Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
President Donald Trump’s federal budget outline for fiscal 2018, released on March 16, calls for a massive increase in defense spending to be offset by a nearly equal cut in domestic discretionary spending, including key municipal aid programs such as Community Development Block Grants.
The president is proposing deep cuts to a number of agencies and programs as well as the elimination of 19 smaller agencies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would receive the steepest cut – 31 percent – followed by the State Department and the departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Health and Human Services. With the exception of the State Department, each of these agencies has an impact on local governments, and the consequences of the cuts would be felt almost immediately in cities and towns.
The budget would eliminate several important Housing and Urban Development programs, including the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (to support local housing strategies designed to increase homeownership and affordable housing opportunities for low- and very-low-income Americans) and Choice Neighborhoods. The budget would also end support for New Starts transit funding, Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants for key transportation projects, and the Economic Development Administration.
Of particular concern to many municipal leaders is the potential loss of the CDBG program. Since its inception, the program has provided an immense benefit to municipal governments across Massachusetts in their efforts to boost economic development and stimulate housing development. While the program is federally funded, it has been administered by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development since 1982.
In the last seven years, 44 percent of the eligible communities in Massachusetts have received CDBG grants of some kind, with $237 million distributed through 321 grants, with an average value of $741,000. The average population of a grant community is 10,213. These smaller communities are particularly dependent on CDBG grants for larger projects.
• Visit the Housing and Economic Development website for more information on CDBG use in Massachusetts
The CDBG program has also been a key tool in combatting the housing shortage in the Commonwealth. Over the same seven-year period, the grants have rehabilitated more than 3,000 housing units and repaired or rehabilitated more than 300,000 linear feet of public infrastructure. Many of these projects would exceed the ability of the municipal government in question to finance.
In 2016, the Baker-Polito administration awarded $28 million in CDBG grants through the DHCD.
Local leaders have also voiced concerns about possible cuts to the EPA’s Brownfields and Superfund programs, which help cities and towns assess, clean up and revitalize contaminated properties that are a danger to the environment and public safety.
It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the United States. Since its inception in 1995, the Brownfields Program has helped communities reinvest in these properties, which leads to economic development opportunities, protects the environment, and increases the local tax base.
The EPA offers assessment grants, cleanup grants, area-wide planning grants, and revolving loan fund grants. Over 21 years, the program has provided a total of $120 million to municipalities and other entities in Massachusetts.
The president’s proposal would cut the Hazardous Substance Superfund Account by 30 percent, or $330 million. The Superfund Program funds cleanups of the most-contaminated land as well as land impacted by environmental emergencies, oil spills and natural disasters. According to the EPA, there are 40 superfund sites in Massachusetts.
The president would also cut the National Institutes of Health by 20 percent, a move strongly opposed by state leaders in Massachusetts, where health care is a key sector of the economy. Gov. Charlie Baker called the NIH cuts “particularly alarming.”
Additional domestic programs slated for deep cuts include the Corporation for National and Community Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Senior Community Service Employment Program.
The president’s proposed budget is seeing strong opposition from the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the American Planning Association, and many other municipal groups.
A recent Politico magazine survey found that 88 percent of U.S. mayors believe the cuts would be “devastating” or “harmful” to their cities, particularly cuts to housing and transportation programs. Four out of five mayors responded that they are talking with mayors across the country to fight the proposed cuts. Seventy-two percent said they are appealing to their congressional representatives, while 58 percent are speaking out in the media.
The president’s budget will now be reviewed by Congress, which has signalled that many of the cuts do not have wide support. Congress is under no obligation to enact the president’s budget, however. The U.S. House of Representatives will likely release its budget proposal sometime in early May, beginning a budget process in Congress that may produce a plan with significant differences from the president’s proposal.