ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY)  -- The Elmira City Council is considering a new law, titled Local Law #1.  it deals with fire insurance, specifically when there is a lien on a homeowner's taxes.

City Manager Michael Collins says, if this passes, the city would have the right to receive the insurance money towards paying off the lien on the taxes.  This would also apply if a house needed to be demolished and there was a lien on the taxes for demolition.

"if you have a building that burns down and the homeowner doesn't take the responsibility to have it demolished due to safety, if our code department deems that that is required to be taken down for safety purposes, the city would be reimbursed the money if they do have the fire insurance as of right now. If the city were to remove something because the property is deemed unsafe, we don't always get reimbursed from the homeowner when that demolition has taken place," said Collins.

The public hearing will take place on July 1st at 5:30 p.m. at the city council meeting.  The council will then vote on this at the meeting after that, which is July 15th.