2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases › Title IV - Certain Writs and Proceedings in Special Cases › Chapter 252 - Improvement of Low Land and Swamps › Section 5a - Improvements; Undertaking Without Forming District; Commissioners; Powers; Mosquito Control

Section 5A. If the board determines that the proposed improvements should be undertaken and that their construction and maintenance may be effected without the formation of a district, and in every such case where the board is petitioned by a body politic in its governmental capacity under section four A, it shall notify all persons and bodies politic to be benefited thereby of the estimated expense of constructing the proposed improvements, including land damages, if any, and of the maintenance thereof. Upon receipt of sums of money sufficient to cover such estimated construction expense, or of any money which can be used for such purposes to the advantage of the contributors, the board shall designate an identifying name under which said improvements shall be made and shall deposit the money so received with the state treasurer, who shall hold such money in a special fund or funds for such purpose, and shall disburse the same on warrants drawn by the board. Said fund shall be known as the Mosquito and Greenhead Fly Control Fund. Notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty A of chapter fifty-nine or any other general or special law to the contrary, the state treasurer shall assess the members of any mosquito control district up to one hundred percent of the amount determined by the board to be necessary during any fiscal year for the expenditures on behalf of said district and for the cost of the board. The board shall thereupon issue a certificate appointing one or more commissioners, who shall be sworn to the faithful performance of their duties, and shall authorize said commissioners to proceed to make the improvements, which may be made at such places, either within or without the commonwealth, as may be necessary or convenient to make the improvements effective; and said commissioners shall thereupon proceed so to do. The board shall fix the compensation of said commissioners and shall allow them their necessary travel and other expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties. Such compensation and expenses shall constitute a part of the expense of making and maintaining such improvements. Any commissioner may be removed by the board for cause and the board may fill vacancies. The board may discharge the commissioners when the improvements are completed and may appoint others to care for maintenance. Any excess funds received under authority of this section shall be returned to the contributors thereof in proportion to the contributions. If the sums so estimated are not sufficient to complete such improvements, the board shall determine the amount of the estimated additional cost thereof and shall notify the original contributors of their shares of such additional cost. The board shall instruct the commissioners not to continue with such improvements until such additional funds are received by the board, and such commissioners, after receipt of such instructions, shall incur no further expense in connection with such improvements until authorized so to do by the board. If one or more, but less than all, of several petitioners provide their respective proportions of the fund estimated as necessary to make such improvements, the board may appoint commissioners to make such portion of such improvements as, in its opinion, will benefit the contributors. For the purpose of effecting such improvements and providing for their maintenance as provided in this section, the board shall have all the powers conferred by sections two, three, four, five, except the last paragraph thereof, and eight, and the commissioners by it appointed shall have all the powers conferred upon district commissioners under sections twelve and thirteen, including the power to purchase land for the construction of buildings thereon and the purchase of other property for the purpose of storage and maintenance of equipment and other related uses and all construction and erection of buildings on such lands shall be subject to the provisions of section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one, where applicable, when taking by eminent domain, land or other property or any interest therein, the commissioners so appointed shall take or acquire the same in the name and on behalf of the city or town wherein the land or other property or interests are situated, but not until such city or town has duly authorized such taking, has assumed all liability for damages therefor and has complied with all provisions of law applicable to land takings by cities or towns. All amounts for which a city or town may be liable hereunder, together with interest and costs, may be contributed by persons or bodies politic benefited by such improvements in proportion to their respective benefits or otherwise. Any city or town included in an area designated by an identifying name, under any general or special law, as a mosquito control project for the purposes of this section, which has withdrawn from membership in such project may, with the approval of the board and upon such conditions as the board may prescribe, vote to become a member of the existing mosquito control project within its area. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, all mosquito control projects constituted hereunder shall be assessed annually by the Mosquito and Greenhead Fly Control Fund relative to their proportional share of expenses for the administration of the state reclamation board.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, expenditures and other financial uses charged to said fund shall not be subject to appropriation, and shall include salaries and other costs of state employees, operational expenses, acquisition of capital equipment and property, and other expenses deemed necessary to the state reclamation board's successful operation as determined by the director of said board. Revenue and other financial sources credited to said fund shall include funds made available pursuant to this chapter, and interest income from investments made by the treasurer on behalf of the fund. For the purpose of accommodating timing discrepancies between the receipt of revenues and related expenditures, notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the board may incur expenses and the comptroller may certify for payment amounts in anticipation of receipts. The board shall annually certify to the comptroller that expenditures for the fiscal year do not exceed related assessments. The certification shall not give the board the authority to modify the budget approved by a mosquito control project without the mosquito control project's approval.
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (f) of section 6B of chapter 29 of the General Laws, the Mosquito and Greenhead Fly Fund, and any expenditure accounts associated with the fund, shall not be subject to indirect cost assessments by the comptroller.