State Representative Mark Falzone joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in passing legislation designed to help cities and towns financially. This bill will assist municipalities by facilitating mutual aid agreements, allowing pension systems to extend their funding schedules and permitting municipalities to enter into leases of up to 30 years without a home rule petition. Numerous other provisions of the bill will also provide additional new means to help cities and towns manage their budgets and local community responsibilities through these challenging economic times.

Representative Falzone emphasized, “It is essential that we do all we can to preserve local government services, such as education and public safety, while taking the pressure off of the property tax. At a time when government resources at every level are challenged by our current economy, I am pleased we are providing these new tools for our towns and cities to manage local budgets and finances.”

This legislation establishes a statewide mutual aid agreement allowing mutual aid assistance – such as fire services, law enforcement and emergency medical services – during a public safety incident. The bill also creates a statewide public works mutual aid agreement for the sharing of public works resources across jurisdictional lines during public works incidents.

The bill allows pension systems, with the exception of the State Employees Retirement System and the Teachers’ Retirement System, to extend their funding schedule to 2040. The House voted to remove the provision that would have allowed municipalities to raise property taxes to furnish overlay accounts used to fund abatements through the appeal of tax bills and other tax programs, out of concern that it would have circumvented Proposition 2 ½ which limits annual increases in property taxes.

The relief package includes a local option tax amnesty program which allows cities and towns to waive portions of interest and penalties due on unpaid taxes as long as the taxpayer pays the principal amount and is not subject to criminal investigation for failure to pay taxes. The package also allows any accepting municipality to establish an early retirement program for its employees.

“As we work to create jobs and grow our economy on the state level, this legislation will give our cities and towns much-needed tools to guide our economy through the global economic downturn,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said. “This bill will help municipalities save money and manage their budgets without weakening Proposition 2 ½.”

“By passing this municipal relief bill, we give communities the ability to manage their way through this fiscal crisis – increasing efficiency instead of increasing property taxes,” said Rep. Charles Murphy, Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

“I’m very pleased that today, with a unanimous vote of the House , we have provided municipalities and local officials multiple tools to address pension, regionalization and municipal finance issues,” said Rep Paul Donato, House Chairman of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government.

The bill also gives municipalities the choice of accepting a section that requires school and city officials to meet each year to review the fiscal status of the school district and identify potential cost savings through regionalization initiatives. In an effort to further control costs, the bill lets school districts reimburse parents of disabled children who drive their children to private day care programs outside the municipality in which they live rather than allow only the school district to provide such transportation. Furthermore, the bill empowers school committees to join with one or more other school committees to elect a superintendent to represent the partnering districts.

The package also allows any accepting municipality to establish an early retirement program for its employees. Municipalities would be restricted when filling vacancies created by early retirements and could pay only a fraction of the participants’ total annual salary in upcoming fiscal years.

This legislation will next be considered by the Massachusetts Senate.