reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 44 § 22c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 22c - Security for Bonds or Notes; Insurance, Letters or Lines of Credit, Trust Agreements

Section 22C. Bonds or notes issued by a town or district may be secured in whole or in part by insurance or by letters or lines of credit or other credit facilities upon a two-thirds vote of the board of selectmen of the town or a two-thirds vote of the prudential committee, if any, otherwise the board or commissioners of the district. Any such insurance, letter or line of credit or credit facility may provide for reimbursement to be made over such period of time, not to exceed two years beyond the maturity date of the bonds or notes so secured, as the officers authorized to issue the bonds or notes shall deem proper and may provide for interest on such reimbursement to be paid at such rate or rates of interest as the officers authorized to issue the bonds or notes shall deem proper, including rates variable from time to time as determined by such index, banker's loan rate or other method as may be specified therein. For the purpose of securing its bonds or notes, a town or district, acting by its treasurer, upon a two-thirds vote of the board of selectmen of the town, or a two-thirds vote of the prudential committee, if any, otherwise the board or commissioners of the district may enter into a trust agreement between the town or district and a corporate trustee which shall be a bank or trust company doing business in the commonwealth. Any such trust agreement, and any other agreements necessary or incidental to the issuance of such bonds or notes, shall be in such form as may be deemed proper by the officers authorized to issue the bonds or notes, and shall be executed by such officers. It shall be lawful for any bank or trust company doing business in the commonwealth to act as a depository or trustee under any such trust agreement and to furnish such indemnification and pledge such securities as may be required by the town or district. Any trustee under a trust agreement established pursuant to this section may bring suit upon the bonds or notes and may, either at law or equity, by suit, action, mandamus or other proceedings for legal or equitable relief, enforce all rights under the laws of the commonwealth or granted hereunder or under such trust agreement, and may enforce and compel the performance of all duties required under such trust agreement to be performed by the town or district or by any officer thereof. All expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this section may be treated by the town or district as a cost of preparing, issuing and marketing its bonds or notes.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 23 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 23 - Forms for Notes

Section 23. The director shall furnish to the treasurer of every city, town and district, forms for the issue of notes for money borrowed by the city, town or district. Every such note shall contain blanks for insertion of the amount thereof, the date of issue, which shall be construed as the date from which interest is payable, the interest which it bears, the date when it will become due, and such other matters as the director may deem necessary; and a record of every such note shall be kept by said treasurer in such form as the director may designate. The director may place upon notes submitted to him for certification such denominations as will show the purpose for which they are issued and as may be required by law to appear thereon.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 24 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 24 - Authentication; Certification

Section 24. When a city, town or district votes to borrow money otherwise than by the issue of bonds, the treasurer thereof may make notes for the amount of the proposed loan, and may use one or more, in serial order, of the forms provided for in section twenty-three, with the blank spaces properly filled in. Notes issued hereunder shall be signed and countersigned as provided in section sixteen or other applicable provisions of law in the presence of the clerk of the city, town or district, who shall certify to the fact on the face thereof. The treasurer of the city, town or district, after making a record of the transaction in accordance with section twenty-three, shall forward, with the fee required by section twenty-six, every such note to the director, with a copy of said record and a copy of the order or vote authorizing the loan, certified by the clerk of the city, town or district, and a certification by said clerk that the person whose signature appears upon the note as treasurer was the duly authorized treasurer of the city, town or district when such signature was made, and that the persons whose countersignatures appear upon the note were duly qualified as such when such countersignatures were made; and the treasurer of such city, town or district shall furnish such other information as the director may require to enable the director properly to certify the note. If upon examination the note appears to the director to have been duly issued in accordance with law and the vote of the city, town, or district authorizing it, or in accordance with an act of the general court, and to have been signed by the duly qualified officials of such city, town or district, he shall so certify and shall thereupon return the note by registered mail to the treasurer of such city, town or district or shall deliver it in hand to such treasurer or to his duly authorized agent; but, under such regulations as he may prescribe, if so authorized by the signers of the note, the director may deliver a certified note to the payee thereof or deliver it to a bank or trust company to be credited to the account of such city, town or district. He may certify to the issue of a note on any date not earlier than five days prior to the date of issue appearing on the note, if the other conditions of this chapter have been complied with. He shall not certify a note payable on demand, nor shall he certify any note unless the laws relating to municipal indebtedness have been complied with, or if it appears that the proceeds of the note are not to be used for the purpose specified in the vote authorizing the loan for which the note is issued. The director may use a facsimile signature machine or stamp for the purpose of certifying notes under this section and such facsimile shall have the same legal effect as the director's manual signature.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 24a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 24a - Bearer Instruments

Section 24A. City, town and district notes may be made payable to ''bearer'', and when so issued section twenty-four may be construed by the director as being properly complied with in so far as it relates to the proper filling in of any space provided for the name of the purchaser or registered holder of the loan, and the director may certify such notes; provided that before certification there shall be filed with the director by the city, town or district treasurer, as the case may be, the name of the purchaser of such loan.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 27 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 27 - Certification; Evidence of Liability

