Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
At its Annual Meeting & Trade Show earlier this month, the MMA released Volume 2 of its municipal “Best Practices” series.
The nine recommendations cover issues such as revenue and expenditure forecasting, long-term debt management, managing public records requests, “other post-employment benefits,” Civil Service, infrastructure asset management, energy planning, and more.
The new “best practices” build on the 14 recommendations released last year, which included recommendations for snow and ice budgeting, municipal reserves, managing unemployment insurance claims, and other ideas.
The “best practice” topics are chosen by the members of the MMA’s five policy committees early in the year and developed and refined at meetings in the fall.
Some of the suggested practices are based on recommendations developed by national organizations such as the Government Finance Officers Association and the Federal Highway Administration, and state agencies such as the Division of Local Services and the Department of Environmental Protection. Others that are more specific to Massachusetts are based on successful practices in cities and towns that can be shared with others.