reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 44 § 55b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 55b - Investment of Public Funds

Section 55B. All moneys held in the name of a city, town, district or regional school district or any other account under the jurisdiction of a city, town, district, or regional school district or officer thereof, which are not required to be kept liquid for purposes of distribution, shall be invested in such a manner as to require the payment of interest on the money at the highest possible rate reasonably available, taking account of safety liquidity and yield. All officers of a city, town district or regional school district who control the investment of such funds shall invest them prudently, consistent with the provisions of sections fifty-four and fifty-five and, if the funds are the result of gift or grant or bequest, the terms of such gift or grant or bequest, so as to accrue the highest amount of interest reasonably available on such funds taking account of safety, liquidity and yield. The provisions of section sixty-two shall not apply to this section.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 56 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 56 - Towns; Fiscal Year

Section 56. The fiscal year of all towns of the commonwealth shall begin with July first and end with the following June thirtieth, and the returns made to the director under section forty-three shall show the financial condition of the town at the close of business on June thirtieth; provided, however, that the treasurer shall, until July fifteenth, enter in his books all items for the payment of bills incurred and salaries and wages earned during the previous fiscal year, excepting payment of school teachers' salaries which have been deferred under the provisions of section forty of chapter seventy-one, and expenditures thereof shall be deemed to be as of June thirtieth preceding.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 56a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 56a - Cities; Fiscal Year

Section 56A. The fiscal year of all cities of the commonwealth shall begin with July first and end with the following June thirtieth, notwithstanding the provisions of their respective charters, and the returns made to the director under section forty-three shall show the financial condition of the city at the close of business on June thirtieth; provided, however, that the treasurer shall, until July fifteenth, enter in the books all items for the payment of bills incurred and the salaries and wages earned during the previous fiscal year, excepting payment of school teachers' salaries which have been deferred under the provisions of section forty of chapter seventy-one, and the expenditures therefor shall be deemed to be as of June thirtieth preceding.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 57 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 57 - Taxation; Interest on Debts Incurred 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.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 58 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 58 - Cities and Towns; Limitation on Purchasing Powers

Section 58. No city or town shall pay a bill incurred by any official thereof for wines, liquors or cigars.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 59 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 59 - Enforcement of Chapter

Section 59. The supreme judicial or superior court, by mandamus or other appropriate remedy, at law or in equity, upon the suit or petition of the attorney general or of the mayor, or of one or more taxable inhabitants of a city, town or district authorized by law to incur debt, or of any creditor to whom it is indebted to an amount not less than one thousand dollars, may compel such city, town or district, and its assessors, collectors, treasurers, commissioners of sinking funds and other proper officers, to conform to this chapter.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 60 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 60 - Penalty for Violation of Law Controlling Handling of Town and District Notes

Section 60. A town treasurer or a treasurer of a district, who violates any provision of sections twenty-three to twenty-five, inclusive, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 61 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 61 - Penalty for Refusal to Issue Bond in Exchange for Bearer Instruments in Sinking Funds

Section 61. A county, city, town, district or corporation which neglects or refuses to issue a bond, note or certificate in accordance with section fifty-two when requested so to do by the sinking fund commissioners of any city, town or district shall be subject to a penalty of not more than fifty dollars.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 62 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 62 - Penalty for Violation of Provisions of Chapter by Officials

Section 62. Any city, town or district officer who knowingly violates, or authorizes or directs any official or employee to violate, any provision of this chapter, or any other provision of general law relating to the incurring of liability or expenditure of public funds on account of any city, town or district, or any provision of special law relating to the incurring of liability or expenditure of public funds as aforesaid, shall, except as otherwise provided, be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both; and the mayor, selectmen, prudential committee, or commissioners, shall, and five taxpayers may, report such violation to the district attorney who shall investigate and prosecute the same.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 63 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 63 - Sale or Other Disposal of Realty; Disposition of Proceeds