Section 27. The certification of city, town or district notes by the director shall be prima facie evidence of the liability of such city, town or district therefor.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 27a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 27a - Effect of Provisions on Power to Issue Notes

Section 27A. The provisions of sections twenty-three to twenty-seven, inclusive, shall be deemed to provide an additional and alternative means of carrying out the purposes thereof and shall not effect the power of cities, towns and districts to issue notes under and subject to other provisions of law.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 28 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 28 - Report to Director of Accounts Required

Section 28. Whenever a city, town or district votes to authorize the incurrence of indebtedness, the city, town or district clerk, as the case may be, shall, within forty-eight hours after the vote becomes effective, furnish to the director a copy thereof; and whenever a loan is issued by a city, the city treasurer shall notify the director of the amount and purpose of the loan, and shall state whether it be in the form of bonds or notes; and whenever a loan is issued by a town or district in the form of bonds, the treasurer thereof shall notify the director of the amount and purpose thereof. City, town and district treasurers shall also furnish the director, upon request, with any other information in respect to the authorization and issue of loans, which he may require to enable him to keep a complete and accurate record of indebtedness authorized or incurred by cities, towns and districts.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 28a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 28a - Applicability of Finance Law to School Districts

[ Text of section effective until December 13, 2021. For text effective December 13, 2021, see below.]  Section 28A. The provisions of sections sixteen to twenty-eight, inclusive, shall, so far as apt, apply to regional school districts established under the provisions of section fifteen of chapter seventy-one, but the provisions of section sixteen relating to the countersigning of bonds and notes and the provisions of section twenty-four relating to the countersigning and approval of notes and the certificates of the clerk relating thereto shall not apply to such districts. Chapter 44: Section 28A. Applicability of finance law to school districts [ Text of section as amended by 2021, 102, Sec. 21 effective December 13, 2021. For text effective until December 13, 2021, see above.]  Section 28A. The provisions of sections sixteen to twenty-eight, inclusive, shall, so far as apt, apply to regional school districts established under the provisions of section fifteen of chapter seventy-one, but the provisions of section sixteen relating to the countersigning of bonds and notes, the provisions of section 21C relating to lease purchase financing agreements and the provisions of section twenty-four relating to the countersigning and approval of notes and the certificates of the clerk relating thereto shall not apply to such districts.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 28b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 28b - Applicability of Finance Law to Planning Districts

Section 28B. The provisions of sections sixteen to twenty-eight, inclusive, shall, so far as apt, apply to planning districts established under the provisions of chapter forty B, but the provisions of section sixteen relating to the countersigning of notes by a majority of the commission and the provisions of section twenty-four relating to the countersigning and approval of notes by a majority of the commission shall not apply to such districts.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 30 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 30 - Determination of Amount of Appropriation for Departments

Section 30. A city, except Boston, wherein the appropriation for any department is determined by law at a certain rate or percentage of the taxable valuation or the valuation of the taxable property therein, or however otherwise the same may be described, shall, in addition to the amount so determined, appropriate and use for such department such proportion of the proceeds of the tax upon incomes, returned by the commonwealth to the city under section eighteen of chapter fifty-eight, as the appropriation so determined by law bears to the total local tax levy of that city for the current fiscal year; but in each fiscal year such departments shall be credited with their proportion of the income tax received during the preceding fiscal year.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 31a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 31a - Report of Estimated Expenses; Period Covered; Contents

Section 31A. Every officer of any city except Boston having charge of, or jurisdiction over, any office, department or undertaking, requesting an appropriation shall, between November first and December first of each year, furnish the mayor and the city auditor, or officer having similar duties, on forms provided by the city auditor or officer having similar duties, and approved by the bureau of accounts in the department of corporations and taxation, detailed estimates of the full amounts deemed necessary for the next fiscal year for the ordinary maintenance of the office, department or undertaking under his charge or jurisdiction, and for expenditures other than the ordinary maintenance, with the amounts, if any, expended for similar purposes during the preceding fiscal year and during the first four months of the then current fiscal year, and an estimate of the amounts required to be expended for such purposes during the last eight months of the then current fiscal year, giving explanatory statements of any differences between the amount of any estimate for the next fiscal year and the amount expended or estimated to be required as aforesaid.  The information hereby required to be furnished shall set forth the number of permanent or temporary employees, or both, requested in each classification or rating in the next fiscal year and the number of permanent or temporary employees, or both, employed on October thirty-first of the then fiscal year, or the nearest week-end thereto, except laborers and persons performing the duties of laborers, with the annual, monthly, weekly or hourly compensation of such employees, and shall state whether such compensation is fixed by ordinance or otherwise and whether or not such employees are subject to chapter thirty-one.  The foregoing shall not prevent any city, upon recommendation of the mayor, from so setting forth the number of permanent or temporary laborers and persons performing the duties of laborers, or both such permanent and temporary laborers and persons, with the annual, monthly, weekly or hourly compensation of such employees.  The city auditor, or officer having similar duties, shall forthwith at the close of each calendar year furnish the mayor with a written report of the money received from estimated receipts applicable to the payment of expenditures of the first six months of the then current fiscal year, with an estimate of such receipts for the last six months of such year and for the next fiscal year.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 31c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 31c - Construction Contracts; Certificate as to Availability of Funds; Effect of Certificate Upon Defense of Insufficiency of Appropriations

