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, Plymouth county is hereby authorized to establish a special account to be known as the Plymouth county hospital operations account. Into such account shall be deposited all receipts, revenues and funds from any source derived from any activity of the Plymouth county hospital.

SECTION 2. The account authorized by section one shall be maintained by the county treasurer in accordance with the provisions of section ten of chapter thirty-five of the General Laws and expenditures from such account shall be made by the administrator of the Plymouth county hospital in accordance with the approved budget described by section twenty-eight of said chapter thirty-five and as outlined in section four, and used solely for the operation and maintenance and for the provision of capital equipment and plant for said hospital. Such account shall be maintained in accordance with generally accepted principles of accounting and shall be audited annually by a certified public accountant or by the bureau of accounts. The county treasurer shall invest the monies in said account as authorized by law and the interest accruing thereon shall insure to the benefit of said hospital. For the purpose of providing health care for the citizens of Plymouth county, said county may from time to time appropriate monies into said account and donations from private sources may be received into said account.

SECTION 3. The county treasurer, upon written request of the administrator of the Plymouth county hospital and written approval of the board of trustees of said hospital, may borrow funds in any fiscal year in anticipation of the receipt of revenues of said Plymouth county hospital for such fiscal year. Such loans outstanding at any one time in any fiscal year shall not exceed, in the aggregate, twenty-five per cent of the annual expenses of the current fiscal year as shown in the approved budget or such larger amounts as may be approved by the county commissioners as trustees and the Plymouth county advisory board. All funds to be borrowed shall be deposited into said account established under section one.

SECTION 4. The administrator of the Plymouth county hospital shall file with the county commissioners, the county treasurer and the bureau of accounts, a written report of the special account established by section one within ninety days after the end of the fiscal year. Such report shall include financial statements relating to the operation, maintenance, capital and real properties of said hospital.

The budget must be approved by the Plymouth county commissioners, as hospital trustees, and by the Plymouth county advisory board prior to the beginning of the fiscal year. The budget must be prepared on forms approved by the director of the bureau of accounts and must show the appropriation of the current fiscal year and the actual expenditures of the two preceding years. Said budget must be presented to the county commissioners no later than September first for the following fiscal year.

SECTION 5. In order that the fiscal affairs of said hospital may be managed by the hospital board of trustees, and to limit the cost to the taxpayers, an assessment may or may not be rendered at the close of any fiscal year in which an operating deficit occurs, with the approval of the Plymouth county advisory board.

SECTION 6. This act shall take effect upon its passage.