TITLE IX
ACQUISITION OF LANDS BY UNITED STATES; FEDERAL AID
Chapter 122
ACQUISITION OF LAND BY UNITED STATES FOR FLOOD CONTROL AND NAVIGATION
Section 122:1
122:1 Consent Granted. –
Consent is given, in accordance with the seventeenth clause of the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution of the United States, to the acquisition by the United States by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, of any land or interests in land within this state required for use in connection with the construction, maintenance, and operation of the following projects: (a) Bethlehem Junction Reservoir on the Ammonoosuc River, providing a storage for approximately 6 inches of run-off over the drainage area; (b) Surry Mountain Reservoir on the Ashuelot River, providing storage for approximately 6 inches of run-off over the drainage area; (c) Blackwater Reservoir on the Blackwater River, providing storage for approximately 6.9 inches of run-off over the drainage area; (d) Franklin Falls Reservoir on the Pemigewasset River, providing storage for approximately 3.2 inches of run-off over the drainage area; authorized by Congress for the benefit of navigation and the control of destructive flood waters in the Connecticut River and Merrimack River basins; provided, however, that the state shall retain concurrent jurisdiction with the United States in and over any such lands to the extent that all civil and criminal processes issued under authority of the state may be executed thereon in the same way and manner as if this consent had not been given, and that exclusive jurisdiction shall revert to and revest in the state whenever such lands or interests in land shall cease to be the property of the United States; provided further, however, a suitable plan of every tract of land or interest in land so acquired has been or shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state within one year after the acquisition thereof.
Source. 1939, 149:1. RL 4:1.
Section 122:2
122:2 Additional Projects. –
Such consent is also given to the acquisition of land or interests therein for such additional projects as may be approved by the governor and council upon recommendation of the department of environmental services retaining, however, to the state the same jurisdiction as is reserved in RSA 122:1.
Source. 1939, 149:2. RL 4:2. RSA 122:2. 1989, 138:4. 1996, 228:108, eff. July 1, 1996.
Section 122:3
122:3 Application of Laws. –
RSA 121 shall not apply to the acquisition of land or interests in lands by the United States in accordance with the provisions hereof.
Source. 1939, 149:3. RL 4:3.
Section 122:4
122:4 Reimbursement to Cities and Towns. –
I. On a date not later than 30 days following the establishment and approval of tax rates for each city and town affected by and subject to the provisions of this chapter, the state treasurer shall pay to each town and city in which any taxable real estate or interest therein has been acquired under this chapter by the United States and thus become tax exempt for such year, a sum equal to the taxes which would have been assessed against the real estate or interest therein in such town or city if the same had been included in the list of taxable property as proposed by the commissioner of revenue administration in RSA 122:6. For land acquired by the United States under this chapter, reimbursement shall be made upon a valuation determined as provided herein on a permanently continuing basis, and if growing wood and timber was taxable as real estate on the date of acquisition by the United States of the land on which it stood, it shall be deemed to be land hereunder. For all artificial improvements on land acquired by the United States under this chapter, including buildings, structures and other artificial real estate fixtures of any kind, reimbursement shall be made upon a valuation determined initially as provided herein and thereafter annually reduced by 2-1/2 percent so that at the end of 40 years reimbursement therefor shall have terminated. On land and improvements thereon acquired by the United States under this chapter the initial assessed valuation of the land and improvements for purposes of reimbursement shall be the locally assessed valuation thereon for the tax year in which acquired as adjusted by the assessors and the commissioner of revenue administration acting as a joint board, so as to make such valuation proportional to the value of all other property in such town or city subject to taxation. For purposes of this section the joint board may subdivide such assessment equitably between land and improvements thereon or between real estate acquired and that not acquired, if the official assessment was not thus subdivided. The valuations of improvements thus determined shall thereafter be annually reduced over a 40-year period as above provided. On land, and artificial improvements, the valuations initially established as above provided in a town or city shall be reviewed by the commissioner at least once in every 5 years and more frequently if reasonably necessary and be changed as necessary to make them proportional with the assessed value of all other taxable property in such town or city. The amount of the reimbursement due to each town and city hereunder shall be determined by the commissioner and certified by it to the state treasurer not later than 30 days following the establishment and approval of the tax rates of each town and city under this chapter. The commissioner shall reduce the amount of reimbursement thus determined by any amount paid or due that town or city for that year by or from the United States, another state, an interstate flood control agency or other source, because of such loss of taxable valuation. The governor is authorized to draw a warrant for the payment of such reimbursements out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. Provided, however, that reimbursement payments for loss of taxes on account of the acquisition of railroad or public utility property shall be reduced to the extent that such railroad or public utility property is relocated and reconstructed in the same town or city as a result of such acquisition, and thereby is included to that extent in the list of taxable property in said town or city as relocated.
II. [Repealed.]
Source. 1939, 204:1. 1941, 81:1. L 4:4. 1945, 41:1. 1949, 260:1. 1953, 128:1. RSA 122:4. 1955, 315:1. 1969, 278:1. 1973, 544:8. 1989, 50:11; 350:1. 2011, 224:195. 2012, 286:1, eff. July 1, 2013.
Section 122:5
122:5 Equalization. –
The valuation upon which the reimbursement provided by RSA 122:4 is based shall be included in computing town and county taxes and equalization of school and highway costs for the period during which such reimbursement is made.
Source. 1939, 204:2. RL 4:5.
Section 122:6
122:6 Funding of Reimbursements; Minimum Amount. –
The commissioner of revenue administration shall propose to each biennial session of the legislature an amount needed to make the reimbursements provided for in RSA 122:4. The reimbursement shall be fixed for each year of the biennium equal to the amount which would have been assessed for the tax year immediately preceding that biennium.
Source. 1939, 204:3. RL 4:6. RSA 122:6. 1955, 315:2. 1973, 544:8. 1989, 350:2, eff. June 19, 1989.
Section 122:7
122:7 Disbursement of Lease Receipts by State. –
Whenever the state treasurer has funds in his possession paid by the United States on account of leasing of land acquired by the United States for flood control purposes, he shall immediately remit the funds, in proportion to the area of lease land which lies in each town as shown by the comprehensive plan for flood control of the New England Division Corps of Engineers, as follows:
I. To the treasurer of the school district of those towns which are coextensive with a school district, for the benefit of the schools in the district; or
II. To the treasurer of the town of those towns with which the school district is not coextensive, for the benefit of the public roads in the town.
Source. 1949, 259:1, par. 7. RSA 122:7. 1981, 231:1, eff. Aug. 10, 1981.
Section 122:8
122:8 Repealed by 1981, 231:2, eff. Aug. 10, 1981. –