reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 40 § 39h (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 39h - Right to Aid Other Governmental Units; Compensation

Section 39H. A city, town, commission or district through its water department, if any, if thereunto authorized by ordinance, or by-law or by vote of its governing body if a commission or district or a water company, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and sixty-five, may make contracts with, or may go to aid any other city, town, commission, district or any other water company, as so defined, with regard to the operation, administration, repair and maintenance of its water supply system. Any such ordinance, by-law or vote may authorize the head of the department in charge of sewers and drains to enter into contracts or to extend such aid subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed therein. Members of such departments of cities, towns, commissions or districts while in the performance of their duties under such contracts or in extending such aid shall have the same immunities and privileges as if performing the same work in their respective cities, towns, commissions, and districts. Any city, town, commission, district or water company aided under this section shall compensate any city, town, commission, district or water company rendering aid as aforesaid, for such aid and for the whole or any part of any damage to its property sustained in the course of rendering such aid. Any contracts under this section may be for a period not exceeding twenty years.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 39i (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 39i - Water Meters; Testing

Section 39I. Any person using water supplied by a city, town or district, measured by a meter, shall be entitled to an examination and test of such meter to determine the accuracy of the same in any quarter or period, upon written application therefor, which shall be made before the expiration of the time when the rate for such quarter or period is required to be paid, to the board, commissioner or officer in charge of the water works of the city, town or district. Such examination and test shall be made by a competent person employed by the city, town or district. A written report of the result of the examination and test shall be furnished to the person making the application, and if it appears that the meter has registered with substantial accuracy, the expense of the examination and test shall be paid by the person applying therefor, and in no case shall the expense so required to be paid exceed three dollars for each examination and test, but if it appears that the meter has not registered within two per cent of accuracy and that the person has been charged with, or has paid for, more water than he should have been charged with or should have paid for, the amount of such excess shall forthwith be credited to such person or remitted to him if he has paid the same, and the expense of the examination and test shall be borne by the city, town or district supplying the water; if, however, it appears that the person has been charged with, or has paid for, less water than he should have been charged with or should have paid for, he shall forthwith be charged with the proper additional amount and shall pay the same, together with the expense of the examination and test, to the city, town or district supplying the water.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 39j (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 39j - Pricing System; Costs

Section 39J. In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, either by a vote of the city council, board of selectmen, board of water commissioners, or by vote of said city or town in a general election or town meeting, said city or town shall for the purposes of water conservation, water resource management, water resource planning and comprehensive financial management, adopt a pricing system which includes the costs of the provision of water and sewer services to the residents and industrial and commercial users of said city or town receiving said services. The definition of costs as used in this section shall include, but not be limited to, costs of pipe and related appurtenances, replacement stock for water and sewer, costs relating to the replacement and repair thereof including street work, maintenance of all equipment and related appurtenances necessary for the provision of water or the removal of wastewater services, all costs relating to the metering of water, all related costs of police and fire protection, all administrative costs relating to the collection of said water and sewer fees, all costs of chemicals relating to the treatment of water and wastewater, all costs relating to the personnel of the departments, as well as any long term planning costs for the continued provision of said services, and any costs of land acquisition relating to long range planning and future water supply development or wastewater treatment facilities.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 39l (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 39l - Water or Sewer Service Charges; Descending Unit Rate Basis

Section 39L. No local body shall charge for water or sewer services on a descending unit rate basis. For the purposes of this section a local body shall be a city, town, district, commission or other political subdivision or instrumentality of the commonwealth which is not within Hampden county and which is responsible for providing by itself or through an officer, board, department or division thereof local water supply or local sewer services; except as otherwise expressly provided herein, in any case where local water supply or local sewer services within the territorial boundaries of a local body are provided in whole or in part by a political subdivision or public instrumentality of the commonwealth separate from such local body, the term ''local body'' as used in this section shall mean, within the service area thereof, the political subdivision or public instrumentality.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 41 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 41 - Protection of Water Supply; Conditions

Section 41. Towns and water supply and fire districts duly established by law may, with the consent and approval of the department of environmental protection, given after due notice and a hearing, take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, and hold, lands, buildings, rights of way and easements within the watershed of any pond, stream, reservoir, well or other water used by them as a source of water supply, which said department may deem necessary to protect and preserve the purity of the water supply. All lands taken, purchased or otherwise acquired under this section shall be under the control of the board of water commissioners of the town or district acquiring the same, who shall manage and improve them in such manner as they shall deem for the best interest of the town or district. All damages to be paid by a town or district by reason of any act done under authority hereof may be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of any bonds authorized by law to be issued by such town or district for water supply purposes or from any surplus income of the water works available therefor. A town may also make a contract to contribute to the cost of building, by any other town situated in the watershed of its water supply, a sewer or system of sewers to aid in protecting such water supply from pollution.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 41a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 41a - Use of Water in Emergencies

Section 41A. A board of water commissioners or a board of public works with the duties of water commissioners of a municipality, water supply, fire and water district or water company having control of water supplies may, on behalf of their respective bodies politic or corporate, upon notification to the water takers, restrain the use of water on public and private premises by shutting off the water at the meter or at the curb cock or by other means as the case may be, during a drought, hurricane, conflagration or other disaster when in the opinion of the department of environmental protection an emergency exists.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42 - Laying Pipes and Conduits

Section 42. The board of aldermen or the selectmen may, upon terms and conditions prescribed by them, authorize the laying of pipes and conduits for the conveyance of water under any public way in their town; provided, that this section shall not authorize any person to supply water to any other person in any town where municipal water works are established except with the consent of the board or authority having charge of such water works therein.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42a - Collection of Rates and Charges for Supplying of Water; Lien for Delinquent Charges

Section 42A. If the rates and charges due to a city, town or water district, which accepts this section and sections forty-two B to forty-two F, inclusive, by vote of its city council or of the voters in town or district meeting and, by its clerk, files a certificate of such acceptance in the proper registry of deeds, for supplying or providing for water or rendering service or furnishing materials in connection therewith to or for any real estate at the request of the owner or tenant are not paid on or before their due date as established by local regulations, ordinances or by-laws, which due dates shall be so established as to require payments at least as often as semi-annually, such rates and charges, together with interest thereon and costs relative thereto, shall be a lien upon such real estate as provided in section forty-two B. The register of deeds shall record such certificate of acceptance in a book to be kept for the purpose, which shall be kept in an accessible location in the registry. Sections forty-two B to forty-two F, inclusive, shall also apply to a water district which has accepted sections forty-two A to forty-two F, inclusive, and whose clerk has so filed the certificate of acceptance. Wherever in said sections the words ''board or officer in charge of the water department'' or their equivalent appear, they shall also mean and include the officers exercising similar duties in any city, town or district. A fire district authorized to supply water shall, for the purposes of sections forty-two A to forty-two F, inclusive, be deemed to be a water district.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42b - Effective Date of Lien; Termination; Enforcement

Section 42B. Such lien shall take effect by operation of law on the day immediately following the due date of such rate or charge, and, unless dissolved by payment or abatement, shall continue until such rate or charge has been added to or committed as a tax under section forty-two C, and thereafter, unless so dissolved, shall continue as provided in section thirty-seven of chapter sixty; provided, however, that if any such rate or charge is not added to or committed as a tax under section forty-two C for the next fiscal year commencing after the inception of the lien under this section, then said lien shall terminate on October first of the third year following the year in which such charge becomes due.  Notwithstanding such lien any such overdue rate or charge may be collected through any legal means, including the shutting off of water, which may be deemed advisable; provided, that after the termination of such a lien, no city, town or water district shall attempt to enforce, by shutting off the water, collection of such rate or charge from any person, not liable therefor, who has succeeded to the title or interest of the person incurring such rate or charge. All such rates and charges excluded by court decree under section seventy-six B of chapter sixty shall, to the extent that they were properly chargeable to the person owning, or to the tenant occupying, the premises for which such rates and charges were incurred, be recoverable from such person or tenant, as the case may be, in an action of contract or otherwise. If at the time of the entry of such decree such person or tenant is still the owner or tenant of the premises, whether through redemption or otherwise, such rates and charges to the extent that they were properly chargeable to him, may be enforced in any other manner provided or available for collection and enforcement of water rates and charges.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42c - Unpaid Charges; Report to Tax Collector

Section 42C. If a rate or charge for which a lien is in effect under section forty-two B has not been added to or committed as a tax and remains unpaid when the assessors are preparing a real estate tax list and warrant to be committed by them under section fifty-three of chapter fifty-nine, the board or officer in charge of the water department, or the town collector of taxes, if applicable under section thirty-eight A of chapter forty-one, shall certify such rate or charge to the assessors, who shall forthwith add such rate or charge to the tax on the property to which it relates and commit it with their warrant to the collector of taxes as a part of such tax. If the property to which such rate or charge relates is tax exempt, such rate or charge shall be committed as the tax.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42d - Unpaid Charges; Collection as Part of Property Tax

Section 42D. Except as otherwise provided, the provisions of chapters fifty-nine and sixty shall apply, so far as pertinent, to all rates and charges certified to the assessors under section forty-two C. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, upon commitment as a tax or part of a tax under section forty-two C, all such rates and charges shall be subject to the provisions of law relative to interest on the taxes of which they become, or, if the property were not tax exempt would become, a part; and the collector of taxes shall have the same powers and be subject to the same duties with respect to such rates and charges as in the case of annual taxes upon real estate, and the provisions of law relative to the collection of such annual taxes, the sale or taking of land for the non-payment thereof and the redemption of land so sold or taken shall, except as otherwise provided, apply to such rates and charges.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42e (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42e - Abatements; Appeals

