Exemption from local taxation. Apportionment. 1864, 208, §§ 8, 15. 1865, 283, § 15. 1887, 228. 1888, 413.23. 1898, 417; 578, 1901, 413.4 R. L. 14, § 61. 135 Mass. 59. 139 Mass. 559. Amended, 1909, 440, § 2. C. Exemption and Apportionment. SECTION 20. No taxes shall be assessed in a city or town for state, county or town purposes upon the shares in the capital stock of an electric railroad company for any year for which it pays to the treasurer and receiver general a tax on its 1866, 291,2 corporate franchise. Such proportion of the tax collected of PS 13$57. each electric railroad company under the provisions of sections seventeen and eighteen as corresponds to the proportion of its line constructed on private land, shall be distributed, credited and paid, in the ratio of the amount of its stock owned by persons residing in this commonwealth, to the several cities and towns in which, from the returns or other evidence, it appears that such persons resided on the preceding first day of [May] April, according to the number of shares so held in such cities and towns respectively. If stock is held by co-partners, guardians, executors, administrators or trustees, the proportion of tax corresponding to the amount of stock so held shall be credited and paid to the cities and towns where the stock would have been taxed under the provisions of clauses four, five, six and seven of section twenty-three and of section twenty-seven of chapter twelve of the Revised Laws. Such proportion of the tax collected from any such electric railroad company under the provisions of sections seventeen and eighteen as corresponds to the proportion of its line located longitudinally upon public ways and places, shall be distributed, credited and paid to the several cities and towns in proportion to the length of tracks operated by such company in such cities and towns respectively. The share of the tax paid by an electric railroad company in respect of its tracks upon locations granted by the board of metropolitan park commissioners or by the Wachusett mountain state reservation commission shall be apportioned to the commonwealth and shall be credited by the treasurer and receiver general to the sinking fund of the loan to which the expenditure for the road, boulevard, park or reservation on which the tracks are located was charged. SECTION 21. The tax commissioner shall, subject to appeal to the board of appeal, ascertain and determine the amount due to each city and town under the provisions of the preceding section, notify the treasurer of each city and town thereof, and certify the amount as finally determined, to the treasurer and receiver general, who shall thereupon pay over the same. D. Commutation Tax. SECTION 22. An electric railroad company, including a company whose lines are located partly within and partly without the limits of the commonwealth, shall annually, on or before the fifteenth day of October, make and file in the office of the board of assessors of every city and town in which any part of the railroad operated by it is situated a return signed and sworn to by its president and treasurer, stating the length of track operated by it longitudinally upon public ways and places in such city or town, and also the total length of track operated by it, determined as provided in section fourteen, and also the amount of its gross receipts during the year ending on the preceding thirtieth day of September, including therein all amounts received by it from the operation of its railroad, but excluding income derived from sale of power, rental of tracks or other sources. 1898, 417; 578, R. L. 14, § 44. SECTION 23. On or before the first day of November an- Excise tax. nually, the assessors of every city and town in which an elec- $7. tric railroad is operated, including a company whose lines are located partly within and partly without the limits of the commonwealth, shall assess on every company described in the preceding section operating a railroad therein an excise tax of an amount equal to such proportion of the following percentages of the gross receipts of such company as the length of tracks operated by it longitudinally upon the public ways and places of such city or town bears to the total length of tracks operated by it. The percentages shall be based upon the annual gross receipts for each mile of track as follows and computed upon the aggregate of such annual gross receipts: four thousand dollars or less, one per cent; more than four thousand dollars and less than seven thousand, two per cent; more than seven thousand dollars and less than fourteen thousand, two and one quarter per cent; more than fourteen thousand dollars and less than twenty-one thousand, two and one half per cent; more than twenty-one thousand dollars and less than twenty-eight thousand, two and three quarters per cent; twenty-eight thousand dollars or more, three per cent. The excise tax provided for by this section shall be in addition to the taxes otherwise provided by law. tax. R. L. 14, § 45. SECTION 24. The aldermen of a city, the selectmen of a Revision of town or an electric railroad company operating in such city or 1898, 578, § 8. town may petition the board of railroad commissioners for a revision of the amount of excise tax to be paid by a company under the provisions of the preceding section. Said board shall, upon such petition, after public notice and a hearing at which the aldermen or selectmen and the company may submit evidence, determine the average annual cost to such city or town of the work done by it during the preceding three years under the provisions of said chapter four hundred and sixtythree, which a street railway company was not by law required to do prior to the first day of October in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and also the average annual payments made by said company to said city or town under and pursuant to the provisions of the preceding section during said three years; and having determined said average annual cost Notice to tax collector of amount of excise tax. 1898, 578, § 9. R. L. 14, § 46. Application of taxes. R. L. 14, § 47. and average annual payments, said board shall fix and determine the proportion of a percentage of the gross receipts which shall be paid as an excise tax under the provisions of said section by the company to said city or town annually thereafter, such percentage to be fixed at such a rate as will be necessary to yield to the city or town annually thereafter an amount equal to the average annual cost to the city or town determined as aforesaid; and the percentage so fixed shall not again be changed for the period of three years and then only in the manner herein provided. Said board may at any time upon petition therefor by a city or town entitled to a part of the excise tax paid by an electric railroad company, after such notice as the board may order to all other cities and towns entitled to share in the excise tax paid by said company, and after a hearing, determine as to the distribution thereof among the several cities and towns in which such company operated any part of its railroad, and fix the proportions thereof to which they shall respectively be entitled, which shall thereafter be the proportions of said excise tax to be assessed upon said company, instead of the proportion based upon length of tracks as herein before provided. SECTION 25. Prior to the fifteenth day of November in