Funding Local Government: Revisiting the Fiscal Partnership
November 2, 2005

John Hamill
Chair, Municipal Finance Task Force; Chairman and CEO, Sovereign Bank of New England;

MA State Representative Rachel Kaprielian
Co-chair, Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government

Linda Bilmes
KSG Lecturer in Public Policy, former CFO and Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget, U.S. Department of Commerce

Virtually all of Massachusetts’ cities and towns face a long-term financial problems, according to a September 2005 report by the Municipal Finance Task Force, a blue-ribbon committee chaired by John Hamill, one of the region’s most respected civic leaders. Many costs are rising faster than existing revenue sources and rigid constraints make it difficult, if not impossible, to tap new sources of revenue. Local aid payments from the state fluctuate greatly and often come with significant requirements and restriction on local governments’ use of those funds. The task force concluded that these problems have caused has a decline in municipal services that will grow into crisis proportions unless the state and its localities change policies for both taxation and management. At this event, Hamill -- who chaired a similar commission 15 years ago -- discussed the task force’s key findings. Representative Kaprielian, who was a member of the task force, commented on the prospects for legislative action. Ms. Bilmes provided insights from her broad career in public budgeting and management.

This free event is presented by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. A tape of this discussion is available. For more information, contact Polly O’Brien at 617-495-5091 or polly@rappaportinstitute.org.