SECTION 1. Chapter 40 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:

Section 13F - Regional School Assessment Reserve Fund for payments towards future Regional Assessments

Any municipality which accepts this section by a majority vote of the municipality’s legislative body may establish and appropriate or transfer money to a reserve fund to be utilized in the upcoming fiscal years, to pay for the Regional Assessment in years when the Regional Assessment increases by more than 3.5% over the previous year’s Regional Assessment.  The balance in the reserve fund shall not exceed 10 percent of the annual Regional Assessment for the municipality.   

Funds shall only be distributed from the reserve funds after a majority vote of the municipality’s legislative body in years when the Regional Assessment is more than 3.5% in order to bring the Regional Assessment down to no less than 2.5% increase.

The municipal treasurer may invest the monies in the manner authorized in section 54 of chapter 44 and any interest earned thereon shall be credited to and become part of the fund.