Home 
Advocacy Press Room MMA statement in response to legislative announcement of local aid cuts
For immediate release – For more information, please contact Geoffrey Beckwith or Patricia Mikes at (617) 426-7272
New local aid cut would trigger widespread layoffs and service reductions
Local control over health insurance plans would save taxpayers $100 million
Cities and towns are in fiscal crisis due to the national recession and last summer’s record local aid cut of $724 million. Today’s announcement by the legislative leadership that the members of the House and Senate are planning to cut local aid by up to another 4 percent, or as much as $200 million, is bad news for cities, towns and taxpayers across the state, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
“This local aid cut would be extremely painful for cities, towns and taxpayers,” said MMA Executive Director Geoffrey C. Beckwith. “After absorbing the deepest local aid cut in history last year, communities are struggling to balance their budgets, and a new local aid reduction of this size would certainly trigger widespread layoffs of thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters and other key municipal workers, and it will force deep cuts in essential local services and programs.”
Local aid has been cut more deeply than the overall state budget, according to an analysis by the MMA. General government municipal aid was cut by 29 percent last year, and the total reduction in municipal and education aid programs was 12 percent, or $724 million. In contrast, the state budget has decreased by 4 percent, far less than the percentage cut absorbed by cities and towns.
“Communities across the state have stepped up to the plate,” Beckwith said, “but further local aid cuts would shift too much of the state deficit onto local taxpayers.”
The MMA called on legislators to take every step possible to protect local aid during next month’s budget debate and to pass critical municipal health insurance reform to give local leaders the tools to balance their budgets, protect key services, and prevent property taxes from increasing even more. The most important municipal reform priority is the passage of legislation to give cities and towns the power to design health insurance plans and control skyrocketing costs.
“In addition to protecting vital local aid from further cuts, we need the Legislature and the governor to give cities and towns the same authority the state uses to design employee health insurance plans outside of collective bargaining,” Beckwith said. “This one reform is the only effective way to bring immediate fiscal relief to all cities and towns, and it is urgently overdue.”
The MMA estimates that plan design reform would allow most cities and towns to lower their health insurance costs by between 4 and 6 percent, saving up to $100 million statewide.
Local officials operate under a state law that requires communities to negotiate and receive union approval before implementing any change in employee health insurance plans, giving municipal unions a special veto power over all cost-saving steps, while the state has exempted itself from this law and routinely implements basic plan design decisions on health insurance outside of collective bargaining, such as increasing co-pays and deductibles to lower the cost of the plans they offer to state employees.
The call for plan design reform has been endorsed by municipal leaders and leading organizations, including the Save Our Communities Coalition, The Boston Foundation, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Stand For Children, and the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.
“Communities are facing a real fiscal crisis, and plan design reform offers real savings that taxpayers deserve,” Beckwith said. “The current system is unaffordable – it costs taxpayers too much, crowds out important services, and forces the elimination of teachers, firefighters, police officers and other workers.”
The Massachusetts Municipal Association is the statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan association that serves as the voice of local government. The MMA provides advocacy, training, publications, research and other services to all cities and towns.
Advocacy Press Room MMA statement in response to legislative announcement of local aid cuts
MMA statement in response to legislative announcement of local aid cuts
For immediate release – For more information, please contact Geoffrey Beckwith or Patricia Mikes at (617) 426-7272
Local aid and health insurance reform vital to fiscal recovery
New local aid cut would trigger widespread layoffs and service reductions
Local control over health insurance plans would save taxpayers $100 million
Cities and towns are in fiscal crisis due to the national recession and last summer’s record local aid cut of $724 million. Today’s announcement by the legislative leadership that the members of the House and Senate are planning to cut local aid by up to another 4 percent, or as much as $200 million, is bad news for cities, towns and taxpayers across the state, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
“This local aid cut would be extremely painful for cities, towns and taxpayers,” said MMA Executive Director Geoffrey C. Beckwith. “After absorbing the deepest local aid cut in history last year, communities are struggling to balance their budgets, and a new local aid reduction of this size would certainly trigger widespread layoffs of thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters and other key municipal workers, and it will force deep cuts in essential local services and programs.”
Local aid has been cut more deeply than the overall state budget, according to an analysis by the MMA. General government municipal aid was cut by 29 percent last year, and the total reduction in municipal and education aid programs was 12 percent, or $724 million. In contrast, the state budget has decreased by 4 percent, far less than the percentage cut absorbed by cities and towns.
“Communities across the state have stepped up to the plate,” Beckwith said, “but further local aid cuts would shift too much of the state deficit onto local taxpayers.”
The MMA called on legislators to take every step possible to protect local aid during next month’s budget debate and to pass critical municipal health insurance reform to give local leaders the tools to balance their budgets, protect key services, and prevent property taxes from increasing even more. The most important municipal reform priority is the passage of legislation to give cities and towns the power to design health insurance plans and control skyrocketing costs.
“In addition to protecting vital local aid from further cuts, we need the Legislature and the governor to give cities and towns the same authority the state uses to design employee health insurance plans outside of collective bargaining,” Beckwith said. “This one reform is the only effective way to bring immediate fiscal relief to all cities and towns, and it is urgently overdue.”
The MMA estimates that plan design reform would allow most cities and towns to lower their health insurance costs by between 4 and 6 percent, saving up to $100 million statewide.
Local officials operate under a state law that requires communities to negotiate and receive union approval before implementing any change in employee health insurance plans, giving municipal unions a special veto power over all cost-saving steps, while the state has exempted itself from this law and routinely implements basic plan design decisions on health insurance outside of collective bargaining, such as increasing co-pays and deductibles to lower the cost of the plans they offer to state employees.
The call for plan design reform has been endorsed by municipal leaders and leading organizations, including the Save Our Communities Coalition, The Boston Foundation, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Stand For Children, and the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.
“Communities are facing a real fiscal crisis, and plan design reform offers real savings that taxpayers deserve,” Beckwith said. “The current system is unaffordable – it costs taxpayers too much, crowds out important services, and forces the elimination of teachers, firefighters, police officers and other workers.”
The Massachusetts Municipal Association is the statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan association that serves as the voice of local government. The MMA provides advocacy, training, publications, research and other services to all cities and towns.
