Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Honorable Brian S. Dempsey, House Chair
The Honorable Karen E. Spilka, Senate Chair
The Honorable Stephen Kulik, House Vice Chair
The Honorable Sal N. DiDomenico, Senate Vice Chair
The Honorable Todd M. Smola, Ranking House Member
The Honorable Viriato M. deMacedo, Ranking Senate Member
State House, Boston
Dear Chair Dempsey, Chair Spilka, Vice Chair Kulik, Vice Chair DiDomenico, Representative Smola and Senator deMacedo,
On behalf of the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association is writing to support funding and investments in key municipal and school aid programs in the fiscal 2016 state budget bills (H. 3401 and S. 1930) that are before you in conference committee between the branches.
We recognize that funding these essential municipal and education accounts is no small task in today’s challenging fiscal environment, and these vital investments clearly demonstrate the abiding commitment that legislative leaders have to embracing a strong fiscal partnership with cities and towns. We thank you for continuing to support essential municipal and school programs, and for protecting local government from proposals that would restrict or interfere with their management authority and decision-making powers.
Unrestricted Municipal Aid
While there are money and policy areas where the House and Senate have differences, municipal officials greatly appreciate the agreement between the branches regarding Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA). This $34.1 million increase will help cities and town balance local budgets in fiscal 2016 and ease reliance on the property tax. The increase reflects the revenue sharing approach to municipal aid in the governor’s budget recommendation filed in February and the new revenues dedicated to the Gaming Local Aid Fund.
Chapter 70 for Municipal and Regional Schools
We strongly support a sufficient funding increase for Chapter 70 school aid (7061-0008) to ensure that all municipal and regional school districts are able to reach the “foundation” level of spending, implement the equity provisions adopted in 2006, and provide an adequate amount of minimum aid that ensures that all schools receive an increase in fiscal 2016.
The Governor proposed a fiscal 2016 Chapter 70 increase of $105.3 million, which included minimum aid of only $20 per student for 245 cities, towns and school districts, an insufficient amount to maintain current school staffing and services. We appreciate the House and Senate minimum aid increase to $25 per student. We support the Senate appropriation and the allocation methodology in section 3 to more quickly reduce the target share gap.
Special Education “Circuit Breaker”
We deeply appreciate the intent of both the House and Senate to fully fund the state’s share of high cost special education placements, as provided by law. The cost of providing special education services has grown to more than $3.2 billion annually, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Reimbursements help pay for services for about 10,000 high-cost students with disabilities in school districts across the state. We support the Senate’s appropriation of $271.6 million (7061-0012), which we believe is the best and closest estimate for full funding of the state’s share, and ask you to adopt that funding level.
Reimbursements for Charter School Losses
The diversion of Chapter 70 school aid away from public schools to pay tuition to charter schools has imposed a major and growing financial burden on cities and towns, a problem made more acute as the state grants more charters and existing charter schools expand. Local officials strongly support full funding of the Commonwealth’s commitment under section 89 of Chapter 71 of the General Laws to reimburse school districts for the loss of a portion of their Chapter 70 aid that is redirected to fund charter schools. We strongly support the Senate appropriation of $84.5 million (7061-9010) as a step toward full funding in fiscal 2016, which is estimated to require $133.5 million. Even at $84.5 million, this account will remain underfunded, yet the gap will be smaller, and local public school systems will have a higher level of resources to offset more painful cuts in service.
Kindergarten Expansion Grants
177 cities, towns and regional school districts across the Commonwealth use this important grant program to support full-day access to local kindergarten programs. Funding for the program in the fiscal 2015 general appropriations act was $23.9 million before being reduced through two rounds of 9C cuts to $18.6 million. We strongly support restoring Kindergarten Development Grants to the fiscal 2015 post-9C level of $18.6 million as proposed in the House budget (7030-1002).
Regional School District Student Transportation Reimbursements
Funding for transportation reimbursements to regional school districts is vital to all regional districts and their member cities and towns, particularly in sparsely populated parts of the state. Communities were sharply disappointed in Governor Patrick’s mid-year 9C cut that slashed nearly 30 percent of this year’s funding, and deeply appreciate that members of both the House and Senate have proposed important increases. We respectfully ask you to support the Senate appropriation (7035-0006) to fund this account at $59 million.
Out-of-District Vocational Education Student Transportation
This account recognizes the significant cost to cities and towns of transporting students to out-of-district placements in vocational schools, as mandated by state law. We support the Senate appropriation (7035-0007) to fund this account at $2.2 million.
