Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Honorable A. Joseph DeNucci
Auditor of the Commonwealth
State House, Boston
RE: Section 84 of Chapter 28 of the Acts of 2009
Dear Auditor DeNucci:
On behalf of the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association is writing to support the Town of Westborough in their request to seek a determination from your office, pursuant to G.L. Ch. 29, Sect. 27C, of the fiscal impact of the mandates and requirements imposed on municipalities in the new ethics reform act, Chapter 28 of the Acts of 2009.
The MMA strongly agrees with and underscores the concerns raised by the Town with respect to the costs associated with the new requirements imposed pursuant to G. L. Ch. 268A, Sect. 28, added by St. 2009, Ch. 28, Sect. 84, An Act to Improve the Laws Relating to Campaign Finance, Ethics and Lobbying. Notably, this new statute, which takes effect on September 29, 2009, would require all municipal employees to complete online training on the state’s conflict of interest law every two years. As you know, there are well over 200,000 municipal and school employees in the Commonwealth.
While the State Ethics Commission has recently advised city and town clerks and municipal chief elected officials that the mandated training could generally take no longer than one hour to complete, many municipal employee collective bargaining agreements provide for a four-hour minimum of overtime. Even without a four-hour minimum, this new training mandate would impose a significant cost on already-strained municipal budgets. In addition to the actual training mandate, the local costs of administering the training process, ensuring compliance, and maintaining records would be significant as well. The Commonwealth has not appropriated any funding to reimburse cities and towns for the cost of this presently unfunded mandate.
The MMA appreciates your timely consideration of the Town of Westborough’s request and looks forward to your determination. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey C. Beckwith
MMA Executive Director