Silva v. City of Attleboro

We are asked, again, to determine whether a monetary charge by each of the defendant cities for the issuance of a burial permit is a valid fee or an improper tax.2 The plaintiff, Paul F. Silva, is a licensed funeral director who performs funeral *451services in communities generally in Bristol County. He appeals from a Superior Court judgment holding, after a bench trial, that the burial permit charge is a proper fee.

Silva previously challenged the charge exacted for a burial permit by the city of Fall River in Silva v. Fall River, 59 Mass. App. Ct. 798 (2003). In that case, we concluded that the…