Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) –
Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association – Regional Update Meeting
11/3/10, Canton
About 30 area selectmen attended a Mass Selectmen’s Association meeting in Canton last night to get an update of MMA News:
1. FY12 is expected to be the worst budget year ever for the state and the towns
- one time Federal education stimulus monies came out in August 2010
- encourage schools to not spend it all in one year, because it is only one time monies
- State had a $2 b. budget gap before the election, and with the roll back of the sales tax on alcohol it is now a $2.1 b. budget gap
- No way that state budget gap can be closed without cuts to local aid
- Local aid cuts mean losses of municipal jobs: teachers, police, firefighters, DPW
- State cuts might be on the order of 5% for schools and 10% for town
2. MMA priorities
- Doubling Chap. 90 highway monies, in order to preserve infrastructure and to keep jobs
- Health care plan design reforms – allow towns to change plan terms without having to collectively bargain each change, because it will save municipal jobs, because it will save money – allows towns to change health plans just the same as private employers and the state already can – 4-6% savings if towns get same controls state and business already have to design plans
3. Regional services
- Dispatch for all of Barnstable County
- State has planning monies available to implement
4. Open Meeting Law regulations were published by the AG on 10/1/10
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