Chapter 70 Amendments

SECTION 90.   Said chapter 70, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting the following section:-

Section 6A. (a) Upon the request of the board of selectmen in a town, the city council in a plan E city or the mayor in any other city, the department of revenue may recalculate the required appropriation as defined in section 6. Based on the criteria outlined in this section, the department shall recalculate the required appropriation for a municipality's local and regional schools and shall certify the amounts calculated to the department of education.
          (b) A city or town that used qualifying revenue amounts in a fiscal year which shall not be available for use in the next fiscal year, or that shall be required to use revenues for extraordinary non-school related expenses for which it did not have to use revenues in the preceding fiscal year, or that has an excessive certified municipal revenue growth factor which is also greater than or equal to one and one-half times the state average municipal revenue growth factor, may appeal to the department of revenue not later than October 1, for an adjustment of its required appropriation.
          (c) If a claim is determined to be valid, the department of revenue may reduce proportionately the required appropriation based on the amount of shortfall in revenue or based on the amount of increase in extraordinary expenditures in the current fiscal year, but no adjustment on account of an extraordinary expense shall affect the calculation of the final local effort in subsequent years. Qualifying revenue amounts shall include, but not be limited to, extraordinary amounts of free cash, overlay surplus, and other available funds.
          (d) If, upon submission of adequate documentation, the department of revenue determines that the municipality's claim regarding an excessive municipal revenue growth factor is valid, said department shall recalculate such municipal revenue growth factor and the department of education shall use such revised growth factor to recalculate the final local effort and any other factor that directly or indirectly uses the municipal revenue growth factor. Any relief granted as a result of an excessive municipal revenue growth factor shall be a permanent reduction in the final local effort.
          (e) Upon the request of the board of selectmen in a town, the city council in a plan E city, or the mayor in any other city, in a majority of the member municipalities, a regional school district which used qualifying revenue amounts in a fiscal year that shall not be available for use in the next fiscal year shall appeal to the department of revenue not later than October 1 for an adjustment to its required spending.
          (f) If the claim is determined to be valid, the department of revenue shall reduce the required spending based on the amount of the shortfall in revenue and reduce the base local effort of member municipalities accordingly. Qualifying revenue amounts shall include, but not be limited to, extraordinary amounts of excess and deficiency, surplus, and uncommitted reserves.
          (g) If the regional school budget has already been adopted by two-thirds of the member municipalities, then upon a majority vote of the member municipalities, the regional school committee shall adjust the assessments of the member municipalities in accordance with the reduction in required spending approved by the department of revenue or the department of education in accordance with the provisions of this section.
          (h) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (14) of section 3 of chapter 214 or any other general or special law to the contrary, the amounts so determined shall be deemed to be the base local effort described in this chapter. The house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on education, arts and humanities shall be notified by the department of revenue and the department of education of the amount of any reduction in the final local effort amount.
          (i) In the event that a city or town has an approved budget that exceeds the recalculated minimum required appropriation for its local school system or its regional school districts as provided by this section, the local appropriating authority shall determine the extent to which the community shall avail itself of any relief authorized under this section.
          (j) The amount of financial assistance due from the commonwealth shall not be changed on account of any redetermination of the required appropriation under this section.