[ Text of section effective until December 13, 2021. For text effective December 13, 2021, see below.]  Section 63. Whenever the proceeds of the sale or other disposal of real estate, including the taking by eminent domain by another governmental unit, but other than that acquired through tax title foreclosure, by a city, town, or district, exceed five hundred dollars, the same shall be applied to the payment of indebtedness incurred in acquiring such real estate or shall be added to the sinking fund, if any, from which said indebtedness is payable, or if no such indebtedness is outstanding may be used for any purpose or purposes for which the city, town or district is authorized to incur debt for a period of five years or more or be applied to the payment of indebtedness incurred under clause (3) of section seven, except that the proceeds of a sale in excess of five hundred dollars of any park land by a city, town, or district shall be used only by said city, town, or district for acquisition of land for park purposes or for capital improvements to park land. Chapter 44: Section 63. Sale or other disposal of realty; disposition of proceeds [ Text of section as amended by 2021, 102, Sec. 26 effective December 13, 2021. For text effective until December 13, 2021, see above.]  Section 63. Whenever the proceeds of the sale or other disposal of real estate, including the taking by eminent domain by another governmental unit, but other than that acquired through tax title foreclosure, by a city, town, or district, exceed five hundred dollars, the same shall be applied to the payment of indebtedness incurred in acquiring such real estate or shall be added to the sinking fund, if any, from which said indebtedness is payable, or if no such indebtedness is outstanding may be used for any purpose or purposes for which the city, town or district is authorized to incur debt for a period of five years or more or be applied to the payment of indebtedness incurred under section 7 to purchase land, or interests in land, or to construct or enlarge buildings, including the cost of original equipment and furnishings of the buildings or enlargements, except that the proceeds of a sale in excess of five hundred dollars of any park land by a city, town, or district shall be used only by said city, town, or district for acquisition of land for park purposes or for capital improvements to park land.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 63a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 63a - Sales of Public Land; Payment of Taxes

Section 63A. Whenever in any fiscal year a town, which term, as used in this section, shall include a city, shall sell any real estate, the board or officer executing the deed therefor in the name and behalf of the town shall, as a condition precedent to the power to deliver such deed, receive from the grantee as a payment in lieu of taxes allocable to the days ensuing in said fiscal year after the date of such deed, a sum which shall be equal to such portion of a pro forma tax computed as hereinafter provided as would be allocable to the days aforesaid if such pro forma tax were apportioned pro rata according to the number of days in such fiscal year; provided, however, that whenever the said real estate shall be sold between January second and June thirtieth of the fiscal year, the town shall also receive an additional amount equal to the entire pro forma tax computed as hereinafter provided and allocable as a payment in lieu of taxes for the next succeeding fiscal year. Such pro forma tax shall be computed by applying the town's tax rate for the fiscal year of the sale, or, if such rate is not known, the town's tax rate for the fiscal year next preceding that of the sale, to the sale price after crediting any exemption to which, if the deed had been executed and delivered on January first of such next preceding fiscal year, the grantee would have been entitled under section five of chapter fifty-nine. A recitation in the deed that there has been full compliance with the provisions of this section shall be conclusive evidence of such fact. Sums received under this section shall not be subject to section sixty-three of this chapter or to section forty-three of chapter sixty, but shall be credited as general funds of the town.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 64 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 64 - Payment of Bills Incurred in Excess of Appropriations

Section 64. Any town or city having unpaid bills of previous fiscal years which may be legally unenforceable due to the insufficiency of an appropriation in the fiscal year in which such bills were incurred may, in the case of a town, at an annual meeting by a four fifths vote, or at a special meeting by a nine tenths vote, of the voters present and voting at a meeting duly called, and, in the case of a city which accepts this section, by a two thirds vote of the city council, appropriate money to pay such bills; but no bill or payroll shall be approved for payment or paid from an appropriation voted under authority of this section unless and until certificates have been signed and filed with the selectmen or the city auditor, as the case may be, as hereinafter provided, stating under the penalties of perjury that the goods, materials or services for which bills have been submitted were ordered by an official or employee of the town or city and that such goods and materials were delivered and actually received by the town or city or that such services were rendered to or for the town or city, as the case may be.  Every such certificate that goods, materials or services were so ordered shall be signed and filed by the official or employee of the town or city who ordered the same or, if he has ceased to be an official or employee of the town or city, by any official or employee of the town or city; every such certificate of delivery to the town or city of goods or materials shall be signed and filed by the vendor thereof or, if such vendor is a corporation, shall be signed and filed by the treasurer thereof; every such certificate that goods or materials were received by the town or city shall be signed and filed by an official or employee of the town or city; and every such certificate of services rendered to or for a town or city shall be signed and filed by the person who rendered such services.  This section shall not prohibit or prevent appropriations by a majority vote for bills or obligations of previous fiscal years due to any other town or to a district, a city, a county or the commonwealth, or for legally incurred debt and interest the payment of which is provided for by any general or special law.  This section shall apply to districts.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 65 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 65 - Vacation Pay; Advances to Employees

Section 65. In any city which accepts this section by vote of the city council, with the approval of the mayor, and in any town which accepts this section at a town meeting, advances of pay may be made to any officer or employee thereof in advance of his regular vacation to the extent of the pay to which he is about to be entitled during such vacation period under such regulations as the city or town treasurer may prescribe.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 66 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 66 - Advances to Public Employees

Section 66. In any city having a plan E or plan D charter with the approval of the city manager, in any other city with the approval of the mayor, and in towns with the approval of the selectmen, advances may be made to any officer or employee thereof in anticipation of necessary expenses authorized to be incurred under the provisions of clause (34) of section five of chapter forty subject, however, to such regulations as the treasurer thereof shall from time to time prescribe.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 68 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 68 - Retroactive Salary Increases

Section 68. Whenever a city, town or district votes to grant a salary increase to all or any of its employees, such increase may be retroactive to a date not earlier than the beginning of the fiscal year prior to the date of such vote.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 69 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 69 - Municipal or District Services, Fees or Charges; Insufficient Funds Checks or Electronic Funds Transfers; Penalty

Section 69. If a check or electronic funds transfer in payment of a municipal or district service rendered or fee or charge imposed is not duly paid, there may, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be imposed on the person who tendered such check or electronic funds transfer, upon notice and demand by the city, town or district treasurer, a penalty in the same amount as that imposed under the provisions of section fifty-seven A of chapter sixty.  Any person upon whom such penalty is imposed may, within sixty days of the imposition of such penalty, appeal in writing to the city, town or district treasurer who shall abate the same if it is determined that such check or electronic funds transfer was tendered in good faith with reasonable cause to believe that it would be paid.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 70 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 70 - Payment for Municipal Programs, Services, and Activities; Federal Government Reimbursements and Other Resources

Section 70. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections thirty-one and fifty-three, any city or town may, by vote of its town meeting, town council or city council authorize the collector, treasurer or other department head, with the approval of the selectmen, town manager or mayor, to enter into contracts to identify and pursue federal government reimbursements for, or other revenues or available resources that may be generated by, programs or activities being carried out by the municipality, and to provide that payments for services under such contracts may be made from the reimbursements or revenues recovered as a result of the services performed without appropriation of such revenues. The provision of this section shall not apply to reimbursements, revenues or resources that may be available from the medical care and assistance program administered by the commonwealth pursuant to chapter one hundred and eighteen E.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 71 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 71 - Contracts for Revenue Raising Activities; Regulations and Guidelines; Negotiation

Section 71. Contracts under the authority of section seventy shall be subject to such regulations and guidelines as the commissioner of revenue may issue. The commissioner of revenue is further authorized to negotiate contracts with vendors for particular types of services to be provided and paid for under the terms of said section seventy, and cities and towns may enter into such contracts negotiated by the commissioner with the vendors designated by the commissioner without complying with the provisions of chapter thirty B.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 73 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 73 - Requests for Proposals for Design and Construction Services in Public-Private Partnership Development Agreement Seeking Assistance Under Chapter 29c; Technical Assistance From Public-Private Partnership Infrastructure Oversight Commission

Section 73. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any design and construction services included in a public-private partnership development agreement seeking assistance under chapter 29C may request technical assistance from the public-private partnership infrastructure oversight commission, established by section 73 of chapter 6C, on all requests for proposals for design-build-finance-operate-maintain or design-build-operate-maintain services.
MA Gen L ch 44a § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44a - Qualified Bond Act|Section 1 - Definitions

Section 1. For the purposes of this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings:—  ''Commissioner'', the commissioner of revenue.  ''Debt service'', payments of principal and interest upon qualified bonds issued pursuant to this chapter.  ''Director'', the director of the bureau of accounts.  ''Distributable aid'', distributions to the several cities, towns, and regional school districts under the provisions of section eighteen A and eighteen C of chapter fifty-eight.  ''Municipal finance oversight board'' or ''Board'' shall mean a board composed of the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state auditor, and the director of accounts in the department of revenue, or their designees.  ''Qualified bonds'', those bonds of a city, town or regional school district authorized and issued in accordance with the Qualified Bond Act.  ''Qualified Bond Act'', chapter forty-four A of the General Laws.
MA Gen L ch 44a § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44a - Qualified Bond Act|Section 2 - Application to Qualify Bonds; Investigation; Costs

Section 2. Whenever a city, town or regional school district votes, in accordance with law, to incur debt and to issue bonds for any purpose or purposes for which it is authorized by law to borrow, the treasurer of the city, town or regional school district, with the approval of the city council and city manager, if any, or otherwise the mayor in a city, the board of selectmen in a town, or the regional district school committee, as the case may be, may file an application and certified copy of the vote as passed with the board to qualify the bonds pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. Upon receipt of the application, the board shall cause an investigation to be made, taking into consideration the need for the improvements to be financed from the proceeds of the proposed qualified bonds, the ability of the city, town or regional school district and all other entities which include all or any part of its territory to provide other essential public improvements and services and to pay when due the principal and interest on its debts, the reasonableness of the amounts to be expended for each of the purposes or improvements to be financed, the amount of state local aid payments likely to be made to the city, town or regional school district with the payments to be made on the proposed bonds, and such other factors as the board may deem necessary or advisable. The cost of the investigation shall be assessed against the city, town or regional school district and may be paid from the proceeds of the qualified bonds or of any temporary notes in anticipation of the sale of the bonds. The costs assessed shall in no case be less than two hundred and fifty dollars.
MA Gen L ch 44a § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44a - Qualified Bond Act|Section 3 - Resolution of Board to Authorize Qualified Bonds; Release

Section 3. If the investigation determines to the satisfaction of the board that such city, town or regional school district should be entitled to issue qualified bonds, the board may by resolution authorize such city, town or regional school district to issue such qualified bonds. In considering any vote submitted to it and before certifying its approval thereof and authorization of qualified bonds, the board may require, in writing, the city council, town meeting or regional district school committee to adopt resolutions restricting or limiting any future proceedings with respect to the authorization of bonds or other matters deemed by the board to affect any estimate made or to be made by it as a result of the investigation made in accordance with section two. Every resolution so adopted shall constitute a valid and binding obligation of the city, town or regional school district running to and enforceable by the board; provided, however, that upon application of the city, town or regional school district, the board may, after investigation thereof, release the city, town or regional school district from any restrictions or limitations contained in the resolution, if it finds that such release is in the best interests of the city, town or regional school district and will not impair the security of the qualified bonds.