District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) directly funds much-needed technical assistance for cities and towns. DLTA planning dollars help cities and towns take on necessary projects they don’t have the staff capacity to address on their own, and partner with neighboring communities to tackle shared projects with reduced administrative burden.

DLTA dollars are distributed to Massachusetts’ 13 regional planning agencies (RPAs). That breaks down to helping the 351 cities and towns that make up the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

This amendment (#664) will also allow RPA staff to continue to plan, draft, and provide crucial grant writing support to municipalities that often lack the staff capacity and expertise to complete state grants like the Community One Stop for Growth and Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness applications, in addition to even more involved federal applications.

• DLTA funding has not increased in over 5 years, and it has lost ~20% of its value over that time.
• RPAs are not expecting to receive $2m that they previously received via Grant Assistance Program (GAP) funding (also budget line item 1599 – 0026). This means that RPAs are set to see a 40% decrease in state funding in FY26!
• If amendment #664, filed by Leader Donato is adopted, RPAs would only see a 20% loss in state funding this year.
• Additionally, it will give us the opportunity to help municipalities compete for state and federal grants.
• Without this amendment, RPAs will not only be forced to take on fewer and smaller projects, but communities that have limited or no planning staff may be unable to go after Community One Stop or Municipal Vulnerability Program (MVP) grants, which are often provide the backbone of crucial local projects.