Financing Municipalities in New England: Revisiting the State-Local Relationship Wednesday, December 5, 2007 8 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Morris Auditorium, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston

Municipalities in the New England region are experiencing difficulties in raising enough revenue to meet increasing demands for spending. To cope with this long-term fiscal challenge, state and local governments need to cooperate and explore various financing options for municipalities.

On December 5, 2007, the New England Public Policy Center held its third annual conference which investigated the fiscal relationship between New England's state and municipal governments and discussed potential strategies to finance municipalities. Specifically, speakers examined the design of municipal aid formulas and addressed the potential impact of adopting local option sales taxes.

We are pleased to release the conference report that summarizes the proceedings of the event, as well as the working paper that was written for the conference by Richard F. Dye.

NEPPC CR No. 07-1 (June 2008)
“Financing Municipalities in New England: Revisiting the State-Local Relationship”
by Robert Clifford

NEPPC WP No. 08-1 (February 2008)
“The Dynamic between Municipal Revenue Sources and the State-Local Relationship in New England”
by Richard F. Dye, University of Illinois at Chicago

Presentations from the conference are available here in portable document format (PDF).

The Dynamic between Municipal Revenue Sources and the State-Local Relationship in New England

Richard F. Dye
Professor at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago

State Aid to Municipalities: Measuring Local Non-School Fiscal Distress and Designing an Aid Formula

Bo Zhao
Economist, New England Public Policy Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Understanding the Impact of Adopting Local Options Sales Taxes

David L. Sjoquist
Professor of Economics and Director of Domestic Programs and of the Fiscal Research Center,
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University

Conference Agenda:

Welcome and introduction

Eric Rosengren, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Session I: Overview

Richard F. Dye
Professor at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois

Session II: Potential strategies and solutions

Bo Zhao
Economist, New England Public Policy Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

David L. Sjoquist
Professor of Economics and Director of Domestic Programs and of the Fiscal Research Center,
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University

Responses from a panel of New England practitioners:

Moderator: Andrew Reschovsky, Professor of Public Affairs and Applied Economics at Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Mayor Mary Clare Higgins, City of Northampton, Massachusetts and President of the Massachusetts Municipal Association

Leslie Kirwan, Secretary, Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance

John Piotti, Maine State Representative and House Chair of the Taxation Committee

Gary Sasse, Executive Director, Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council

Speaker biographies