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Massachusetts Municipal Association urges state to pay veterans benefits directly, relieving municipal cash-flow burden
Summary
Ally DiMatteo, legislative analyst for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, told the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs that municipalities currently front veterans benefit payments and are later reimbursed by the Commonwealth at about 75 percent.
Ally DiMatteo, legislative analyst for the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA), told the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs that municipalities currently pay 100 percent of veterans benefits and are later reimbursed by the Commonwealth at roughly a 75 percent rate. "Cities and towns currently pay out 100% of the cost of benefits to veterans, and are later reimbursed by the state at a rate of approximately 75%," DiMatteo said, describing a quarterly reimbursement process that can leave municipalities responsible for obligated payments while waiting for reimbursement.
The MMA supports House Bill 3830 and Senate Bill 2456 and focused most of its three-minute testimony on H.3859, which would keep local veteran service officers (VSOs) as the front-line administrators of benefits but have the Commonwealth issue payments directly to veterans. DiMatteo said the change would preserve the VSOs’ role in eligibility determinations while removing municipalities as the financial intermediary and reducing unpredictability in municipal budgets.
Why it matters: DiMatteo said Massachusetts is unique among states in relying heavily on local municipal VSOs to administer benefits and that shifting payment responsibility to a single state appropriation would align veterans benefits with direct-payment practices used elsewhere in state government. She told the committee that there are approximately 351 municipalities and about 280 VSOs in the Commonwealth and said MMA had heard supportive feedback from member communities and their VSOs but would submit formal testimony listing municipal supporters.
Committee members asked for fiscal numbers. DiMatteo said she did not have a state total for FY25 benefits at hand but offered to follow up with a breakdown of municipalities that had contacted the MMA in support of the change.
No committee votes were taken at the close of the MMA testimony; written testimony was indicated as forthcoming.
Less-critical details: The MMA emphasized that the proposed change would not alter how VSOs determine eligibility, only who issues the payments.
