Skip to main content

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Resource Guide Collection

Trustees: Municipal Government 101

Information, resources, and advice for library trustees in Massachusetts.

You need to know how your local government works

Whether your are elected, appointed, or self-perpetuating, as a Trustee you need a basic understanding of how your local government works. This is because every certified library in Massachusetts gets funding from its municipality. Understanding how your municipality's government functions can be essential to negotiating your library's budget and can mean the different between having an adequately staffed and serviced library or suffering funding cuts. The resources here will help you brush up on how towns and cities can be governed, financed, organized. 

Types of Municipal Governance

Municipal Finance

Understanding how your municipality gets and distributes its funds is essential to helping your library secure funding. Here are some resources to give you a basic overview of municipal finance. 

Division of Local Services (DLS)

The Division of Local Services (DLS), a division of the Department of Revenue (DOR) and has an abundance of resources to help you understand municipal finance in plain language. Learn more about who they are in this video: