Author: Municipal Finance Law Bureau
This month's Ask DLS features frequently asked questions concerning municipal charges collection. Please let us know if you have other areas of interest or send a question to cityandtown@dor.state.ma.us. We would like to hear from you.
Can a municipality add a delinquent trash charge to a property owner’s tax bill?
G.L. c. 44, § 28C(f) authorizes cities and towns to establish and collect fees and charges for any solid waste disposal facilities or services. The statute provides that in collecting and enforcing those fees and charges, communities have all "the powers and privileges granted to them by law with respect to any similar fee or other charge including but not limited to ...[ those] granted ... under the provisions of" G.L. c. 40, §§ 42A-42F and G.L. c. 83, §§ 16A-16F. Those statutes establish a lien, which arises automatically by operation of law, for delinquent water and sewer charges and permit collection of those charges by adding them to the real estate tax on the property. In order to use those collection procedures, a city or town must first accept the statutes and record a certificate of acceptance at the registry of deeds, among other requirements. G.L. c. 40, § 42A; G.L. c. 83, § 16A. The language in G.L. c. 44, § 28C(f) establishes an automatic lien for delinquent trash charges and fees which allows municipalities to collect those charges by adding them to the property tax bills in the same manner as unpaid water and sewer charges.
Are there any other alternatives to collecting delinquent trash charges?
As an alternative, the town could establish a lien for trash fees under G.L. c. 40, § 58. That statute authorizes cities and towns to impose a lien for any municipal charge. A town meeting vote would also be required to do so. Under this statute, however, the lien does not arise automatically. Instead, the delinquent fees must be recorded by parcel and name at the registry of deeds to create the lien. The recording fees must be paid initially by the municipality. Once the recording is made, the unpaid fee can then be added to and collected as part of the tax on the property.
How long do liens for assessments or charges stay in effect?
Liens vary in duration. The governing statute must be followed to ensure that the delinquent assessments or charges are added to the real estate tax, and the collector perfects the lien for those assessments or charges by a tax taking or sale, before the lien expires. For collection purposes, perfected real estate tax liens secure not only real estate taxes but also unpaid betterments, special assessments and municipal charges that constitute liens and have been added to and committed with the tax by the assessors. Liens also secure the interest and collection charges that accrue by law. In municipalities that have tax-levying districts, such as water or fire districts, the collector’s tax taking or sale should include unpaid district taxes and charges constituting liens as well and the taking will also perfect those liens.
Once added to the tax bill, can these charges be abated?
If taxpayers think there is an error or partial error for any of the charges discussed above which appear on the tax bill, they can file an application for an abatement with the board or department which imposed the charge just as is done for water bills and sewer bills as discussed in G.L. c. 40, § 42E and c. 83, § 16E, respectively.
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Editor: Dan Bertrand
Editorial Board: Marcia Bohinc, Linda Bradley, Sean Cronin, Emily Izzo, Lisa Krzywicki and Tony Rassias
| Date published: | January 5, 2023 |
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