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Advocacy Legislative Package
The MMA’s 19-bill legislative package for the 2009-2010 legislative session reflects a wide range of municipal interests. The following are the MMA’s proposed bills, listed by policy committee:
Fiscal Policy Committee
Local meals tax
The Legislature has granted to cities and towns only limited authority to raise revenue, mainly through the strictly capped and regressive property tax and a variety of smaller excises. Cities and towns have no significant local taxing authority to turn to when economic conditions lead to state aid cuts.
The MMA bill would authorize cities and towns to impose a local-option sales tax of not more than 3 percent on meals.
Municipal borrowing procedures
The laws governing municipal borrowing practices include a wide variety of obsolete and overly restrictive requirements and limitations that result in unnecessary labor and expense.
The MMA bill would make modest but important changes to four different areas of municipal finance law.
Departmental revolving funds
Section 53E 1/2 of Chapter 44 authorizes cities and towns to establish one or more revolving funds for individual municipal departments and to set a limit on expenditures from each fund. Annual reauthorization is required for each fund by Town Meeting upon the recommendation of the board of selectmen, in the case of a town, and by the city council upon the recommendation of the mayor/city manager, in the case of a city.
The MMA bill would eliminate the annual approval requirement and replace it with a one-time authorization by the local appropriating authority that would be revisited only to change the dollar limit or revoke the authorization. It would also increase the cap on expenditures from revolving funds by individual municipal departments from an amount of no more than 1 percent of the local property tax levy to an amount of no more than 5 percent of the levy.
Stabilization funds
Section 5B of Chapter 40, as amended by the 2003 Municipal Relief Act, allows cities and towns to establish one or more stabilization funds to pay for any lawful municipal purpose. In rewriting section 5B, the Legislature increased the vote to appropriate funds into any new fund from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority. The vote to appropriate from any fund remained at two-thirds.
The MMA bill would reinstate the simple majority vote rule for appropriations into any stabilization fund.
Taxation of businesses on state property
Under various general and special laws, property leased by commercial enterprises on land owned by public authorities, including certain land on state agency property, is exempt from the property tax. In 1995, cities and towns were authorized to tax commercial enterprises on Massachusetts Turnpike Authority property (Section 204 of Chapter 38 of the Acts of 1995).
The MMA bill would extend the Chapter 38 provisions governing taxation of MTA property to other state authorities, including the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and other transit authorities, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Woods Hole Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. It would also extend similar provisions to property owned by state agencies.
Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment
Water Infrastructure Finance Commission
The significant gap between water infrastructure needs and available funding poses a threat to public health and safety. The state needs new mechanisms to increase investment in the water, wastewater, storm water and water conservation infrastructure.
The MMA bill would establish a 15-member Special Water Infrastructure Finance Commission to develop a comprehensive, long-range water infrastructure finance plan for Massachusetts and its municipalities. The commission would examine the state’s water infrastructure needs for the next 25 years as they relate to current funding and future funding needs. The commission would study the feasibility of sustaining and expanding public water systems and make recommendations regarding additional sources of funding for water infrastructure improvements. The commission would be required to submit a report by no later than Dec. 31 after the year the legislation is passed.
SRF rates for water and sewer projects
The fiscal 2001 state budget contained an outside section that ended the successful no-interest program for the State Revolving Fund that had been in place since 1995. Beginning with projects on the Department of Environmental Protection’s intended use plan for 2002, cities and towns began paying 2 percent interest for SRF projects.
The MMA bill would replace language in state law setting the interest rate at 2 percent with language allowing the rate to be set at 0 percent.
Contracts for design, construction, financing and operation of wastewater and water treatment facilities
Under public construction laws, cities and towns cannot procure design, construction, financing and operation services for wastewater and water treatment facilities in a single contract. To do so, cities and towns must get permission from the Legislature on a case-by-case basis.
