State Assessments

The Cherry Sheet is a form showing all state and county charges assessed against the City, as certified by the State Director of Accounts. The figures shown here are based on the latest version of the FY21 Cherry Sheet.

RETIRED EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE

This item is intended to reimburse the state for the costs of providing a health insurance plan for governmental retirees who were pensioned prior to the implementation of Chapter 32B by their local governmental unit. Chapter 32B enabled municipalities to establish a mechanism for group insurance for retirees. Each participating municipality is assessed for the governmental share of health insurance premiums paid on behalf of its retirees by the state. The state pays 90 percent of the total premium; the retiree’s co-payment is 10 percent of the total premium as well as full payment for catastrophic illness coverage. A proportionate share of administrative expenses is also assessed to each municipality.

AIR POLLUTION CONTROL

The Department of Environmental Protection supervises six districts statewide. The Metropolitan Boston Control District, of which Somerville is a member, has a staff of 35 pollution inspectors. The Commission is empowered through the Office of the Governor and has a mandate to control air pollution through the enforcement of the Metropolitan Boston Air Pollution Control Acts.

METROPOLITAN AREA PLANNING COUNCIL

Assessments are made to municipalities to finance the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), which serves 101 communities. The MAPC promotes urban planning, regional collaboration and responds to common urban problems of member communities.

MBTA

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) provides bus/minibus, trackless trolley and underground subway transportation across the city. The MBTA is composed of 175 communities: the 14 original member communities of the Metropolitan Transit Authority and 161 additional communities that are receiving MBTA service. The MBTA is required to assess each community‘s share of the overall assessment. All communities associated with the Authority must contribute to the MBTA State and Local Assistance Fund an amount not less than $136,026,868. Beginning in FY07, this amount is adjusted each July 1 by the rate of inflation unless the total assessment exceeds 102.5 percent of the previous year‘s assessment. An individual community’s assessment is determined based on the following formula: each community‘s assessment shall equal its weighted share of the total population of the 175 communities in the MBTA. Chapter 161A of the Acts of 2000, which increased the number of communities in the MBTA from 78 to 175, also determined the share for each community in conjunction with the 2000 U.S. Census. A portion of the total MBTA assessment supports the Boston District Commission (the District), which is responsible for bonds issued by the Transportation Authority prior to the creation of the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1947. This assessment pays for administrative costs incurred by the District and is charged to the 14 cities and towns of the Boston Metropolitan District in proportion to their share of the District’s total equalized valuation. The MBTA covers the District‘s debt service costs.

REGISTRY OF MOTOR VEHICLES-HOLD PROGRAM

Since February 1985, the Parking Violations Bureau has implemented a provision of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 90, which enables the City to request that the state Registry of Motor Vehicles not renew the license and registration of an operator/owner of a motor vehicle who has two or more outstanding parking tickets. This provision is imposed after the motorist has failed to pay the parking tickets and had an opportunity for a hearing. This program has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of delinquent State Assessments payments.

EDUCATION

The primary component of this allocation is the Charter School Sending Tuition assessment which is the amount charged for Somerville students who attend charter schools. The amount is based on the number of students multiplied by the tuition rate of the charter school as calculated by the state. The other assessments contained in this allotment are for grandfathered costs for special education services (Chapter 766 of the Acts of 1972) provided by other districts for students who are state wards who reside in Somerville and school choice tuition charges (Chapter 71 of the Acts of 1993), which are for Somerville residents attending another school district under school choice.