Press Release: 2/5/2026
Members OK fiscal resolution at MMA Business Meeting
During the MMA’s Annual Business Meeting on Jan. 24 in Boston, local leaders from member communities across Massachusetts overwhelmingly approved a policy resolution on the state-local fiscal partnership
MMA Legislative Director Dave Koffman, center, speaks during the MMA Annual Business Meeting on Jan. 25 in Boston. Also on stage, left to right, are Franklin Town Administrator Jamie Hellen, the 2025 MMA president; MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine; Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove, the 2026 MMA president; Wakefield Town Councillor Jonathan Chines, chair of the MMA Fiscal Policy Committee; and MMA Senior Legislative Analyst Adrienne Nuñez.
The fiscal resolution seeks to ensure a strong partnership between cities and towns and the state in fiscal 2027. It identifies municipal needs in areas including unrestricted aid; education and charter school finance; capital needs such as road maintenance, municipal and school facilities, water and wastewater systems, and climate resilience; and local option flexibility for local revenues
As state and municipal leaders prepare for the coming fiscal year, and economists predict modest growth and continued economic uncertainty fueled by federal policy actions, municipalities across Massachusetts are grappling with tightly capped property tax limits, inflation that has significantly outpaced revenue growth, and discretionary state aid that has not recovered from the 2008 Great Recession.
The MMA’s two recent reports — “A Perfect Storm” and “Navigating the Storm” — document the fiscal reality that cities and towns are experiencing, along with policy solutions focused on targeted relief. The member-endorsed resolution contends that a renewed state-local partnership, fueled by the collective advocacy of municipal leaders, will be essential in order to “navigate the storm.”
The resolution calls for a fortification of the state-local partnership through increases to Unrestricted General Government Aid, adequate funding for public education and associated transportation, support for critical infrastructure projects, and municipal government modernization.
The resolution calls on state policymakers to act on a broad fiscal program focused on stabilizing all 351 cities and towns.
The resolution was drafted last fall by the MMA Fiscal Policy Committee and endorsed by the MMA Board of Directors. It includes priorities raised by municipal officials from all regions of the Commonwealth, representing communities large, small, coastal, inland, urban, suburban, and rural.
The MMA’s Annual Business Meeting is a key component of the Connect 351 conference. Resolutions adopted by the membership at the meeting help guide the advocacy work of the MMA in the year ahead.