The MMA bill would allow cities and towns, at local option, to issue a request for proposals, in compliance with the Uniform Procurement Act, for the design, construction, financing and operation services of wastewater and water treatment facilities. Such contracts would be exempt from public building and public works construction laws. Projects that use this process would be required to sign a project labor agreement and would be subject to the prevailing wage law. The primary benefit would be to allow innovative and cost-effective options for the construction of local environmental projects.
Policy Committee on Municipal and Regional Administration
Regionalism and efficient government
The MMA bill would eliminate collective bargaining requirements for local emergency dispatch services in the event that the municipality decides to regionalize such services.
Housing development
The MMA bill would amend the state’s affordable housing statute to reflect recommendations issued by the 40B Reform Task Force and to codify limitations that have been called into question by the Inspector General’s Office, which has found that developers have collected excess profits in violation of regulatory agreements. The bill would also amend the state’s zoning act to expressly authorize the use of inclusionary zoning. The bill would also codify the Supreme Judicial Court opinion in Wellesley v. Ardemore, whereby any affordable unit in nonconformance with local zoning shall be maintained as affordable pursuant to the comprehensive permit.
Open Meeting Law
The MMA bill would amend the Open Meeting Law to eliminate ambiguities and to reflect modern communication technologies. The bill would centralize the law’s enforcement within the Attorney General’s Office, ensure proper training and education of those subject to the law, and exempt certain types of proceedings from the law’s requirements, including, but not limited to, negotiation of cable television licenses and attorney-client communications pursuant to the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in the Suffolk Construction case. The bill would resemble legislation redrafted by the Joint Committee on State Administration last session.
Policy Committee on Personnel and Labor Relations
Municipal health insurance
Cities and towns do not have the same authority as the state to determine plan design for employee health insurance. Giving cities and towns this authority would result in substantial savings in municipal health insurance costs.
The MMA bill would amend Chapter 32B to give health insurance plan design authority to cities and towns by removing collective bargaining for plan design changes. The bill would also limit co-pays and deductibles in municipalities so that they could be no more generous than those paid by state employees covered by the Group Insurance Commission.
Civil Service
The Civil Service system no longer works for the selection and promotion of municipal employees except for police and fire personnel. Entry and promotional exams are no longer held on a regular basis and literally thousands of municipal employees are categorized as provisional employees awaiting exams that most likely will never be scheduled.
The MMA bill would abolish Civil Service for non-public safety personnel and restrict Civil Service for cities and towns to the selection and promotion of police officers and firefighters.
Retiree health care benefits fund
Cities and towns face huge unfunded liability exposure for health care costs for retired municipal employees. Current law does not permit local governments to set aside funds today for tomorrow’s health care costs.
The MMA bill would allow municipalities to establish a post-retirement insurance liability fund and to appropriate sums to the fund to offset the anticipated cost of health insurance premium payments for retired employees pursuant to Chapter 32B. Any interest generated would accrue to the fund.
Indemnification of municipal employees
Indemnification for municipal employees does not continue after the individual is no longer employed by the municipality. This exposure of former municipal employees should be eliminated.
The MMA bill would amend the indemnification law to cover actions taken during an individual’s tenure in a municipality, even if the individual is no longer employed by the municipality.
Policy Committee on Public Works, Transportation and Public Utilities
Double poles
The MMA bill would establish the authority of cities and towns to enforce Chapter 164, Section 34B, which requires utilities to remove double poles within 90 days.
Small procurements threshold
The MMA bill would raise the threshold, from $1 to $5,000, for the requirement that cities and towns solicit three written quotes for the procurement of goods and services under Chapter 149, Section 44A. “Sound business practices” would be required for procurements under $5,000. The payment bond threshold for public building and works repair and construction contracts pursuant to Chapter 149, Section 29, and Chapter 30, Section 39M, would be increased from $2,000 to $50,000.
Emergency preparedness mutual aid
The MMA bill would create a program that would enable a network of municipalities to assist one another during emergencies through partnering agreements and a protocol for requesting and receiving aid. Participation in the program would be voluntary.
