Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Dear Legislator,
On behalf of the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association would like to thank you and the entire Legislature for your leadership and dedication to making Chapter 90 a top priority this past year. We deeply appreciate your successful efforts to fast-track the one-year, $300 million Chapter 90 bond authorization for fiscal 2014 by separating Chapter 90 from the Governor’s omnibus transportation bond bill.
Local officials across the state applaud your success in steering a record $300 million Chapter 90 authorization into law. We are extremely disappointed in the Administration’s unwise decision to withhold $100 million from cities and towns – the Legislature voted to fund Chapter 90 by a unanimous vote and provided a broad tax and revenue package to significantly increase transportation investments, and communities are dismayed that the Administration is unilaterally deciding to deny Chapter 90 any portion of the additional revenues.
The MMA and local officials will continue to call on the Governor to release the full amount of Chapter 90 funding that is due cities and towns. The good news is that the Legislature’s authorization will remain on the books, which means that this Administration, or any future Administration, can decide to release the $100 million at any point. We are grateful that you and your colleagues are continuing to urge the Governor to provide the full $300 million to cities and towns, knowing that your advocacy and support is vitally important in this process.
In the meantime, we are also looking beyond the fiscal 2014 authorization, to the passage of a multi-year Chapter 90 bond bill to enable cities and towns to plan for the future. As you know, the passage of a bond bill (and the companion “terms” bill) requires a long journey along a very time-consuming pathway. This lengthy process, coupled with the debate over the transportation finance bill, resulted in the Governor delaying release of final Chapter 90 allocation letters until July 30, rather than the customary and statutory date of April 1. Provisional and contingent letters were sent in April and May, but these did not provide cities and towns with legal authorization to enter into road construction contracts or to start work. Missing the April 1 deadline shortens the construction season and delays important projects in every part of the state.
In order to avoid another frustrating and costly delay in the start of local road projects for fiscal 2015 and beyond, we respectfully and urgently ask that the Legislature enact a multi-year, $300 million-a-year Chapter 90 bond bill as soon as possible before the end of the 2013 session on November 20, even if that requires separating it from the Governor’s bond bill that remains in Committee, or any omnibus bond bill that may be on a slower path. We very much appreciated the steadfast commitment of the House and Senate to a $300 million program throughout the difficult debate on transportation finance earlier this year. We believe it is important for the Legislature to enact a new Chapter 90 authorization before the end of formal legislative sessions on November 20. Otherwise, using history as a guide, the fiscal 2015 authorization would likely be delayed again, and miss the April 1 notification date. We request that the new authorization be for five years and provide $300 million annually, indexed for inflation.
Last year, the MMA released a report documenting that cities and towns across the state need to spend at least $562 million every year just to bring local roads into a state of good repair, the industry standard for ensuring well-maintained roads in good condition. Currently, municipalities spend far less because of inadequate resources and because, for most cities and towns, Chapter 90 is the only source of funds for road construction and repair. Funding the Chapter 90 program at $300 million annually, with an inflation-based adjustment, will close a portion of this huge gap.
We also note that the Chapter 90 program is the most effective and efficient way to ensure regional equity and regional access to the increased transportation tax revenues included in the final transportation finance bill, including the increase in the gas tax that was supported by the MMA. Chapter 90 shares transportation revenues in a fair way in every corner of the Commonwealth. Further, cities and towns face such a backlog of need that the increase will immediately result in visible and necessary construction and repair projects on local roads across Massachusetts.
Investing more in Chapter 90 funding to improve the quality of local roads will actually save taxpayers millions of dollars a year. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, once a local road is in a state of good repair, every dollar invested to keep it properly maintained will save $6 to $10 in avoided repair costs that become necessary to rebuild the road when it fails due to a lack of maintenance.
We look forward to working in partnership with you and the entire Legislature to maintain our existing infrastructure, embrace reforms, expand our system and invest in our future.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey C. Beckwith
Executive Director, MMA
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