Section 42E. An owner of real estate aggrieved by a charge imposed thereon under sections forty-two A to forty-two F, inclusive, in addition to such remedy as he may have under section ten of chapter one hundred and sixty-five, may apply for an abatement thereof by filing a petition with the board or officer having control of the water department within the time allowed by law for filing an application for abatement of the tax of which such charge is, or, if the property were not tax exempt, would have been, a part, and if such board or officer finds that such charge is more than is properly due, a reasonable abatement shall be made; and except as otherwise provided herein, the provisions of chapter fifty-nine relative to the abatement of taxes by assessors shall apply, so far as applicable, to abatements hereunder. If such petition is denied in whole or in part, the petitioner may appeal to the appellate tax board upon the same terms and conditions as a person aggrieved by the refusal of the assessors of a city or town to abate a tax.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42f (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42f - Recovery of Delinquent Charges From Tenants

Section 42F. An owner of real estate who, in order to prevent the imposition of a lien thereon or to discharge the same, has paid charges for water furnished to a tenant or other person who was bound to pay the same, may recover from such tenant or other person in an action of contract the amount of the charges so paid with all incidental costs and expenses.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42g (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42g - Distribution of Water; Payment of Costs by Special Assessment

Section 42G. Any city, town or district having a water supply or water distributing system which, in the case of a city or town, accepts this section and the two following sections in cities other than Plan E cities by vote of the city council subject to the city charter, or Plan E cities by vote of the city council, in towns or districts by vote of its inhabitants at an annual town or district meeting called therefor, may provide by ordinance, by-law or vote for the levy of special assessments to meet the whole or part of the cost thereafter incurred of laying pipes in public and private ways for the conveyance or distribution of water to its inhabitants. Such city, town or district may provide that an owner of land which receives benefit from the laying of water pipes in public and private ways upon which his land abuts or which by more remote means receives benefit through the supply of water to his land or buildings shall pay a proportionate part of the cost not already assessed of extending such water supply to his land.  The amount to be charged against each parcel of land receiving such benefit shall include the cost of the pipes and other material and of the labor in laying them and other expenses incidental thereto and shall be ascertained, assessed and certified by the water commissioners or the other officers in charge of the supply and distribution of water in such city, town or district.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42h (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42h - Uniform Rate of Assessment

Section 42H. A city, town or district having a water supply or water distributing system may provide that assessment for the cost of providing and laying water pipes thereafter in public and private ways shall be made upon the several parcels of land receiving benefit from the laying of such pipes by a fixed uniform rate based upon the estimated average cost of all the water pipes therein and the laying thereof, according to the frontage of such land on any way in which a water pipe is laid, or according to the area of such land within a fixed depth from such a way, or according to valuation for purposes of taxation in the last annual assessment, or according to two or all of such measures.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 42i (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 42i - Recordation of Assessment to Establish Lien on Property; Amount of Assessment; Extension of Time for Payment

Section 42I. Whenever the water commissioners or other officers in charge of the supply and distribution of water in a city, town or district which has accepted sections forty-two G to forty-two I, inclusive, determine to lay water pipes in public and private ways and assessments may be made under said sections for the construction of such improvement, they shall forthwith cause to be recorded in the registry of deeds of the county or district in which such city, town or district is situated a statement of their action, which shall specify the ways in which such water pipes are to be laid and shall describe such land as does not abut upon any such way which is to be assessed for such improvement, and which shall designate as the owner of each parcel upon which a lien is to be imposed by this section the person who was liable to assessment therefor on the preceding January first under the provisions of chapter fifty-nine. All assessments imposed under sections forty-two G and forty-two H upon any land which abuts upon any such ways in which such water pipes are to be laid or is included in such description shall constitute a lien upon such land from the time such statement is recorded. The provisions of chapter eighty relative to the apportionment, division, reassessment, abatement and collection of assessments, and to interest, shall apply to assessments under this chapter. No assessment shall be levied under sections forty-two H to forty-two I, inclusive, in excess of the benefit to the land assessed from the laying of the water pipes for which the assessment is levied, and if any assessment is found to exceed such benefit, it shall be abated. The water commissioners or other officers in charge of the supply and distribution of water as aforesaid shall, if the order for assessment is upon land not built upon, extend the time of payment of the assessment and interest thereon at the rate of four per cent until it is built upon or for a fixed time; and the assessment and interest shall be paid within three months after such land is built upon or at the expiration of such fixed period.