upon receipt of an application and fee as provided in subsections A and B
of this section, the Director of Consumer Affairs shall cause to be
conducted two scanner accuracy inspections of the store for which the
application has been submitted. These inspections shall be conducted on
two separate days and shall consist of a comparison of the shelf, sale
and/or the advertised price of any stock keeping unit with the computerassisted checkout system price. (In the event that any violations are
detected, penalties shall be assessed as provided in Section 173-6,
subsection F.) If, considering both inspections together, the number of
stock keeping units found to be in violation does not exceed two percent of
all stock keeping units inspected, the Director of Consumer Affairs shall
grant the applicant a revocable waiver from item pricing requirements
provided that the applicant has paid all outstanding penalties imposed in
connection with this Local Law. Any store with a current waiver shall not
be subject to the item pricing provisions set forth in Section 173-4.
During the second calendar year of the biennial waiver period, the Director
of Consumer Affairs shall cause to be conducted one scanner accuracy
inspection of the store which was approved for an item pricing waiver
during the preceding year. If the store fails this inspection, the Director of
Consumer Affairs shall give the store at least one week to correct any
problems before coming back for another inspection. If the store fails this
second inspection, the store shall lose the waiver and must reapply for the
waiver pursuant to subsections A and B of this section.
E. In the event that the inspections provided for in subsection D herein
discover total violations in excess of two percent of all stock keeping units
inspected, the Director of Consumer Affairs shall not grant a waiver to the
applicant. Such a store may reapply for a waiver by submitting another
application with the required fee within five (5) business days after being
notified of the failure. Stores which do not reapply must be in compliance
with all the requirements of §173-4 within sixty (60) days from the date of
failure, and may be subject to additional penalties.
F. Any retail store that obtains a biennial waiver from item pricing shall be
required to:
(1) Display easy-to-read and properly located shelf tags or signs on
every stock keeping unit or group of stock keeping units of the
same brand, size, and price. Shelf tags shall contain all pricing
information required by section 214-h of the New York State
Agriculture and Markets law, as such law is amended from time to
time.
(2) Post a notice for the consumer, in a conspicuous location, that the
item pricing waiver has been granted. The notice shall indicate
consumer rights with respect to the accurate pricing of items and
price discrepancies.
(3) Designate and make available the number of price check scanners
set forth in the following table to enable consumers to confirm the
price of a stock keeping item:
RETAIL SQUARE FOOTAGE NUMBER OF SCANNERS
Under 1,500 sq. ft. No price check scanners
required. However, an
item(s) shall be scanned
for the price, upon
consumer request.
Between 1,501 and 3,000 sq. ft. 1
Between 3,001 and 10,000 sq. ft. 2
Between 10,001 and 30,000 sq. ft. 3
Between 30,001 and 90,000 sq. ft. 4
Over 90,001 sq. ft. 5
(4) Assist county inspectors with store inspections. The retail store
may make store personnel or hand-held price scanners available to
a county inspector to assist with price accuracy inspections.
Inspections of retail stores may be unannounced, provided however,
that the inspector shall notify the store upon arrival.
(5) Item price certain stock keeping units that are too large or too heavy
to be price scanned by the consumer in a reasonably simple
manner. These stock keeping units shall include all items over six
pounds of net weight.
A retail store failing to comply with any of the requirements of this
subsection F, after the County Sealer of Weights and Measures
and/or the Consumer Affairs Director and their departmental
designees who shall act as administration and enforcement officers
for this chapter and any regulations promulgated hereunder has
made such determination, shall be subject to a penalty in the
amount of five-hundred ($500) dollars per violation.
G. A biennial waiver shall be immediately revoked if a store falls below 98%
accuracy on two consecutive pricing accuracy inspections. Failure to meet
the scanning accuracy requirement or failure to pay the annual application
fee shall subject the retail store to the item pricing requirements of this
Local Law within ten days of the last inspection, and may subject it to
additional penalties.
H. In the event that the Director of Consumer Affairs, or his/her designee, is
unable to conduct inspections pursuant to subsection D of this section
within thirty (30) days of receipt of a completed written waiver application,
the Director of Consumer Affairs shall grant a temporary waiver pending
completion of the inspections. If, upon completion, the item pricing
inspections detect a violation rate in excess of two percent, the temporary
waiver shall be immediately revoked and the item pricing provisions of this
Local Law shall become immediately applicable.

Section 2.
This local law shall take effect immediately.