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. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the town of Amherst may appropriate in each fiscal year an amount not exceeding one-twentieth of one per cent of its equalized valuation as defined in section one of chapter forty-four to establish and maintain a special fund to be known as the town of Amherst's Liability Insurance Fund; provided, however, that no such appropriation may be made in any fiscal year when the aggregate amount in said fund equals or exceeds one per cent of such equalized valuation. Any interest earned on the amount appropriated to such fund shall be added to and become part of the fund.

The commissioners of trust funds of the town of Amherst shall be the custodian and administrator of this fund and may deposit or invest the fund in such manner as may be lawful under section fifty-four of chapter forty-four of the General Laws for the investment of municipal trust funds.

Each fiscal year, the commissioners shall pay from the amount in the fund including the interest thereon such amounts as the town counsel determines to be necessary from time to time to settle claims against the town of Amherst and to cover the costs of defending the town of Amherst against such claims including without limitation the costs of employing legal counsel, court costs, and filing fees. The commissioners shall also pay from the amount in the fund including the interest thereon such amounts as the town manager determines are necessary to effect insurance to protect the town of Amherst against some or all of such claims. Any amount in the fund which is not paid out by the commissioners in accordance with this act which remains in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall be added to the fund to be paid out by the commissioners in subsequent years in accordance with this act.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.