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[G. L. c. 44 § 29 shall have the force of law until it is annulled or modified by the action of the city council or other governing body. The mayor, or in cities having a commission form of government the commissioner or director of finance, may request a change in the tax limit as then existing or the fixing of a limit; and when such request is submitted in writing to the city council, it shall immediately order a public hearing to be held not less than seven days thereafter relative to the fixing of a tax limit, and after such hearing the council may, between January first and May first only, by ordinance passed by a two thirds vote, fix a limit or abolish a limit previously established, and such ordinance shall remain in force until further modified, as above provided.

In 1885 it was provided by statute that in any city, except Boston, the rate of taxation for municipal purposes, exclusive of the requirements of the city debt, should not exceed twelve dollars on each thousand dollars of the average assessed valuation of the taxable property in such city for the preceding three years.1 In Boston the tax limit was placed at ten and one-half dollars per thousand."

The statute of 1913 referred to in the present statute provided that within ninety days after the passage of the act the city council of every city, except Boston, should hold a public hearing in regard to establishing a tax limit for the city, and that every city might provide by ordinance that the taxes assessed on property therein, exclusive of the state tax and other amounts assessed upon the city by the commonwealth, the county tax and sums required by law to be raised on account of the city debt, should not in any year thereafter exceed a number of dollars specified in the ordinance on every thousand dollars of the average of the assessors' valuation of the taxable property therein for the preceding three years, such valuation being first reduced by the amount of all abatements allowed therein previous to the thirty-first day of December in the year preceding such assessment, and that the tax limit so established should have the force of law until modified by the city council. A method of modification was provided, which was superseded by the present method, adopted in 1915.3 1 St. 1885, c. 312, § 1.

2 St. 1885, c. 178, § 1. 3 St. 1915, c. 18.

G. L. c. 44 § 29]

In Boston the tax limit is still fixed by statute and can be modified only by the legislature itself.

The distinction between the tax limit and the tax rate is to be carefully kept in mind. The tax limit does not concern itself with state and county expenditures, or with the requirements of the city debt, all of which affect the tax rate. On the other hand, the tax rate is based on the valuation of the current year and the tax limit on the average valuation of the three preceding years. The object of the statute authorizing cities to establish a tax limit is to protect the taxpayers from a sudden increase in current municipal expenditures through the acts of a bare majority in the city council, whether intended to be met by an increase in the tax rate or by an increase in valuations.

The following illustrative example will show how the proper tax limit of a city would be determined if it was desired that there should be no increase in the burden on real estate by reason of an increase in current municipal expenditures disproportionate to the growth of the city as evidenced by the increase in valuation of real estate and tangible personal property.

Reasonable limit of total Annual Municipal Expenditures....$ 2,500,000
Deduct:

Debt Requirements (Interest, Serial Bonds and
Sinking Fund)

Corporation taxes and other estimated receipts..
Income Tax

Polls

From Reserve Fund

Total Deductions

$250,000

350 000

250,000

25,000

25,000

900,000

To be raised by direct tax for purposes other than debt.... $1,600,000
Total average valuation for preceding three years.
Tax Limit

$80,000,000 .$20.00 per thousand.

On these figures, assuming a normal increase in real estate valuations, the tax rate would be determined as follows:

Total Municipal Expenditures.....

State, county and (if in metropolitan district) metropolitan

taxes

Total requirements

Estimated receipts (as in previous table).

To be raised by direct tax....

Total valuation

Tax rate (with allowance for overlay).

4 See Sp. Acts 1919, cc. 173, 206, 249, 252.

.$2,500,000

450,000

$ 2,950,000

$ 650,000

$ 2,300,000 $85,000,000

$27.10 per thousand.

[G. L. c. 48 § 69

Expenses of Auditing Municipal Accounts

SECTION 41. The expenses incurred under sections thirty-five to forty, inclusive, shall be paid primarily by the commonwealth; and the state treasurer shall issue his warrant requiring the assessors of the cities and towns concerned and of the towns in which such district is located to assess a tax to the amount of said expense, and such amount shall be collected and paid to the state treasurer in the same manner and subject to the same penalties as state taxes. Any balance due shall be assessed in the succeeding years in the same manner as other state taxes.

Sections thirty-five to forty, referred to in the foregoing statute, provide for the auditing of municipal accounts or the installation of an accounting system by the state director of

accounts.