Advocacy Legislative Package
MMA Legislative Package
The MMA’s 19-bill legislative package for the 2009-2010 legislative session reflects a wide range of municipal interests. The following are the MMA’s proposed bills, listed by policy committee:
Fiscal Policy Committee
Local meals tax
The Legislature has granted to cities and towns only limited authority to raise revenue, mainly through the strictly capped and regressive property tax and a variety of smaller excises. Cities and towns have no significant local taxing authority to turn to when economic conditions lead to state aid cuts.
The MMA bill would authorize cities and towns to impose a local-option sales tax of not more than 3 percent on meals.
Municipal borrowing procedures
The laws governing municipal borrowing practices include a wide variety of obsolete and overly restrictive requirements and limitations that result in unnecessary labor and expense.
The MMA bill would make modest but important changes to four different areas of municipal finance law.
Departmental revolving funds
Section 53E 1/2 of Chapter 44 authorizes cities and towns to establish one or more revolving funds for individual municipal departments and to set a limit on expenditures from each fund. Annual reauthorization is required for each fund by Town Meeting upon the recommendation of the board of selectmen, in the case of a town, and by the city council upon the recommendation of the mayor/city manager, in the case of a city.
The MMA bill would eliminate the annual approval requirement and replace it with a one-time authorization by the local appropriating authority that would be revisited only to change the dollar limit or revoke the authorization. It would also increase the cap on expenditures from revolving funds by individual municipal departments from an amount of no more than 1 percent of the local property tax levy to an amount of no more than 5 percent of the levy.
Stabilization funds
Section 5B of Chapter 40, as amended by the 2003 Municipal Relief Act, allows cities and towns to establish one or more stabilization funds to pay for any lawful municipal purpose. In rewriting section 5B, the Legislature increased the vote to appropriate funds into any new fund from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority. The vote to appropriate from any fund remained at two-thirds.
The MMA bill would reinstate the simple majority vote rule for appropriations into any stabilization fund.
Taxation of businesses on state property
Under various general and special laws, property leased by commercial enterprises on land owned by public authorities, including certain land on state agency property, is exempt from the property tax. In 1995, cities and towns were authorized to tax commercial enterprises on Massachusetts Turnpike Authority property (Section 204 of Chapter 38 of the Acts of 1995).
The MMA bill would extend the Chapter 38 provisions governing taxation of MTA property to other state authorities, including the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and other transit authorities, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Woods Hole Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. It would also extend similar provisions to property owned by state agencies.
Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment
Water Infrastructure Finance Commission
The significant gap between water infrastructure needs and available funding poses a threat to public health and safety. The state needs new mechanisms to increase investment in the water, wastewater, storm water and water conservation infrastructure.
The MMA bill would establish a 15-member Special Water Infrastructure Finance Commission to develop a comprehensive, long-range water infrastructure finance plan for Massachusetts and its municipalities. The commission would examine the state’s water infrastructure needs for the next 25 years as they relate to current funding and future funding needs. The commission would study the feasibility of sustaining and expanding public water systems and make recommendations regarding additional sources of funding for water infrastructure improvements. The commission would be required to submit a report by no later than Dec. 31 after the year the legislation is passed.
SRF rates for water and sewer projects
The fiscal 2001 state budget contained an outside section that ended the successful no-interest program for the State Revolving Fund that had been in place since 1995. Beginning with projects on the Department of Environmental Protection’s intended use plan for 2002, cities and towns began paying 2 percent interest for SRF projects.
The MMA bill would replace language in state law setting the interest rate at 2 percent with language allowing the rate to be set at 0 percent.
Contracts for design, construction, financing and operation of wastewater and water treatment facilities
Under public construction laws, cities and towns cannot procure design, construction, financing and operation services for wastewater and water treatment facilities in a single contract. To do so, cities and towns must get permission from the Legislature on a case-by-case basis.
