Reservoir districts win narrow tax and liability shield

Rhode Island lawmakers are drawing a tight circle around two reservoir districts, not opening a broad new exemption. The proposal revises Chapter 45-62, the state’s Dam Management Districts law, so the Pascoag Reservoir Dam Management District and the Wilson’s Reservoir Dam Management District would be protected from civil liability for torts on lake-bed property they acquire, hold, use or lease under state law.

It also gives Burrillville and Glocester a local option to exempt certain district-owned property from real and personal property taxes. The exemption is limited to the lake bed at Pascoag Reservoir, also known as Echo Lake, plus the dam, spillway and related structures tied to that reservoir.

A tax break with hard edges

The bill does not wipe out taxes districtwide. It lets the towns act by ordinance, which means the exemption exists only if local officials choose to use it. That keeps the decision close to the reservoir instead of making it automatic across the state.

For Wilson’s Reservoir, Burrillville would have the same kind of local option for district-owned property tied to the reservoir bed. The point is not to create a new class of untaxed land everywhere, but to set out exactly which pieces of reservoir infrastructure can be taken off the rolls.

What the shield covers

The liability language is just as narrow. The districts would be immune from civil liability for torts committed on the lake beds covered by the statute, which protects the reservoir property itself rather than every part of the districts’ work.

Taken together, the bill treats reservoir management as a special case, with the legal risk and the tax burden tied to specific pieces of land and infrastructure. The act would take effect upon passage.