Section 31C. No contract for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, remodeling, repair or demolition of any public building or public work by any city or town costing more than two thousand dollars shall be deemed to have been made until the auditor or accountant or other officer of the city or town having similar duties has certified thereon that an appropriation in the amount of such contract is available therefor and that an officer or agent of the city, town or awarding authority has been authorized to execute said contract and approve all requisitions and change orders. No order to the contractor for a change in or addition to the work to be performed under a contract subject to this section, whether in the form of a drawing, plan, detail or any other written instruction, unless it is an order which the contractor is willing to perform without any increase in the contract price, shall be deemed to have been given until the auditor or accountant, or other officer of the city or town having similar duties, has certified thereon that an appropriation in the amount of such order is available therefor; but such certificate shall not be construed as an admission by the city or town of its liability to pay for such work. The certificate of the auditor or accountant or other officer of the city or town having similar duties, that an appropriation in the amount of such contract or order is available shall bar any defense by the city or town on the grounds of insufficient appropriation; and any law barring payment in excess of appropriations shall not apply to amounts covered by any certificate under this section.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 31d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 31d - Snow and Ice Removal; Emergency Expenditures; Reporting Requirements

Section 31D. Any city or town may incur liability and make expenditures in any fiscal year in excess of available appropriations for snow and ice removal, provided that such expenditures are approved by the chief administrative officer; provided, however, that the appropriation for such purposes in said fiscal year equaled or exceeded the appropriation for said purposes in the prior fiscal year. Expenditures made under authority of this section shall be certified to the board of assessors and included in the next annual tax rate.  Every city or town shall annually, not later than September fifteenth, report to the division of local services of the department of revenue the total amounts appropriated and expended, including any funding or reimbursements received from the commonwealth, for snow and ice removal in the fiscal year ending on the preceding June thirtieth.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 33 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 33 - Power of Council to Add to Appropriation; Conditions; Limitations

Section 33. In case of the failure of the mayor to transmit to the city council a written recommendation for an appropriation for any purpose not included in the annual budget, which is deemed necessary by the council, after having been so requested by vote thereof, said council, after the expiration of seven days from such vote, upon its own initiative may make such appropriation by a vote of at least two thirds of its members, and shall in all cases clearly specify the amount to be expended for each particular purpose, but no appropriation may be voted hereunder so as to fix specific salaries of employees under the direction of boards elected by the people, other than the city council.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 33a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 33a - Salary Provisions in Budget; Requirements and Limitations

Section 33A. The annual budget shall include sums sufficient to pay the salaries of officers and employees fixed by law or by ordinance. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of any city charter, no ordinance providing for an increase in the salaries or wages of municipal officers or employees shall be enacted except by a two thirds vote of the city council, nor unless it is to be operative for more than three months during the calendar year in which it is passed. No new position shall be created or increase in rate made by ordinance, vote or appointment during the financial year subsequent to the submission of the annual budget unless provision therefor has been made by means of a supplemental appropriation. No ordinance, vote or appointment creating a new position in any year in which a municipal election is held shall be valid and effective unless said ordinance, vote or appointment is operative for more than three months during said municipal election year.
MA Gen L ch 44 § 33b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44 - Municipal Finance|Section 33b - Transfer of Appropriations; Restrictions

Section 33B. (a) On recommendation of the mayor, the city council may, by majority vote, transfer any amount appropriated for the use of any department to another appropriation for the same department. In addition, the city council may, by majority vote, on recommendation of the mayor, transfer within the last 2 months of any fiscal year, or during the first 15 days of the new fiscal year, to apply to the previous fiscal year, any amount appropriated, other than for the use of a municipal light department or a school department, to any other appropriation. Except as provided in the preceding sentence, no transfer shall be made of any amount appropriated for the use of any city department to the appropriation for any other department except by a 2/3 vote of the city council on recommendation of the mayor and with the written approval of the amount of the transfer by the department having control of the appropriation from which the transfer is proposed to be made. No transfer involving a municipal light department or a school department shall be made under the previous sentence without the approval of the amount of the transfer by a vote of the municipal light department board or by a vote of the school committee, respectively.  (b) A town may, by majority vote at any meeting duly held, transfer any amount previously appropriated to any other use authorized by law. Alternatively, the selectmen, with the concurrence of the finance committee or other entity established under section 16 of chapter 39, may transfer within the last 2 months of any fiscal year, or during the first 15 days of the new fiscal year to apply to the previous fiscal year, any amount appropriated, other than for the use of a municipal light department or a school department, to any other appropriation.  (c) No approval other than that expressly provided in this section shall be required for any transfer under this section.