CY COUNTY RECORDS

Massachusetts. Boards of County Commissioners. Agency history
record.
 
  Commissioners were first appointed by the General Court in
1668, two for each county, to enforce equitable taxation while
working with Court-appointed commissioners for each of the
colony's four seaports (Mass Recs 4, pt. 2: 363- 364).  Their
election by the inhabitants of each county was provided by for
by St 1835, c 152.  As codified in 1836 (RS 1836 c 14, ss
31-37), legislation from 1781 through 1834 provided authority
for the county commissioners to erect and repair jails,
courthouses, and other county public buildings; to lay out,
alter, or discontinue county highways; to grant liquor
licenses; to estimate, apportion, and assess taxes for county
charges and debts; and to examine and settle county accounts.
 
  Currently three commissioners are elected for four-year
terms in each county except Nantucket, where their function is
filled by the selectmen, and Suffolk, where it is filled in
Boston by the mayor and city council, in Chelsea and Revere by
their respective municipal councils, and in Winthrop by the
selectmen (MGLA c 34, s 3).  In each county the clerk of
courts serves as clerk to the commissioners (MGLA c 221, s 3).
 
  Powers and duties of boards of county commissioners include
the following:
 
  (1) preparation of an annual budget of estimated revenues
and expenditures, which after a public hearing is forwarded to
the advisory board on county expenditures (MGLA c 35, ss 28,
28B)
 
  (2) with the approval of the advisory board, levying,
apportioning, and assessing taxes from cities and towns (MGLA
c 35, ss 30-31)
 
  (3) approving all disbursements by the county treasurer,
including county payrolls (MGLA c 35, ss 11, 19)
 
  (4) borrowing money for county expenses in anticipation of
county revenues (MGLA c 35, s 37)
 
  (5) contracting for construction and maintenance at county
expense of jails, which the commissioners inspect twice
yearly, and of other public buildings, and, at state or local
expense, for the construction and repair of highways (MGLA c
34, s 14, 17; c 35, s 34A; c 126, ss 1-2)
 
  (6) making rules, regulations, and orders governing
purchasing, delivering and handling of, and contracting (by
bid) for supplies, equipment, and services (MGLA c 34, s 17)
 
  (7) with the assent of local authorities, the acquisition
(by purchase or eminent domain) or sale of county land (MGLA c
34, ss 14, 25)
 
  (8) laying out, altering, and discontinuing county highways
and maintaining county maps (MGLA c 82, ss 1, 11; c 34, s 2)
 
  (9) preparation of an annual report listing petitions and
actions regarding highways; repairs to public buildings;
salaries paid to county officers; taxes due and unpaid; and
assets of the county, including land, buildings, and furniture
therein (MGLA c 35, s 26)
 
  NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agency
described above can be found by searching the following access
point for the time period stated: 1668-
present--Massachusetts. Boards of County Commissioners.
 
  1. Administering county government. I. Massachusetts.
Boards of County Commissioners. II. Massachusetts. County
Commissioners. III. Title: Agency history record.
 
  035: CY1
 
  ID: MASVAH0057-A