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Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Joint Committee on Ways and Means
State House, Boston
Transcript of testimony delivered in person by MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine at hearing on Surplus Surtax Supplemental Budget bill (H. 55)
Chair Michlewitz, Chair Rodrigues, and Distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting us to be here today, and for holding this important hearing. For the record, I’m Adam Chapdelaine, and I’m proud to serve as the Executive Director & CEO of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which serves local government in all corners of the Commonwealth, all 351 cities and towns.
Since the enactment of the voter-approved surtax, we have appreciated your strong support with targeted and thoughtful investments that benefit local government in Massachusetts. Through funding for public schools, school building projects, universal free school meals, local road and bridge funding, and much more, you have been excellent stewards of these new, critical resources, and municipalities are grateful for your partnership.
As we highlighted last week at the Joint Committee’s state budget hearing, cities and towns are facing daunting fiscal challenges. They’re facing a “perfect storm” of fiscal pressures, inflation hitting all city and town departments, health care cost increases, federal funding uncertainty and now rescissions in some cases. And all of this must be managed within the confines of Proposition 2½, which caps local revenues through property taxes. Despite these challenges, cities and towns are proud to partner with Speaker Mariano, Senate President Spilka, and the leadership of this entire Committee to target strategic one-time investments that can make a true difference for local officials and the residents they serve.
When we think about this opportunity you all have, the MMA advises a framework that supports all regions and all communities in the Commonwealth. Whether a gateway city along Route 2, a small town on the South Shore, or a Hilltown in Western Mass., all have unique strengths and needs. Providing strategic investments through a lens of regional equity will further empower our communities and bolster critical services provided by our cities and towns.
Transportation
First, we want to express our gratitude for the investments that the state has made over recent years in improving municipal roadways. That has made important progress. Yet, with more than 30,000 miles of roads under municipal control (nearly 90% of all road miles statewide), funding dedicated to supporting our local roads and bridges is desperately needed. Our most recent Chapter 90 survey has totaled this gap in funding to be in the hundreds of millions in order to bring our roads to a state of good repair. Over time, cost drivers and inflation have further decreased the value of available funding, which has now only been made worse by construction inflation and economic threats from federal action. And under a tightly capped property tax, communities simply don’t have the adequate resources to make enough headway.
To address this, we urge your consideration of an additional $100 million of supplemental funding for Chapter 90-eligible projects. You can all appreciate and understand this need, and we know you all hear from your local officials about the importance of this funding. But it’s also important to remember that this funding could immediately be put to use by cities and towns — shovel-ready projects to repair crumbling local roads, advance critically needed projects, and improve safety on our neighborhood roadways.
Next, we urge you to consider $25 million to support a local bridges and culverts program. Culverts are a significant part of local infrastructure, but they are often only noticed if they fail. But when that happens, sizable costs are incurred — which would be a massive hit to any budget, but especially for our smaller and rural communities. Across the Commonwealth, municipalities are in need of support to maintain and upgrade the countless culverts under municipal care to the necessary resiliency standards, especially as we face increased and unpredictable precipitation patterns. This funding would support upgrades of municipally owned small bridges and culverts in order to protect public safety, improve climate change resiliency, and restore ecosystem connectivity.
I also want to highlight the proposal included in H. 55 for the Winter Resilience Assistance Program, or WRAP. The MMA greatly appreciates the Healey-Driscoll administration for including this important provision, which would distribute supplemental aid to municipalities based on road miles — a successful method for supplemental apportionments to assist all communities while prioritizing regional equity.
For WRAP, we respectfully request consideration of $50 million, an increase over the administration’s proposal. Each municipality has a list of shovel-ready projects in need of supplemental funding; all can be put to use right away. With the effects of climate change exacerbating the damage to local roads, this is an essential investment to improve access and quality of life for residents across the Commonwealth.
Through these proposed investments in local roads, bridges, and culverts, the Legislature has a great opportunity to address a backlog of need across all 351 cities and towns, all while promoting regional equity with a limited infusion of surplus resources.
Education
Regarding education, we appreciate the attention on the Special Education Circuit Breaker, which is an essential program to reimburse districts for the costs of services and transportation to students with some of the highest needs. We support fully funding this critical account and look forward to working with you in determining the best approach in the coming months.
Further, school transportation accounts also continue to be a high priority for municipalities. Inadequate funding for these programs can create major hardships on school districts and municipal budgets. We’re grateful for your ongoing support in recent years for the needs of regional school transportation, out-of-district vocational and special education transportation, as well as the transportation of homeless students under McKinney-Vento.
As we view this unique funding opportunity in terms of programs that are both related to Education and Transportation, we are respectfully requesting a special, one-time “pothole” account to address in-district transportation. Regular day in-district school transportation is a major area of high cost, with no current financial support from the state. While state law provides for state funding for regular day in-district transportation, municipalities haven’t seen financial support from the Commonwealth for decades, as this section is subject to appropriation. But at a time when districts are facing such acute increases in school transportation costs, we believe this proposed account could mitigate the impact they’re having on local school budgets. We are respectfully requesting $45 million toward this effort.
Research consistently demonstrates a strong link between reliable and accessible school transportation and improved student attendance, particularly for economically disadvantaged students. Studies have shown that transportation access can increase attendance rates and reduce chronic absenteeism.
Thank you again for your time. We are deeply grateful for the committee’s attention on all these priority issues for local government. We look forward to partnering with you in the months ahead on these issues, and we appreciate your consideration of important investments supporting all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth.