When lawmakers beefed up the state’s school employee background checks by adding fingerprinting four years ago, few argued against the idea of keeping children safe.
When the Legislature two years later OK’d a law establishing an early voting period, few argued against making voting easier for all residents.
What legislators didn’t include in these proposals — as well as nearly 100 others since 2010 – was money for cities and towns to cover the cost of implementing these rules. Officials have argued for years that the state continues to pass so-called unfunded mandates that, however well intended, burden them financially.
It happens a lot. Over the five years ending in December, the Legislature passed 97 new laws with a “significant financial impact” on cities and towns, according to a recent study released by state Auditor Suzanne Bump. That’s 21 percent of all legislation enacted during this period, excluding changes pertaining to local matters.
The report did not tally how much money the laws cost municipalities, though it does note that a majority of the changes were in the areas of education, employment benefits, public safety and elections.
By itself, the figure may not be that alarming, particularly if the laws have support within communities.
But the unfunded mandates must be taken within the context of a steady erosion of state aid and a lack of options for raising local revenue.
It’s no secret that state aid is not what it used to be. According to Bump’s report, between 2003 and 2015 cities and towns have had to fund a greater percentage of their operations through local taxes and receipts to make up for a significant drop in state aid.
Specifically, in fiscal 2003, tax levies accounted for about 51 percent of total municipal revenue and state aid accounted for 27 percent. In fiscal 2015, the tax levies total had climbed to 58 percent of municipal revenue and state aid dropped to about 20 percent.
The numbers are starker in many Hampshire County communities. In Northampton, state aid represents about 19 percent of the city’s $103 million budget this fiscal year, with 64 percent of the budget coming from the local tax levy. Ten years ago, state aid made up 25 percent of the city’s budget.
The same story has played out in nearly every community in the state, and it’s not new to officials who have had to make tough decisions to balance budgets.
That’s why lawmakers and leaders of state agencies must strive to do a better job of helping local governments fund new laws they deem important, or at least be aware of what the proposals might cost as they craft legislation and aim to curb those costs when possible.
It’s pretty easy for state lawmakers and agencies to write new rules if they assume no financial responsibility, but that doesn’t make it right.
This is where Bump is stepping in with a sensible, if overdue, plan. Bump recommends two statutory changes designed to provide greater transparency about the fiscal impacts decisions by policymakers have on cities and towns.
One would require state agencies to file municipal impact reports when creating, amending or repealing regulations, to ensure they take into account the impact their actions have on local governments. As Bump notes, making these reports available would open the regulatory amendment process to a more “robust” discussion.
“If state agencies took municipal concerns into account when drafting regulations, those agencies may be able to mitigate the impact of the regulations on municipalities,” the report states.
The second recommendation is equally important and should be adopted. It would grant the Division of Local Mandates authority to research and develop reports on the financial impacts proposed legislation has on municipalities, an authority it doesn’t have.
These reports would be shared with lawmakers, legislative committees and staff. In the end, such impact reports would help lawmakers make more informed decisions on laws.
That just makes sense.