MMA letter to Senators regarding fiscal 2011 state budget

Dear Senator,

Local officials recognize that you and your colleagues in state government are facing major challenges as you seek to balance the state’s fiscal 2011 budget, due primarily to the economic erosion caused by the deep recession that began over two years ago.

As you know, municipal budgets are also facing extreme fiscal distress because of weak growth in local revenues, deep cuts in local aid and state assistance programs, and unsustainable growth in health insurance and other costs that are unavoidable under current law. Cities and towns have downsized their workforces, imposed furloughs and salary freezes, and cut important services and programs in education, public safety, public works, libraries and much more.

The final several weeks of this legislative session will be very important for local government. In addition to the fiscal 2011 state budget bill and one or more supplemental budget bills, we look forward to enactment of comprehensive municipal relief legislation that will provide at least a measure of relief for fiscal 2011 and beyond.

Changes to give cities and towns municipal health insurance plan design control, the single most important relief opportunity, are a work in progress and we need real and meaningful reform approved before the end of the session. We are addressing this top priority in a separate letter.

The state budget bill before you this week cuts the main municipal and school aid accounts by up to 4 percent for each community, a total reduction of $148 million below the current fiscal 2010 level of funding (and $159 million below the Governor’s proposed fiscal 2011 spending plan). This would mark the third straight year of deep and painful local aid cuts.

During the budget debate there will be several amendments that would provide modest help to cities and towns or set the stage for improvements when the economy recovers, and there are a number of amendments that would be harmful or undermine local finances in the long term.

Please Support the Following Amendments:

Special Education Funding. Amendment #382 (Sen. Brewer and others) would increase the appropriation for the special education “circuit breaker” account from $135 million to $146 million to help with the high cost of special education in all cities, towns and school districts. Similar amendments (#365-#368) would also increase funding for this account.

Student Transportation Reimbursements. Amendment #383 (Sen. Brewer and others) would increase from $41 million to $45 million reimbursements for part of the cost of transporting students attending regional school districts and regional charter schools.

Surplus Revenues to Local Aid. Amendment #74 (Sen. Tisei) would set aside a portion of any year-end state tax collections above the most recent prior estimate to be distributed as aid to cities and towns. We support this amendment for fiscal 2011 to reduce or eliminate the cuts and restore municipal and school aid to the fiscal 2010 level.

Point-of-Sale Collection of E-911 Fees. Amendments #478 (Sen. Menard) and #483 (Sen. Candaras) would standardize the way that E-911 fees are collected for pre-paid wireless customers to help pay for the operation of E-911 services, fund regional dispatch centers, and encourage further regionalization.

Open Meeting Law. Amendment #69 (Sen. Brewer) would delay enforcement of certain provisions of the open meeting law to allow cities and towns to prepare to develop plans and procedures for implementation.

Please Oppose the Following Amendments That Are Harmful to Cities and Towns:

Deeper Cuts to Unrestricted General Government Aid by Earmarking the Funds for Collective Bargaining. Amendment #83 would earmark Cherry Sheet “Unrestricted General Government Aid” to pay for local collective bargaining obligations. This harmful amendment would mandate that this important municipal revenue source (mainly Lottery revenues) must be used for collective bargaining agreements, and would dramatically reduce the decision-making authority of municipal officials and local voters.

Destabilizing Changes to School Funding. Amendment #369 would increase the mandated school district payment per pupil to a Recovery High School from the “state average chapter 70 per pupil allotment” to the “state average foundation budget per pupil.” This would result in revenue losses to school budgets in many cities and towns.

We urge you in the strongest possible terms to enact a state budget that provides the maximum level of support to local government. The longer our communities face fiscal distress, the longer it will take for Massachusetts to begin its economic recovery. If you have any questions regarding these amendments or any aspect of the state budget, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time. For budget and local aid questions, MMA Deputy Legislative Director John Robertson can be reached at (617) 426-7272 or jrobertson@mma.org at any time.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey C. Beckwith
MMA Executive Director