Kowalczyk v. Town of Blackstone
Kowalczyk v. Town of Blackstone
Opinion of the Court
The defendants, the town of Blackstone and its board of selectmen, appeal from a judgment declaring that the plaintiff, who is the elected tax collector and treasurer of the town, is entitled to retain for her own use the fees and charges specified in G. L. c. 60, § 15 — primarily demand and warrant fees and charges for collection of delinquent local taxes. The judge decided that the plaintiff was entitled to the fees and charges; he relied for this conclusion primarily on the language of G. L. c. 60, § 2, which differentiates between the taxes and interest recovered by the collector (“[the collector] shall . . . pay over said taxes and interest to the city or town treasurer”) and the charges and fees so collected (“[h]e shall also give to the treasurer an account of all charges and fees collected by him”).
The Blackstone charter provides in § C9-16 that “[u]nless otherwise specified by the General Laws all fees or other revenues collected by a town officer or employee . . . shall be
At most, the difference drawn in these statutes between taxes and interest, which must be paid into the town treasury, and fees, charges, and costs of collection, which must be accounted for, is to leave it optional with the municipality whether to treat the fees, charges, and costs as town revenues or as compensation for the collector. Section C9-16 of the Blackstone charter decides the point in favor of the town’s treasury.
The judgment is reversed, and a new judgment is to be entered declaring that the collected fees, charges, and costs referred to in G. L. c. 60, §§ 2 and 15, are to be paid into Blackstone’s treasury.
So ordered.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.