What does happen in the Franklin Municipal Building?
You may have visited the Town Clerk to apply for a passport. Or checked on your tax bill with the Assessors office.
What else happens within the walls?
The quarterly publication of the Municipal Calendar has arrived in time to possibly answer some of your questions. Published by the State, this Municipal Calendar effectively outlines the schedule of studies, filings, etc in order for the local community to operate in a timely and effective manner.
October 1: Collector Mail Semi-Annual Tax Bills For communities using the regular semi-annual payment system, actual tax bills or optional preliminary bills should be mailed by this date.
October 1: Taxpayer Semi-Annual Preliminary Tax Bill — Deadline for Paying Without Interest According to M.G.L. Ch. 59, Sec. 57C, this is the deadline for receipt of the preliminary tax payment without interest in communities using the annual preliminary tax billing system, unless the bills were mailed after August 1. If mailed after August 1, the payment is due November 1, or 30 days after the bills were mailed, whichever is later.
October 1: Taxpayer Deadline for Applying to Have Land Classified as Agricultural/Horticultural Land or Recreational Land, M.G.L. Ch. 61A and Ch. 61B. According to M.G.L. Ch. 61A, Sections 6 and 8, and Ch. 61B, Sections 3 and 5, this is the deadline to apply to assessors to have land valued, taxed and classified as agricultural/horticultural or recreational land in the next fiscal year, unless a revaluation program is being conducted for that fiscal year. Under M.G.L. Ch. 59, Section 38 and DOR guidelines, assessor must review all property valuations and make adjustments to ensure current fair cash valuations every year. Because a revaluation program is being conducted every year, taxpayers who do not submit their applications by October 1 have until 30 days after the actual tax bills for the fiscal year are mailed to apply.
October 15: Superintendent Submit School Foundation Enrollment Report to DESE
October 31: Accountant Submit Schedule A for Prior Fiscal Year This report is a statement of the revenues received, expenditures made and all other transactions related to the town’s finances during the previous fiscal year. The Schedule A classifies revenues and expenditures into detailed categories that will provide information essential for an analysis of revenues and expenditures generated by various departments. This data, like other financial information reported to DOR, is entered into DOR’s Municipal Data Bank; as such, the Department may provide time series, comparative and other types of analyses at the request of a city or town. This information is also sent to the US Census Bureau and eliminates a prior federal reporting requirement. Failure to file by October 31 may result in withholding major distributions of state aid until the Schedule A is accepted by BOA.
October 31: Selectmen Begin Establishing Next Fiscal Year Budget Guidelines and Request Department Budgets
October 31: Assessors Begin Work on Tax Rate Recapitulation Sheet (to set tax rate for annual preliminary tax bill communities) A community that uses the annual preliminary tax bill system (on a quarterly or semiannual basis) should begin gathering tax recap information in order to have enough time for the tax rate to be set and tax bills mailed by December 31. See August’s Complete Tax Rate Recapitulation Sheet.
November 1: Taxpayer Semi-Annual Tax Bill — Deadline for First Payment According to M.G.L. Ch. 59, Sec. 57, this is the deadline for receipt of the first half semi-annual tax bills or the optional preliminary tax bills without interest, unless bills were mailed after October 1, in which case they are due 30 days after mailing.
November 1: Taxpayer Semi-Annual Tax Bills — Application Deadline for Property Tax Abatement According to M.G.L. Ch. 59, Sec. 59, applications for abatements are due on the same date as the first actual tax installment for the year.
November 1: Taxpayer Quarterly Tax Bills — Deadline for Paying 2nd Quarterly Tax Bill Without Interest
November 1: Treasurer Deadline for Payment of First Half of County Tax
November 15: Treasurer First Quarter Reconciliation of Cash
November 15: DESE Notify Communities/Districts of Any Prior Year School Spending Deficiencies By this date, or within 30 days of a complete End of Year Report (see September 30), ESE notifies communities/districts in writing of any additional school spending requirements.
November 30: Selectmen Review Budgets Submitted by Department Heads This date will vary depending on dates of town meeting.
December 15: Taxpayer Deadline for Applying for Property Tax Exemptions for Persons If tax bills are mailed after September 15, taxpayers have 3 months from the mailing date to file applications for exemptions.
Decenber 15: Accountant/Superintendent/School Committee Submit Amendments to End of School Year Report to DESE Last filing date to impact next year’s Chapter 70 State Aid.
December 31: State Treasurer Notification of Quarterly Local Aid Payments on or Before December 31
December 31: Water/Sewer Commissioners Deadline for Betterments to be Included on Next Year’s Tax Bill (M.G.L. Ch. 80, Sec. 13; Ch. 40, Sec. 42I and Ch. 83, Sec. 27)
December 31: Selectmen Begin to Finalize Budget Recommendation for Review by Finance Committee
December 31: Assessors Mail 3-ABC Forms to All Eligible Non-Profit Organizations
December 31: Collector Deadline for Mailing Actual Tax Bills For communities using the annual preliminary billing system on a quarterly or semi-annual basis, the actual tax bills should be mailed by this date.
Franklin, MA
