AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE TOWN OF LUNENBURG TO ESTABLISH A CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND AND A BOND AND NOTE PROCEEDS INVESTMENT FUND.
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 any general or special law to the contrary, the town of Lunenburg may establish and maintain a special account known as the Capital Improvement Trust Fund, and may raise and appropriate money for the fund.
SECTION 2. The town of Lunenburg may appropriate to the fund by majority vote at an annual or special town meeting in any year any amount not to exceed 10 per cent of the amount raised in the preceding year by taxation of real estate and tangible personal property. The aggregate amount of the fund at any time shall not exceed 10 per cent of the equalized valuation of the town as defined in section 1 of chapter 44 of the General Laws.
SECTION 3. The fund shall be maintained by the town of Lunenburg as a separate account. The treasurer of the town shall be the custodian of the fund and may invest the funds in such separate account in the manner authorized by section 55 and 55A of chapter 44 of the General Laws. Any interest earned on the fund shall be credited to and become part of the separate account.
SECTION 4. The town of Lunenburg may appropriate by majority vote at any annual or special town meeting any principal and interest within the fund for any capital purchase or principal debt payment for any capital purchase. Capital purchase is defined as any item with a life expectancy of more than 5 years.
SECTION 5. Notwithstanding section 53 of chapter 44 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the board of selectmen of the town of Lunenburg may establish a special fund or funds in the town treasury into which shall be deposited income derived from the investment of the proceeds of all notes and bonds issued for any capital building project and funded through a proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion for the renovation, reconstruction, construction and original equipping of the town's buildings. The town treasurer shall be the custodian of these monies and shall make an accounting of the funds to the board of selectmen. Except as provided for in section 6, any amount in such special fund shall be applied solely to the payment of capital costs or debt service for the building project that the money was borrowed for and no amount shall be spent on such projects in excess of the amount appropriated therefore without an additional appropriation by town meeting and upon authorization by the town treasurer.
SECTION 6. If, upon declaration of the town department or committee responsible for oversight of a project referenced in this act that the project is completed, there remains a balance in the special fund attributable to that project, that balance shall be transferred to the General Fund of the town.
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect upon its passage.