Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. The Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District, consisting of the towns of Chilmark, Edgartown, Gay Head, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and West Tisbury is hereby constituted and continued as a body politic and corporate known as the Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District under the provisions of sections forty-four A to forty-four K, inclusive, of chapter forty of the General Laws and the provisions of the agreement dated January fifth, nineteen hundred and eighty-three relating thereto, notwithstanding any failure of any such town to have complied in full with all of the requirements of said chapter forty with respect to the adoption, approval, execution or delivery of said agreement.

SECTION 2. The Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District shall be subject to the provisions of section twenty A of chapter fifty-nine of the General Laws, except that the limitation therein may be exceeded by a two-thirds vote of the district's governing board followed by approval by a two-thirds vote by the boards of selectmen in at least four of the member towns of said district. Each such member town's apportioned share of principal and interest on bonds, notes or certificates of indebtedness issued by the Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District shall be exempt from the provisions of section twenty-one C of said chapter fifty-nine.

SECTION 3. The Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District may, in order to perform its functions:

(i) enter into any long-term lease; provided, however, that the purpose and maximum period of such lease shall have been approved by the member towns in the manner provided with respect to bonds and notes by the said agreement; (ii) enter into any service agreement, including a service agreement under the provisions of subsection (g) of section twenty-one of chapter forty D of the General Laws with any party such that said party shall be obligated to provide a facility for solid waste disposal or resource recovery, or both, or to provide solid waste disposal services; (iii) establish a system of user fees based on actual, projected, approximate or estimated use of the facility or services provided by it or on such other basis as will equitably allocate the cost of the facilities or service among the users or categories of users thereof provided that the collection of user fees shall be taken into account in the preparation of the annual district budget and shall reduce proportionally the sums apportioned to the member towns; and (iv) create and maintain from bond proceeds such reserve, replacement, maintenance and improvement funds in connection with any capital project funded by bonds as it may deem necessary and prudent to enable it to carry out its functions in an orderly fashion, provided, however, that the aggregate of such funds for any one project shall not exceed ten per cent of the principal amount of bonds issued for such project.

SECTION 4. Without the need for further district action or approval by the member towns thereof, the Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District is hereby authorized to issue one million, five hundred thousand dollars in principal amount of bonds for the purposes stated in the vote of the regional district committee adopted on April fifth, nineteen hundred and eighty-four, including, but not limited to, reimbursing the district for all funds previously expended in connection with the planning and implementation of the facility described, the amount of any such reimbursement to be taken into account in the preparation of the next annual district budget after its receipt and the sums apportioned to the member towns to be reduced proportionally.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage.