Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
House members yesterday unanimously approved a $39.5 billion state spending plan for next year that includes increased funding for several key municipal and school aid accounts.
The House’s budget bill includes $1.02 billion for Unrestricted General Government Aid, an increase of $42 million (4.3 percent) over current funding. The increase, which matches the governor’s proposal in January, reflects the expected growth rate in state tax collections for fiscal 2017, adopted as part of the state’s consensus revenue estimating process. Every city and town would see its UGGA funding increase by about 4.3 percent, the largest increase in discretionary municipal aid in nearly a decade.
The House budget includes $4.61 billion for Chapter 70 education aid, an increase of $95.8 million over the fiscal 2016 level and $23.7 million more than the governor proposed. The House increased the new “minimum aid” amount from $20 per student, as recommended by the governor, to $55. In addition, the House included a $10 million reserve account to provide aid to municipalities and school districts that were adversely affected by the change in how low-income students are counted in the Chapter 70 school aid calculation.
• Link to Division of Local Services for updated preliminary Cherry Sheet receipts and assessments
The House also increased funding for the Special Education Circuit Breaker program by $4.9 million. The budget plan would provide $276.6 million with the intention of fully funding the account, although it appears to fall short of the target.
The House budget would add $1 million for regional school student transportation reimbursements above the governor’s recommendation, to level-fund the program at $60 million, and would level-fund reimbursements for the transportation of homeless students at $8.4 million.
The House added $5 million for reimbursements due to cities and towns losing local school aid to charter schools, for a total of $85.5 million. Increasing this account is a top priority for municipalities and school districts, but House members did not adopt an MMA-supported amendment that would have raised funding up to the full funding amount of $134.4 million.
Under state law, cities and towns that host or send students to charter schools are entitled to be reimbursed for a portion of their lost Chapter 70 aid. Assessments on cities, towns and regional school districts to fund tuition payments to charter schools are expected to exceed $500 million next year.
The House budget would level-fund payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) at $26.8 million, increase library grant programs slightly to about $19.4 million, and provide funding for METCO at $20.6 million.
During debate, the House adopted an amendment to add $1 million to the Shannon anti-gang grant program, providing an appropriation of $6 million. The House also included $2.5 million for a community policing grant program that has been unfunded for many years.
The House budget includes a number of proposed law changes, including a provision that would ban the practice of “pay the patient” by insurance companies, which undermines the ability of cities and towns to fund and operate effective and efficient ambulance services that are at the core of emergency medical response in Massachusetts. The amendment would also clarify that municipalities are authorized to set a fair rate for ambulance services, preventing insurance companies from shifting costs to local property taxpayers through below-cost reimbursements. This provision – supported by the MMA – has been approved by the House in prior years but rejected by the Senate.
During fiscal 2016, 158 cities and towns collected the local Community Preservation Act surcharge and are eligible for state matching grants in fiscal 2017. The Division of Local Services estimates that the balance in the state trust fund will be sufficient to provide a first-round match of only 19 percent of the surcharge levied by each city and town. This would be one of the lowest state matches in the program’s history. Knowing this, House members voted to dedicate up to $10 million of any fiscal 2016 year-end state budget surplus to supplement the fiscal 2017 state match.
The Senate is expected to take up its own state budget next month, with the goal of having a final budget bill to the governor for his signature before the fiscal year begins on July 1.