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December 16, 2024 Clouds | 42°F
The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Section 10: Financing; power of district to adopt alternative methods

Section 10. The district may vote to adopt any of the three methods of financing hereinafter specified. (1) If all the members of the district agree, the district may raise by assessments upon the proprietors or by voluntary contributions and deposit with the state treasurer the total sum required to meet the estimated expense of the improvements. Such deposits shall be held by the state treasurer to the credit of the district, and payments shall be made therefrom as provided in section fourteen. (2) The district may pay the whole expense of the improvements from time to time as the work is performed and for this purpose may incur debt by a temporary loan in anticipation of the collection of assessments from the members of the district during the calendar year in which said debt is incurred or during the next succeeding calendar year. (3) The district may incur debt to the amount necessary to pay the estimated expense of the proposed improvements and may issue therefor notes or bonds, and may, if the board approves, issue notes or bonds on the condition that the first payment on account of the principal shall be deferred for a period of not more than five years from the date of issue of such notes or bonds and that the whole amount of such debt shall be payable within a period of not more than twenty-five years after such notes or bonds are issued.

Indebtedness incurred by the district under the provisions of this section or of section fourteen A shall be subject to chapter forty-four and to other provisions of the General Laws applicable to notes and bonds of districts except as otherwise provided in sections one to fourteen B, inclusive. Money received from the sale of notes or bonds issued under this section shall be deposited with the state treasurer and held by him to the credit of the district. If the district issues notes or bonds and thereafter the general court makes an appropriation to cover such part, if any, of the expenses of the improvements as it shall deem to be for the benefit of the public health of the commonwealth as a whole, the state treasurer may, in his discretion, make all or any part of such appropriation available to redeem notes or bonds of the district and shall hold the balance, if any, to the credit of the district to be used for payment of the expense of the improvements. If, after payment of the total expense of the improvements, money remains in the hands of the state treasurer to the credit of the district the same shall be paid to the treasurer of the district and shall be used to redeem outstanding notes or bonds which shall be cancelled by said district treasurer and not reissued. Bonds or notes issued under this section shall be the general obligations of the district by which they are issued.