Section 31:19-a Trust Funds Created by Towns.
I. A town may at any annual or special meeting grant and vote such sums of money as it deems necessary to create trust funds for the maintenance and operation of the town; and any other public purpose that is not foreign to the town's institution or incompatible with the objects of its organization. The town may appoint agents to expend any funds in the trust for the purposes of the trust. An annual accounting and report of the activities of the trust shall be presented to the selectmen and published in the annual report.
II. Trust funds created pursuant to this section shall be revocable by majority vote of the legal voters present and voting at any annual meeting, unless the vote creating the trust expressly provides that the trust shall be irrevocable, and upon revocation the trustees of trust funds holding the account for said trust shall pay all the moneys in such fund to the town treasurer.
III. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any trust fund created under this section shall be subject to the same provisions concerning custody, investment, expenditure, change of purpose, and audit as are reserve funds established under RSA 34:1, 34:1-a, 35:1 or 35:1-c. The legal validity of such a fund properly established shall not be affected by its designation as a ""trust,'' ""reserve,'' ""capital reserve,'' or any other designation.
IV. The local legislative body may authorize the acceptance of privately donated gifts, legacies, and devises to be utilized for the same purposes as a trust fund created under this section; provided, however, that such gifts, legacies, or devises shall be invested and accounted for separately from, and not commingled with, amounts appropriated under paragraph I, and shall be subject to the custody and investment provisions applicable to trust funds accepted under RSA 31:19.
V. A trust fund created under the provisions of this section that is established for the purpose of maintaining health insurance funds for the benefit of employees and retired employees of any town shall be exempt from the provisions of RSA 35:8 or 34:4, and, when so established, the town may name its own trustees who may expend any funds in the trust for the payment of health claims or health insurance premiums for the benefit of any employees or retired employees of the town. An annual accounting and report of the activities of the trust shall be presented to the selectmen and published in the annual report.
Source. 1983, 264:2. 1991, 231:1. 1993, 176:1, 2. 1995, 20:2, 3, eff. June 11, 1995. 1998, 44:1, eff. July 4, 1998.