Legislative Committees Advance Rep. Stanley’s Assessor Certificate Bill

January 4, 2022 – Boston, MA – Rep. Stanley is pleased to announce that his assessor certificates legislation (H.2206) cleared both the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government and the House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling last month.  Rep. Stanley recently delivered written testimony to Chair Garlick and Speaker Mariano urging for the House to advance the bill which is currently before the House Committee on Bills in the Third Reading.

“Assessors play a vital role in the financial issues of every city and town in the Commonwealth,” said Rep. Stanley. “This is a small but important piece of retaining quality, experienced professionals in municipal government. As a local municipal official, I see firsthand the importance of being able to recruit and retain qualified personnel.”

H.2206 allows communities to increase the stipend for those assessors that attain higher level certifications and designations, upon local approval by that community. More specifically, the bill acknowledges all three certifications are eligible for the certification and increases the “up-to” limit of each certification (typically percentage of salary up to a certain amount). The bill is local option, and it would be the decision of the community to award the stipend.

Rep. Stanley previously submitted written testimony to the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government in support of a bill. Endorsed by the Massachusetts Assessors Association, H.2206 provides added incentives for assessors to seek professional development and maintain the most up-to-date skills for municipalities to utilize.

“This is a practice that already exists in current law. Communities now have a local option available to them to offer a stipend to assessor’s that attain certain professional designations. H.2206 expands upon that,” said Rep. Stanley.

This legislation improves the profession, enhances the assessor’s skillset, and improves taxpayer efficiency and service to the property owner. H.2206, as a local option, recognizes the additional certificates/professional development designations that assessors can now attain and grant an accompanying stipend as they move up the ladder.