From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:
"While there’s growing talk of a possible recession, Massachusetts workers are about to receive a $175 million income tax break and there’s now a possibility that the 5 percent income tax rate that voters approved in 2000 will actually happen in 2020.
As the weekend got underway Friday, the Baker administration quietly announced that all of the necessary economic triggers had been hit and the income tax will fall from 5.1 percent to 5.05 percent on Jan. 1, 2019.
In August, Revenue Commissioner Christopher Harding certified that fiscal 2018 revenues had easily outpaced the state’s 2.5 percent trigger, and tax revenue growth in four consecutive three-month periods, the most recent one ending this month, was positive enough to force the rate reduction.
The tax relief means $84 million less for the state budget over the last half of fiscal 2019, and its impact over a full fiscal year is $175 million."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20181217/income-tax-cut-set-to-start-on-jan-1-worth-175-million-to-massachusetts-workers
The Mass Municipal Association reported on the "consensus" revenue hearing held Dec 5. The outlook for revenue growth slows in the coming fiscal years.
https://www.mma.org/state-budget-officials-hear-cautious-revenue-forecasts-for-fy20/
In recognition of the slowing revenue growth and need to increased revenues to continue to provide services to the communities, the MMA drafted a resolution to explore other revenue options. The school funding process is broken and the burden of funding all local government with property tax revenues needs to be looked at.
The second resolution starts work on exploring options for recycling. Recycling market has declined with the decrease in ability of China in particular to take what is available.
"At the MMA’s Annual Business Meeting on Jan. 19, members will consider a resolution on the state-local fiscal partnership and one on partnering with the state and federal government to mitigate the impacts of disruption in the recycling marketplace. (See full text of each resolution below.)
Each resolution was drafted by an MMA policy committee during the fall and approved by the MMA Board of Directors on Nov. 13.
The proposed resolutions are as follows:
• Resolution Supporting an Enduring Fiscal Partnership Between Cities and Towns and State Government in Fiscal 2020 and Beyond, proposed by the MMA Fiscal Policy Committee
• Resolution Supporting a Local-State-Federal Partnership to Address the Challenges to the Recycling Marketplace, proposed by the MMA Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment"
Continue reading the article and find the full text of each proposed resolution
https://www.mma.org/mma-to-present-2-resolutions-for-business-meeting/