Circuit Breaker for English Language Learners
Cities and towns are struggling to meet the educational needs of an increasing number of students with special needs separate from special education programs. This includes low-income and English language learner (ELL) students. We support Senate section 104A that would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to study and make a recommendation by March 1, 2016 on a funding source for districts with extraordinary increases in ELL enrollment.
Shannon Anti-Gang Grants
The Shannon Grant program has been very effective in enabling cities and towns to respond to and suppress gang-related activities. We support the Senate appropriation of $8 million (8100-0111) to keep this important program moving forward.
Safe and Successful Youth Initiative
Please support the House appropriation (4000-0005) of $6.0 million to provide funding for the Safe and Supportive Youth Initiative. The program seeks to reduce youth violence through wrap-around services for those most likely to be victims or perpetrators, and is vital to violence prevention efforts in dozens of communities.
Summer Jobs for At-Risk Youth
Please support the Senate appropriation (7002-0012) of $11.7 million to provide funding for youth summer jobs. This program is critical to providing employment opportunities for at-risk teenagers in our cities and towns, especially with youth unemployment rates climbing.
Protection of Municipal Emergency Medical Services
We support section 106 in the House budget bill that would prevent the practice of “pay the patient,” by insurance companies, which undermines the ability of cities and towns to fund and operate responsive and efficient ambulance services that are at the core of emergency medical services in Massachusetts. This provision would also clarify that municipalities are authorized to set a fair rate for ambulance services. Cities and towns set fees and charges for a wide variety of municipal services very strictly limited by state law to the cost of providing the service. This is the same rule that would apply to rate setting for emergency ambulance services. It would ensure that rates are reasonable and prevent insurance companies from shifting costs to local property taxpayers through below-cost reimbursements. We respectfully and strongly oppose Senate sections 105W and 53A that would pre-empt local fee-setting authority and result in reduced municipal revenues.
Community Preservation Act Funding
During fiscal 2015, 156 cities and towns collected the local Community Preservation Act
(CPA) surcharge and are eligible for state matching grants in fiscal 2016. The Division of Local Services (DLS) estimates that the balance in the state trust fund will be sufficient to provide a first round match of only 18 percent of the surcharge levied by each city and town. This would be the lowest state match in the program’s history. We strongly support House section 103 that would provide up to $10 million from any fiscal 2015 year-end surplus to supplement the state match.
Administration of Retirement Boards
We oppose sections 84 and 96 in the House budget bill that would lead to reduced oversight and governance of local retirements boards. Section 84 would extend the time period for procurement of retirement board services (including investment, audit, actuarial and legal services) from 5 years to 10 years. Periodic review of performance and fees and consideration of different vendors is important. It appears to us that contracting for these important services only once per decade would subject these essential services to only rare and far-too-infrequent reviews and competition, would diminish accountability, and would weaken the incentive to perform effectively that comes with more frequent review. Section 96 would allow retirement boards to invest in certain types of “follow on” and “successor” funds in a way that would weaken transparency, an important consideration since retirement boards collectively invest billions of dollars.
Outdoor Advertising
We support sections 8 and 42A in the House budget bill that would require MassDOT and the MBTA to follow local zoning ordinances when putting up signs, devices, or advertisements on its property or buildings. This provision is not meant to act as a hindrance to MassDOT’s efforts to better utilize its property and buildings. However, as with all other public advertisements, it is important to ensure conformance with municipal requirements, in order to ensure that the character of communities and neighborhoods is not diminished. MassDOT has neither the expertise nor the knowledge necessary to safeguard neighborhoods from adverse impacts. That’s the role of local government, and that is why MassDOT should be required to follow local rules and ordinances.
SUMMARY
This is a critical time for our economy, and for cities, towns and local taxpayers, and we thank each of you and your legislative leaders for your efforts to advance a strong state budget plan that invests in our communities. We respectfully ask that you approve the local aid investments detailed above, and support policies to protect municipal authority and resources. Massachusetts is starting to find some new economic vigor. Yet the Massachusetts economy will only reach its full potential for statewide growth and job creation if all 351 cities and towns have the resources to adequately serve the residents and businesses of the Commonwealth. Please contact us at any time if you have any questions or need additional information by having your office reach out to me or MMA Legislative Director John Robertson at (617) 426-7272 ext. 122 or jrobertson@mma.org.
Thank you very much for your support, dedication and commitment to the cities and towns of Massachusetts.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey C. Beckwith
Executive Director, MMA