Municipal Finance Study

Municipal Finance Study: What’s Next?

Part II. Questions and Answers about Local Study of Municipal Finance

Is information from the League’s January 2007 Municipal Finance Forums available for those who missed the events?
Yes. A set of DVDs of the forum and the presentations and written information that was distributed at the forums are now available on the LWVM website at www.lwvma.org/fpustudyforummaterials.shtml.

What is the next step for local Leagues in the LWVM study on municipal finance?

Local Leagues are asked to do “fact finding” about the financial situation in their own community, covering the last 10 years.  Municipal Finance Study materials for local Leagues were distributed in April via email to League presidents. Please contact the State League office for copies or go to the League website to download materials.

What information will be gathered in the municipal finance local study?

The local study asks Leagues to gather information about their own community – population, number of students, amount spent on municipal health insurance, etc. Some questions will require contacting municipal leaders, such as finance director, mayor/town administrator and superintendent of schools. The goal is to know your town finances at the individual community level – to make municipal finance personal.

Where will local Leagues get the local finance data?

The information will be largely accessible via web links that are provided with the study materials. Other sources where the information can likely be found will also be given. Town leader interviews will provide some of the information, as well.

Will the information we discover about our community’s municipal finances be shared?

Yes. A summary sheet of your findings along with the “Know Your Town” chart about your community and interview information will be returned to our committee, by the end of September 2007 so we can use individual examples while we develop our consensus materials later this year. In addition, your local League municipal finance study committee will most likely want to hold all-member meetings to share your findings. Your information could also be shared in your newsletter.

How will local League study groups be formed?

Local Leagues should canvas members to find an interested group to form a municipal finance study committee. Those who attended the forums in January are a good place to start. Local study groups are a wonderful way to learn about your community, meet and get to know local leaders, and work with other League members. New League members should be matched up with experienced members, for maximum training – and maximum fun!

What will local League study groups do?

The local study committee will divide up the tasks to gather the information on the fiscal situation in their own community, as outlined in the study materials, and fill in data in the Information chart. They will send the chart, interviews and a summary sheet back to us. The local study committee may want to hold all-member meetings to share what they learned and put the information in the newsletter.

Some of my local League municipal finance study group didn’t go to the forums. Can they still participate?

Of course! The materials from the forums are all on the LWVM website at www.lwvma.org/fpustudyforummaterials.shtml. In addition, you could schedule several meetings to watch the forum DVD with the study committee and any other interested members. We have also made available two additional resources that your group may wish to use as teaching tools after viewing the forums: “Introduction to Municipal Finance,” a presentation hosted by the Falmouth League by a local expert Peter Boyle (DVD), and a presentation/discussion by the Andover League on Proposition 2½ (DVD).These may be borrowed from the League office. However, attending the forum or viewing the materials is not a prerequisite for doing the local study.

What if we can’t do the local study by September 30^th?

If you cannot complete the local study by the deadline, we encourage you to complete it anytime before your local consensus meetings. It is an invaluable tool since the local study information gets to the heart of the questions about municipal finance in a way that generalities and overviews simply cannot accomplish.

When will municipal finance consensus meetings be held?

Traditional consensus meetings on municipal finance are envisioned for local Leagues to hold anytime in the period from January  through April 2008.

Can local Leagues do both the Municipal Finance and the Affordable Housing studies?

Yes. We have offset our timeline from the Affordable Housing Study, whose regional consensus meetings will run September through November 2007. Municipal finance consensus will be held January through April 2008.Therefore, Leagues can participate in both.

Part III: "Additional Resources for Study"