The MMA bill would allow cities and towns, at local option, to issue a request for proposals, in compliance with the Uniform Procurement Act, for the design, construction, financing and operation services of wastewater and water treatment facilities. Such contracts would be exempt from public building and public works construction laws. Projects that use this process would be required to sign a project labor agreement and would be subject to the prevailing wage law. The primary benefit would be to allow innovative and cost-effective options for the construction of local environmental projects.
Policy Committee on Municipal and Regional Administration
Regionalism and efficient government
The MMA bill would eliminate collective bargaining requirements for local emergency dispatch services in the event that the municipality decides to regionalize such services.
Housing development
The MMA bill would amend the state’s affordable housing statute to reflect recommendations issued by the 40B Reform Task Force and to codify limitations that have been called into question by the Inspector General’s Office, which has found that developers have collected excess profits in violation of regulatory agreements. The bill would also amend the state’s zoning act to expressly authorize the use of inclusionary zoning. The bill would also codify the Supreme Judicial Court opinion in Wellesley v. Ardemore, whereby any affordable unit in nonconformance with local zoning shall be maintained as affordable pursuant to the comprehensive permit.
Open Meeting Law
The MMA bill would amend the Open Meeting Law to eliminate ambiguities and to reflect modern communication technologies. The bill would centralize the law’s enforcement within the Attorney General’s Office, ensure proper training and education of those subject to the law, and exempt certain types of proceedings from the law’s requirements, including, but not limited to, negotiation of cable television licenses and attorney-client communications pursuant to the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in the Suffolk Construction case. The bill would resemble legislation redrafted by the Joint Committee on State Administration last session.
Policy Committee on Personnel and Labor Relations
Municipal health insurance
Cities and towns do not have the same authority as the state to determine plan design for employee health insurance. Giving cities and towns this authority would result in substantial savings in municipal health insurance costs.
The MMA bill would amend Chapter 32B to give health insurance plan design authority to cities and towns by removing collective bargaining for plan design changes. The bill would also limit co-pays and deductibles in municipalities so that they could be no more generous than those paid by state employees covered by the Group Insurance Commission.
Civil Service
The Civil Service system no longer works for the selection and promotion of municipal employees except for police and fire personnel. Entry and promotional exams are no longer held on a regular basis and literally thousands of municipal employees are categorized as provisional employees awaiting exams that most likely will never be scheduled.
The MMA bill would abolish Civil Service for non-public safety personnel and restrict Civil Service for cities and towns to the selection and promotion of police officers and firefighters.
Retiree health care benefits fund
Cities and towns face huge unfunded liability exposure for health care costs for retired municipal employees. Current law does not permit local governments to set aside funds today for tomorrow’s health care costs.
The MMA bill would allow municipalities to establish a post-retirement insurance liability fund and to appropriate sums to the fund to offset the anticipated cost of health insurance premium payments for retired employees pursuant to Chapter 32B. Any interest generated would accrue to the fund.
Indemnification of municipal employees
Indemnification for municipal employees does not continue after the individual is no longer employed by the municipality. This exposure of former municipal employees should be eliminated.
The MMA bill would amend the indemnification law to cover actions taken during an individual’s tenure in a municipality, even if the individual is no longer employed by the municipality.
Policy Committee on Public Works, Transportation and Public Utilities
Double poles
The MMA bill would establish the authority of cities and towns to enforce Chapter 164, Section 34B, which requires utilities to remove double poles within 90 days.
Small procurements threshold
The MMA bill would raise the threshold, from $1 to $5,000, for the requirement that cities and towns solicit three written quotes for the procurement of goods and services under Chapter 149, Section 44A. “Sound business practices” would be required for procurements under $5,000. The payment bond threshold for public building and works repair and construction contracts pursuant to Chapter 149, Section 29, and Chapter 30, Section 39M, would be increased from $2,000 to $50,000.
Emergency preparedness mutual aid
The MMA bill would create a program that would enable a network of municipalities to assist one another during emergencies through partnering agreements and a protocol for requesting and receiving aid. Participation in the program would be voluntary.
