2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 5f - Holding Municipalities or Districts; Tax Liability for Lands Held in Other Municipalities or Districts; Stumpage Fees

Section 5F. Land acquired on or after January first, nineteen hundred and forty-six, by a municipality or a district including land held by or for the watershed system of the division of watershed management and by or for the waterworks system of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, as successors to the metropolitan water district, and held on January first in any year for any public purpose by such municipality, in this section referred to as the holding municipality, or by such district, if such land is located in a municipality other than such holding municipality, or, in the case of land so acquired and held by a district, in a municipality other than the municipality or municipalities in which the district lies or which constitute the district, shall, with all buildings and other things erected thereon or affixed thereto, be exempt from taxation for the next following fiscal year except as hereinafter otherwise provided: such holding municipality or district shall, on July first of such year, pay to the municipality in which such land is located the amount which would be assessable for the next following fiscal year upon a valuation equal to the average of the assessed taxable valuations of the land and all buildings and other things erected thereon or affixed thereto on the three assessment dates next preceding the acquisition of the land, the assessed valuation for each assessment date being reduced by all abatements, if any. If land subject to this section was not separately assessed or was exempt from taxation on any of said assessment dates, the fair cash value of the land and all buildings and other things erected thereon or affixed thereto on such assessment date shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to be the assessed valuation thereof on such date. Payments made by said division or said Authority pursuant to the provisions of this section for the year when a city or town shall have made a general revaluation of all its real property for purposes of taxation shall not be less than payments made to said city or town for the year immediately preceding the general revaluation. Whenever a city or town in which such land is located shall be certified by the commissioner as assessing property at full and fair cash valuation under the provisions of section fifty-six of chapter forty, the valuation of such land shall be determined by the assessors of the municipality in which such land is located as of January first of the year of such certification subject to the commissioner's determination, under the provisions of section one A of chapter fifty-eight and subsection (c) of section two A of this chapter, that said valuations are at full and fair cash valuation. The valuations so determined shall be used for the purpose of payments authorized by this section in the year succeeding such determination and the following years thereafter. The division of watershed management of the metropolitan district commission or the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority or the holding municipality or district, if aggrieved by the determination of the assessors, may within six months after written notice thereof appeal to the appellate tax board.
The assessors of the municipality where land subject to this section lies shall determine the average valuation in accordance with this section and certify such valuation to the holding municipality or district liable under this section. The division of watershed management of the metropolitan district commission, or the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority or the holding municipality or district, if aggrieved by such determination, may within three months, after such certification appeal to the appellate tax board, which shall determine the average valuation in accordance with this section.
In addition to the tax payment hereinbefore provided, any municipality that owns watershed land located in another municipality shall pay annually to the municipality wherein such land is located, a stumpage fee equal to eight per cent of the stumpage value of all forest products cut therefrom with authorization of the owner.
The provisions of chapter sixty-one shall apply to the payment of stumpage fees hereunder.
If rent or any revenue in the nature of rent is received from any part of any real estate subject to this section, the party yielding such rent or revenue shall be subject to taxation. The tax shall be in addition to the amount payable under this section. Revenue received for the use of such portions of a public airport as are used for the taking-off and landing of airplanes, including runways, taxi and transition strips, or revenue received for the use of buildings on a public airport, which are actually and exclusively used for servicing and repairing airplanes, shall not be deemed to be rent or revenue in the nature of rent within the meaning of this paragraph.