REDUCING RATE OF MUNICIPAL UTILITY TAX (1) The November 1 deadline in § 4, chapter 49, Laws of 1982, 1st Ex. Sess., relating to the reduction of certain municipal utility taxes, is mandatory in the sense that a city or town may be compelled, through the issuance of a writ of mandamus, to take action, each year, before that date; however, a city or town does not lose the power, or capacity, to take the requisite action as a consequence of its failure to act prior to the arrival of that specified date. (2) Insofar as they prohibit a rate change from taking effect before the expiration of sixty days following the enactment of the ordinance establishing the rate change, the provisions of § 3, chapter 49, Laws of 1982, 1st Ex. Sess. are applicable to reductions as well as increases. (3) A city or town may not enact an ordinance on October 31 of a given year, reducing its tax rate pursuant to § 4, chapter 49, Laws of 1982, 1st Ex. Sess., to become operative more than sixty days thereafter.

Authority of cities and towns to shift costs of street lighting from the general government to utility customers Cities and towns lack the authority to operate their street lighting as a utility or to impose a charge on the city's utility customers for the cost of furnishing street lighting.