Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section fifty-three of chapter forty-four of the General Laws or any other provisions of law to the contrary, the town of Amesbury is hereby authorized to establish a special account to be known as the "Amesbury Municipal Hospital Operations Account", into which account shall be deposited all receipts, revenues and funds from any source derived from any activity of Amesbury Municipal Hospital. For the purpose of providing health care said town may, at any time during the fiscal year, appropriate monies into said account. Donations from private sources also may be received and placed into said account, as well as monies from other sources as authorized by law.

SECTION 2. Said account shall be maintained by the town treasurer of said town. Said treasurer may invest the monies in said account in the manner authorized by sections fifty-five and fifty-five A of chapter forty-four of the General Laws. The interest accruing upon said account shall inure solely to the benefit of Amesbury Municipal Hospital. Said account shall be maintained in accordance with law. The books and records of the hospital pertaining to said account shall be maintained in accordance with generally accepted principles of accounting. Said account shall be audited annually by an independent certified public accountant. Such audit reports shall be submitted to the board of trustees of said hospital and to the town manager, town accountant, town treasurer, finance committee, and the board of selectmen of said town.

SECTION 3. The administrator of Amesbury Municipal Hospital, with the town treasurer of said town, shall file with the board of trustees of said hospital; the board of selectmen, finance committee, town accountant, and the bureau of accounts of the commonwealth, a written report of the said account established pursuant to section one of this act within one hundred and twenty days after the books of said hospital are closed for each fiscal year. Such report shall include audited financial statements relating to the operations, maintenance, capital, and real and personal properties of said hospital.

SECTION 4. The town treasurer of said town, upon written request of said administrator, with the approval by said board of trustees of said hospital and the town manager of said town, and by a two-thirds vote of the board of selectmen of said town, shall advance funds from the general fund of the town, in anticipation of the receipt of revenues of Amesbury Municipal Hospital for the same fiscal year. All sums so advanced shall be deposited into the said account established under the provisions of section one of this act and said hospital shall, prior to the end of the fiscal year in which advances were made from the general fund, repay said advances from said account. Said repayment shall include an amount equal to the interest, as determined by the town treasurer of said town, allocable to any debt incurred by said town in anticipation of revenue, in order to make such advances to said hospital during the same fiscal year. Any deficiency resulting from advances hereunder shall be raised by taxation from among the residents of said town subject to all applicable provisions of chapter fifty-nine of the General Laws.

SECTION 5. Said administrator shall annually, not later than one hundred and twenty days prior to the expiration of each fiscal year, submit to the town manager of said town a proposed line-item budget as approved by the board of trustees of said hospital. Said town manager shall transmit to said board of selectmen and said finance committee within thirty days thereafter his recommendation concerning approval thereof in whole or in part. Said board of selectmen and said finance committee shall submit their recommendation at the annual town meeting of said town which shall act upon it in the same manner as all other budgets.

Expenditures from said account shall be made by said administrator with the consent and approval of the board of trustees of said hospital, town manager, and the town accountant of said town, to be used solely for the operation and maintenance and for the provisions of capital, equipment, and plant for said hospital.

SECTION 6. This act shall take effect upon acceptance by the town of Amesbury.