each year the assessors of every city and town shall notify the collector of taxes thereof of the amount of excise tax assessed therein under the provisions of section twenty-three, and the collector shall forthwith notify the treasurer of every electric railroad company of the amount of excise tax so assessed upon it, which shall become due and payable within thirty days after the receipt of such notice. The provisions of chapter thirteen of the Revised Laws, so far as they may be appropriate, shall apply to the collection of the said excise tax. E. Application of Taxes. SECTION 26. All taxes which are collected from an electric 1898, 578, § 10. railroad company and paid to cities and towns under the provisions of the preceding section and of section twenty-one shall be applied toward the construction, repair and maintenance of the public ways and places in which the tracks of such company are located, and to the removal of snow from such public. ways and places within such cities and towns. Interested parties. INTERESTED PARTIES. SECTION 27. In any proceeding under this act before the board of railroad commissioners, the mayor and aldermen of any city or the selectmen of any town, any person whose land is to be taken or whose estate abuts upon any highway through which the electric railroad is to pass, and any railroad corporation or street railway company which has a location in any city or town included within the proposed route of the electric railroad company, shall be considered an interested party. [Approved June 22, 1906. F. struction, etc., of railroad to additional Section 28. The location, construction, maintenance, or opera- Location, contion of said lines of railroad in so far as the same are located of certain lines longitudinally upon an elevated structure upon a public way or be deemed an place shall be deemed an additional servitude, and shall entitle servitude, etc. lessees, mortgagees and other parties having an estate in such public ways or places, or in premises which abut thereon, and who are damaged by reason of the location, construction, maintenance and operation of said lines of railroad, to recover reasonable compensation in the manner herein provided. Any such person may, at any time within three years after the construction of such railroad longitudinally upon a public way or place, file in the clerk's office of the superior court for the county where the said premises lie, a petition setting forth his claim against the corporation owning or operating the same, and the amount thereof. He shall give to said corporation fourteen days' notice of the filing of such petition, and answer thereto shall be filed by said corporation within thirty days after the return day of such notice. be heard in certain Section 29. The said petition shall be heard before a jury, if Petition to either party claims that right at the time of the filing of the peti- before a jury tion, or within ten days after the filing of the answer thereto; cases, etc. otherwise, the same shall be heard before the court without a jury. The finding shall be on the following questions, to wit: First, Has the petitioner's estate been damaged more than it has been benefited or improved in value by reason of the location, construction, maintenance or operation of such railroad? Second, If so, how much? If the answer to the first question shall be "No", a verdict shall be rendered for the corporation; otherwise, a verdict shall be rendered for the petitioner for the amount found in answer to the second question, including interest from the day of the filing of the petition. Acts of 1907, Chapter 448. An Act relative to Recovery of Damages by Abutters on Locations of SECTION 1. Chapter five hundred and sixteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six is hereby amended by adding the following sections at the end of said chapter, under the heading F. [For new §§ 28 and 29, see above.] Acts of 1907, Chapter 556, § 1. An Act to extend the Provisions of Law relative to Electric Railroad Companies to the Form of Railway known as the Boynton Bicycle Railway. SECTION 1. The provisions of chapter five hundred and sixteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six and all acts in addition thereto and in amendment thereof shall, so far as they are applicable, apply to the construction, operation and maintenance of the form of railway known as the "Boynton Bicycle Railway." TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH LAWS. The [Massachusetts highway] public service commission to CHAPTER 433 OF THE ACTS OF 1906. AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE SUPERVISION BY THE MASSA- BY ELECTRICITY. SECTION 1. The [Massachusetts highway] public service commission shall have general supervision of all companies engaged in the transmission of intelligence by electricity within this commonwealth, and shall make all necessary examinations and inquiries and keep themselves informed as to the compliance intelligence by of all such companies with the provisions of law. None of said have super vision of companies transmitting electricity, etc. Amended, 1913, 784, § 3. See below. commissioners shall be in the employ of or own any stock in any company engaged in the transmission of intelligence by electricity in this commonwealth, or be in any way, directly or indirectly, pecuniarily interested in the manufacture or sale of any article or commodity used by such companies, or for any purpose connected with the business of transmission of intelligence by electricity, nor shall he be connected with, or in the employ of any person, partnership, association or corporation Compensation. Which finances any such company. Each member of said commission shall receive from the commonwealth annually fifteen hundred dollars in addition to the compensation now provided by law. Issue of capital stock." 1875, 161. P. S. 110, § 7. 1894, 450, § 1; 452, § 1; 462, 1. 1897, 337, § 1. 11 Op. A. G. 659. 179 Mass. 15. 180 Mass. 325. 199 Mass. 352. [2 Op. A. G. 58.] Revised Laws, Chapter 109, §§ 24, 27. ISSUE OF STOCK AND BONDS. SECTION 24. Railroad corporations and street railway companies shall issue only such amounts of stock and bonds, coupon notes and other evidences of indebtedness payable at periods of more than twelve months after the date thereof, and gas and electric light companies, corporations established for and engaged in the business of transmitting intelligence by electricity, aqueduct and water companies, shall issue only such amount of stock and bonds, as the board of railroad commissioners in the case of railroad corporations or street railway companies, the board of gas and electric light commissioners in the case of gas or electric light companies, may from time to time vote, or the commissioner of corporations in the case of the other corporations hereinbefore specified may from time to time determine, is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which such issue of stock or bonds has been authorized. Said boards or commissioner shall render a decision upon an application for such issue within thirty Part III. § 107. days after the final hearing thereon. Such decision shall be in writing, shall assign the reasons therefor, shall, if authorizing such issue, specify the respective amounts of stock or bonds, or of coupon notes or other 1902, 441. 1903, 437, 95. 1906, 463, 158. Part II $258; Amended. 65; See 1913, 784, $ 3. below. See |