Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
State officials have announced a new program to financially support municipalities that have lost local hotel excise tax revenue due to emergency assistance shelter placements in hotels and motels in their community.
Of the more than 7,500 families in the emergency assistance system, just over half are being housed in hotels or motels in roughly 100 cities and towns, with the other half being housed in traditional state shelters.
The Municipal Tax Reimbursement Program will be funded through a fiscal 2023 supplemental budget and be managed by the Division of Local Services.
According to the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, distributions will be determined by comparing fiscal 2024 quarterly local room occupancy distributions to the same quarter in fiscal 2023.
The first round of distributions will include backdated distributions from the start of the program in September 2023. First payments are expected to be distributed in early March, and no application is required.
The program is expected to be in effect for fiscal 2024, with determinations to be made about fiscal 2025 based on available funding.