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Moore: Task Force report deserves the Legislature’s attention |
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Senator responds to Municipal Finance Task Force report |
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BOSTON, September 7, 2005 - The recent release of the report of the Municipal Finance Task Force drew a mixed response from Senator Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge). Moore, a former three-term Hopedale Selectman and past President of the Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association (1975-76), stated that while he agreed with many of the Task Force recommendations, he was disappointed that there were very few recommendations for improving economy and efficiency in local government. The Task Force, chaired by John P. Hamill, Chairman of Sovereign Bank of New England, was composed of a group of public sector, private sector, and academic experts and leaders. Senator Moore said that the thrust of the report – that local taxpayers are shouldering more of the burden of local government, misses the point that local taxpayers and state taxpayers are the same people, though admittedly, the formulas for payment affect people differently. “The point is that state and local government should both strive to be more cost-effective and that we need to do a better job of funding the more expensive services such as education and health care through broad based taxation rather than property taxes.” He said that he was also disappointed that the report didn’t encourage municipalities to practice performance-based government or to improve financial accountability. He pointed to two recent instances in his own district where school committees were not kept informed about the condition of school finances. In Douglas, the school committee had been told by the school administration that their budget was in surplus, only to later learn that it was in deficit. The reverse was found in Southbridge where school officials believed they had a huge deficit when, in fact a surplus was found in some accounts. “Municipal governments need more than new revenue sources, increased state aid, and relief from paying for certain services,” Senator Moore explained. “They need to exert greater control and exhibit more transparency and accountability in local spending,” he added. “On the other hand, I believe that the state should share more generously with local governments and refrain from passing on the costs of unfunded mandates. We need to build a stronger state-local partnership for the benefit of all of the Commonwealth’s citizens. As for each of the Task Force recommendations, Senator Moore offered specific comments: Adopt a revenue sharing policy that allocates a fixed percentage of state tax receipt to local aid. Senator Moore believes this idea has considerable merit. However, the most contentious issue might well focus around what the fixed percentage ought to be. Cities and towns would also have to understand that if the state receipts declined, as they did in 2002 and 2003, the local aid would automatically decline as well. Return to a formula for distributing general government local aid, which would hold current Additional Assistance communities harmless, but that would address the clear need to broaden non-school aid. Senator Moore agrees that the state should assist general government costs of cities and towns, although he prefers to do this through full funding of any state mandated programs. He disagrees that “Additional Assistance” communities should be held harmless since there is no sound rationale for receiving “additional assistance.” Senator Moore believes the category should be abolished as part of any reworking of local aid and that the same funding now awarded to a select group of communities – mostly cities - could be re-allocated to benefit ALL cities and towns. Fulfill the state’s commitment to use Lottery proceeds to benefit local government by lifting the current cap. Senator Moore supports elimination of the cap on lottery proceeds as soon as state finances permit. Currently, the law calls for phase out of the cap over the next three years. If state revenues continue to improve, this should be implemented sooner. Review and revise the Chapter 70 aid formula, including a re-examination of the municipal growth factor and minimum local contributions, and consider adding an income element. Senator Moore strongly agrees with the recommendation to revise the Chapter 70 education aid formula, and has actually voted in the Senate for a version of Chapter 70 reform, that includes recognition of ability to pay by including income calculations. In fact, Senator Moore and Representative Kujawski have arranged to have one of the Education Committee’s statewide hearings held in Oxford on September 28th in order to give area local officials and educators a chance to attend. Grant additional flexibility in developing local option revenue sources, such as local option meals taxes, parking excise taxes, or rental car surcharges. Senator Moore has some reservations about adding additional revenue sources since most of the proposals tend to be of greater benefit to urban areas; however he would be open to discussion of specific proposals, perhaps within a limit on how high the taxes could be raised. Consider changes to update the motor vehicle excise tax – particularly updating the valuation schedule and addressing widespread fraud in vehicle registrations. Senator Moore has reservations about any increase in the motor vehicle excise tax. In areas of the state where there is little or no public transportation, motor vehicles are necessities. However, Senator Moore is a strong supporter of fighting fraud in motor vehicle registrations and has sponsored legislation to crack down on those who illegally register their motor vehicles out of state to avoid taxes and insurance. He favors a plan that would share any revenue gained from an aggressive enforcement with local police agencies. Review telecommunications taxation and internet hotel/motel tax issues. Senator Moore has endorsed legislation supported by the Massachusetts Municipal Association to allow municipalities to tax Address the critical nature of the municipal health care crisis and consider various strategies to deal with these out of control costs. As Senate Chair of the Committee on Health Care Financing, Senator Moore is working to find a solution to the rising costs of health insurance. However, he does not favor any plan that would create savings by shifting more of the cost of premiums to municipal employees. Such a plan could have the effect of forcing lower wage municipal employees of health plans and into the uncompensated care pool simply shifting the burden to other payers. Senator Moore does favor encouraging communities to enroll their retirees in Medicare Part B as long as the premiums do not exceed the current costs for retiree health insurance. Encourage regional service delivery and cost sharing. Senator Moore has long been a supporter of regionalization of service delivery and cost-sharing. Senator Moore was a co-sponsor of Section 20, Chapter 34B that allows communities to form regional councils to deliver services, and has sponsored other legislation to encourage regional cooperation to save costs for local taxpayers. Seek to clarify roles of municipal and state governments, and develop a plan to let the state take responsibility for what are properly state functions, such as regional transit authorities and counties. Senator Moore has consistently advocated for communities such as Northbridge and Bellingham to either be exempt from MBTA charges that are applied to towns adjacent to communities that host MBTA service or to give them funding to provide shuttle service from their town to the nearest MBTA station. He opposed and voted against the legislation that restructured the financing of the MBTA because it added a burden to towns like Northbridge and Bellingham that did not receive any direct benefit from the MBTA, and he has continued to fight for them to be treated fairly. As for county costs, Senator Moore led the fight to abolish Worcester County and several other counties. His efforts resulted in considerable savings to the towns in Worcester County. |
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