Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
At a crowded State House press conference last month attended by city and town officials from across the state, Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito unveiled comprehensive legislation that would update and reform a wide swath of state laws governing everything from basic municipal finance and administration to local approval of liquor licenses and allowing cities and towns a first option to purchase tax-exempt property.
The “municipal modernization” legislation is based mainly on suggestions made by local officials on ways to make running local government more efficient and less costly and to return “home rule” authority to cities and towns where it makes sense. The bill includes a number of proposals from the MMA’s legislative package.
MMA policy committees will review the sections starting in February in preparation for legislative hearings expected in the spring. The House announced that it has divided the bill, according to subject matter, among five legislative committees.
At the Dec. 7 press conference, Gov. Baker noted that both he and Lt. Gov. Polito had served in local government, and that he looked forward to city and town officials having “greater independence and flexibility … to best serve their communities.”
Lt. Gov. Polito noted that many parts of the bill were inspired by suggestions she heard from municipal officials as she traveled the state over the past year, visiting more than 130 municipalities as part of her “Building Stronger Communities” tour.
“The bill,” said MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith, “would benefit nearly every aspect of local government, from day-to-day administration to economic development in our downtowns, and reflects the kind of local-state partnership that would make Massachusetts a model for the rest of the nation.”
MMA President and Orleans Selectman David Dunford called the bill “terrific for cities, towns and local taxpayers.”
“It will remove unnecessary and obsolete barriers to efficient government and effective service delivery. These proposals will allow our communities to modernize their management systems, streamline their operations, and move faster than ever to grow our local economies. All of this will make our state stronger and more competitive than ever.”
Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini, president of the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association, said the bill “will benefit every city and town, from the largest to the smallest, and will give mayors, selectmen, managers and all local officials the tools to lead their communities with greater efficiency and effectiveness. That’s what a great state-local partnership looks like.”
• Download section-by-section summary of governor’s bill (304K PDF)
• Download full text of governor’s bill (406K PDF)
The four basic themes for the municipal modernization bill described at the press conference are “eliminating or updating obsolete laws, promoting local independence, streamlining state oversight, and providing municipalities with greater flexibility.”
The following is an overview under each category:
Obsolete laws
• Electronic advertising for required notices: Would modify the public notice requirement for town warrants and other required notices, including procurement, to permit municipalities to post notice in any manner prescribed or approved under the open meeting law.
• Electronic issuance of Civil Motor Vehicle Infractions: Would make the necessary changes to the civil motor vehicle infraction law to allow cities and towns to issue citations electronically.
Local independence
• Stabilization and revolving funds: Would broaden the revolving funds statutes to permit more flexibility in the use of such funds and eliminate all caps.
• Insurance proceeds: Would allow up to $150,000 of insurance proceeds that a city or town receives in payment of a claim to be used without appropriation to repair or replace damaged real and personal property.
• Right of first refusal for nonprofit property: Would give a municipality the right of first refusal if property owned by a charitable organization or a church is being sold or developed for a non-exempt purpose.
• Liquor licenses: Would allow municipalities to set the quotas for liquor licenses issued to facilities (such as restaurants) permitting on-premises drinking.
State oversight
• Boat excise reform: Would require the Environmental Police to provide more up-to-date boat registration and documentation to local assessors to ensure a more efficient process for the collection of the excise tax.
• Local property assessments: Would decrease the frequency with which the Department of Revenue must certify that local property assessments reflect fair cash valuation, from every three years to every five years.
• State-owned land valuation: Would replace the current procedure, under which the DOR values state-owned land every four years, with a statutory formula for determining the valuation every two years after the 2017 valuation required by current law.
• Division of Local Services approval on certain abatements: Would eliminate the need to have the DLS approve abatement of taxes on low-valued land and abatement of taxes on properties being made available for affordable housing.
Municipal flexibility
• “Double poles” enforcement power: Would allow cities and towns to enforce the statutory prohibition on keeping double poles up after 90 days, after passing a local ordinance authorizing them to do so.
• Procurement thresholds: Would simplify, clarify and increase state and municipal procurement thresholds, with various reforms designed to give municipalities more flexibility in how they procure construction contracts.
• Debt statutes: Would increase the short-term borrowing maximum from five to 10 years, allow borrowing for a reimbursable federal or state grant, and increase the de minimis surplus bond balance that may be used to pay debt service.
• Unemployment insurance: Would extend the “reasonable assurance” standard to school employees paid through the municipal budget and address the issue of retirees collecting unemployment.
The legislation also proposes changes that would modernize procurement at the local level and allow municipalities to use Operational Services Division contracts for construction under $50,000.
The bill would also allow cities, towns or districts to adopt a local option to require direct deposit of municipal employee compensation; permit mayors and selectmen to initiate movement to optional forms of municipal administration or charter commission; allow municipalities to exempt positions from civil service by vote of the governing body rather than through special legislation; and enable cities and town to invest in CDs for more than one year.