Interest on Debts Incurred by a City or Town in Aid

of a Railroad

SECTION 57. A city or town owing debts incurred in aid of a railroad corporation shall annually raise by taxation an amount sufficient, with the income, if any, derived from its stock or securities, to pay the interest on such debts.

CHAPTER 48

FIRES, FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND FIRE
DISTRICTS

Taxation by Fire Districts

SECTION 69. Such districts may, at meetings called therefor, raise money by taxation for the purchase of engines and other articles necessary for the extinguishment of fires, for hydrant and water service, for the purchase of land, for the erection and repairs of necessary buildings, for the erection and maintenance of street lamps within their limits, for the payment of a proper charge of an insurance company for acting as surety on an official bond which may be given to such district by any of its officers, and for other incidental expenses of the fire department. The prudential committee of such district may accept an insurance company as sufficient surety upon such bond.

G. L. c. 48 § 73] SECTION 73. The clerk shall certify to the assessors of the town all votes of the district authorizing interest to be added to taxes and all sums of money voted to be raised, which shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as town taxes, and shall be paid over to the district treasurer. The assessors, treasurer and collector of a town in which such district is organized shall have the same powers and perform the same duties relative to the assessment and collection of the money voted by the fire district as they have and exercise relative to the assessment, collection and abatement of town taxes, and the sums so voted shall be assessed upon the property, real and personal, within the district.

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A fire district is a territorial subdivision of the state, bounded and organized under the authority of the legislature for the governmental purpose of providing protection against fire within its limits, maintaining street lights, and other subsidiary matters. Although composed of a part of one or more towns, it is in substance a quasi municipal corporation of definitely restricted powers.1 It may raise money by taxation for its legitimate uses. The kind of taxation which a fire district is authorized to levy belongs in its essential characteristics to the class of general taxes rather than special assessments. It is to be noted that in the statutes quoted above the taxes of the district are to be assessed upon the property, real and personal, within the district, and not upon the real estate within the district and the personal property of those residing within its limits. The effect of this proviso is to exempt the tangible property of a resident of the district which is kept outside the district from district taxes, even although it is kept in the town in which the district is situated." Intangible property however such as stocks and bonds having no location except where the owner lives is taxable for district taxes if the owner lives in the district, except so far as exempted by the provisions of the Income Tax Act. There is an exception in favor of shares in a national bank which being taxable only in such way as the legislature under permission of Congress has authorized are

1 Prout v. Pittsfield Fire District, 154 Mass. 450 (1891); Williams College v. Williamstown, 219 Mass. 46 (1914).

2 Williams College v. Williamstown, 219 Mass. 46 (1914).

3 Dwight v. Springfield Centre Fire District, 11 Met. 374 (1846).

* Dwight v. Springfield Centre Fire District, 11 Met. 374 (1846).

[G. L. c. 51

not subject to district taxes.5 As the statutes do not contemplate annual appropriations for the expenses of districts and the levy of an annual tax therefor, but appropriations are made and taxes levied when expenses are to be incurred, a person who is a resident of a district on the first day of April but who moves away with his property before the meeting at which an appropriation is voted and a tax authorized occurs, is not liable for the tax so authorized." District taxes being general taxes rather than special assessments, a statutory exemption from taxation includes taxes levied by a fire district. In addition to the districts organized in accordance with the above statutes there are a number of water districts, established for the purpose of furnishing a water supply to the inhabitants of the more thickly populated sections of certain towns. such districts generally require to take their water supply by eminent domain and often outside the limits of the district and as even towns and cities have no general power to exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire a water supply, it has been the policy of the commonwealth to grant charters to water districts only by special statute, so that the legislature can in each case weigh the merits of various conflicting claims to the desired body of water.

CHAPTER 51

VOTERS

As

The chapter relating to voters imposes certain obligations upon the local boards of assessors. Thus, section 4 requires the assessors each year in April or May to visit every building within their respective cities and towns and to make a list of male persons twenty years of age or older liable for a poll tax. Section 4 also provides for the correction of the original lists.

Section 5 provides for the transmission to the registrars of voters and collectors of taxes of additions and corrections in the lists. Sections 6 and 7 require the assessors to provide street lists of persons assessed for poll taxes. Section 8 provides for

5 Little v. Little, 131 Mass. 367 (1881); Rich v. Packard National Bank, 138 Mass. 527 (1885).

6 Savary v. School District in Georgetown, 4 Gray 254 (1878).

7 Williams College v. Williamstown, 219 Mass. 46 (1914).

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