Section 10. (a) Any tourism destination marketing district established or extended pursuant to this chapter may be disestablished by declaration of the local municipal governing body of the lead jurisdiction in either of the following circumstances:

Terms Used In Massachusetts General Laws ch. 40X sec. 10

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.

(i) if said local municipal governing body finds there has been misappropriation of funds, malfeasance or a violation of law in connection with the management of the tourism destination marketing district, it shall hold a hearing on disestablishment. Notice of the hearing shall be mailed to all tourism destination marketing district members within the tourism destination marketing district and shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the area at least 14 days prior to such hearing; or

(ii) during the operation of the tourism destination marketing district, there shall be a 30-day period each year in which the tourism destination marketing district may be dissolved by petition to the local municipal governing body and a subsequent decision by the local municipal governing body to authorize the dissolution. The 30-day period shall begin each successive year on the anniversary of the date the local municipal governing body formally approved the tourism destination marketing district. In order to be considered by the local municipal governing body, a petition to dissolve a tourism destination marketing district shall contain the signatures of a majority of the electors. The local municipal governing body shall hold a public hearing within 30 days of receipt of a completed petition on the issue of dissolution. Notice of the hearing shall be mailed to all tourism destination marketing district members within the tourism destination marketing district and shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the area at least 14 days prior to such hearing.

Following the public hearing, the local municipal governing body may declare the tourism destination marketing district dissolved; provided, however, that no tourism destination marketing district shall be dissolved until it has satisfied or paid in full all of its outstanding indebtedness, obligations and liabilities; or until funds are on deposit and available therefor; or until a repayment schedule has been formulated and municipally approved therefor. In addition, the tourism destination marketing district shall be prohibited from incurring any new or increased financial obligations.

(b) Any liabilities, either current or future, incurred as a result of action to accomplish the purposes of the tourism destination marketing district plan shall not be an obligation of the municipality. Said liabilities shall be paid for entirely from special assessment revenue gained from the assessed lodging businesses in the tourism destination marketing district.

(c) Upon the dissolution of a tourism destination marketing district, any remaining revenues derived from the sale of assets acquired with special assessments collected shall be refunded to the lodging businesses owners in the tourism destination marketing district in which special assessments were charged by applying the same methodology used to calculate the special assessment in the fiscal year in which the tourism destination marketing district is dissolved in amounts proportionate to each lodging business’s share of the total special assessments collected in the fiscal year in which the tourism destination marketing district is dissolved or in accordance with the tourism destination marketing district plan, as updated.

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