Locals wait on House budget committee plan

Following public hearings across the state on the fiscal 2013 budget bill filed by the governor in January, the House budget committee is expected by mid-April to release its own spending plan to be debated and approved by the House before the first of May.

After four years of deep cuts, the MMA and local leaders are asking the Legislature to increase funding for the main municipal and education aid accounts above the levels recommended by the governor and to approve a Local Aid Resolution to give cities and towns early notice of aid amounts to help with tax and spending decisions during the local budget season.

Municipal leaders delivered this message to House budget committee Chair Brian Dempsey during a meeting on March 22 to discuss local aid priorities and the upcoming House budget debate. Attending the meeting were MMA President Robert Logan, MMA Vice President Kate Fitzpatrick, Massachusetts Mayor’s Association President Kim Driscoll, and MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith.

Last year, the House and Senate reached agreement on the main local aid amounts in mid-April.

At a Feb. 23 public hearing in Amherst on local aid budget accounts, the MMA told House and Senate budget committee members that after nearly $500 million in cuts since fiscal 2008, cities and towns need an increase in Unrestricted General Government Aid to help pay for public safety and other municipal services and avoid over-reliance on the property tax.

The governor’s fiscal 2013 budget plan would level-fund UGGA at the original fiscal 2012 amount of $634 million, but did not include the $65 million supplemental amount distributed last October.

The governor included language in his budget bill that would allocate a portion of any fiscal 2012 year-end surplus for additional UGGA funding, much like in fiscal 2012, but the MMA pointed out that these funds would not be finalized until next October and could not be relied upon for local budget balancing purposes this spring.

The call for greater Unrestricted General Government Aid also stems from dramatically improving Lottery sales that are generating more net revenue available for cities and towns.

The MMA also asked legislative budget committee members to increase funding for the special education “circuit-breaker” and the reimbursement account for charter school-related losses that were both underfunded in the governor’s budget bill.

The MMA requested funding for various municipal aid accounts, including the Cherry Sheet Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes account, and for the state to cover the unfunded state mandate related to the transportation of homeless students.