Section 53F Deposits of public funds in banking institutions in return for banking services
Section 53F. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, a treasurer or collector of a city, town or district is authorized to enter into written agreements for a period not to exceed three years, with banking institutions having their principal offices in the commonwealth, pursuant to which such treasurer or collector agrees to maintain on deposit in said institutions specified amounts of the funds of the municipality in return for said institutions providing banking services. The type of services that so qualify shall be prescribed by the commissioner of revenue.
Such agreements shall be in a form approved by said commissioner and shall contain such terms and conditions as he may deem appropriate to ensure fiscal stability and full disclosure. Each such agreement shall include the total amount that may be required to be on deposit at all times; and, if said amount may vary from time to time, every such agreement shall specify a minimum total amount that may be required to be on deposit at any time. If the city, town or district fails to maintain the agreed amount on deposit, the city, town or district shall not be authorized to appropriate funds for such purpose.
No such agreement shall be effective unless and until it has been approved in a town having a town council, by the town council; in a city by the city council and the mayor if required by law; in a regional school district, by the regional school committee; and in any other district, by the district meeting. With respect to any other town, no such agreement shall be effective unless and until the town meeting has authorized its treasurer or collector to enter into such agreements under the provisions of this section during the fiscal year in which such agreement takes effect and such agreement has been approved by the selectmen of such town.
Said commissioner shall promulgate, and from time to time revise, reasonable rules, regulations, standards and guidelines necessary to promote prudent fiscal management and to ensure that such agreements are not utilized to circumvent the appropriation process or other provisions of law.
As used in this section, “district” shall include a regional school district.
A treasurer or collector who has entered into an agreement pursuant to this section shall file with the commission, in such form and at such time as the commissioner shall prescribe, such information as the commissioner shall require in order to determine whether funds maintained on deposit with a banking institution have exceeded the amount required by said agreement. The commissioner shall report annually on agreements maintained pursuant to this section. Such report shall identify, for each city, town or district maintaining such agreement, each banking institution with which such agreement was maintained in the year covered by the report, and the average daily amount, if any, maintained on deposit with such banking institution in excess of the amount necessary to fulfill the terms of agreement. A copy of such report shall be provided to the collector or treasurer, the mayor and city council, the selectmen, the regional school committee, the prudential committee, if any, otherwise the commissioners, of each city, town, or district named therein, and a copy of the same shall be furnished to the inspector general.