Home Rule Massachusetts is a Home Rule state, in which “cities and towns have the right to self-govern and to adopt and amend their own rules of governing called charters. The Massachusetts legislature may not pass laws affecting only one city or town unless requested to do so by that community, or by the governor and a two- thirds vote in each house of the legislature.”1 Massachusetts became a Home Rule state in 1966, with the passage of the Home Rule Act.
Town Meeting Government System There are two types of municipal governments in Massachusetts: cities and towns. According to state law, “no town with a population of less than 12,000 may adopt a city form of government and no town with a population of less than 6,000 may adopt a representative town meeting form of government.” 2 Cities are managed by a city council and an executive official (a mayor or a city manager), while towns use an open town meeting or representative town meeting form of government. “This difference in classification is important in Massachusetts. The impact of state statutes and procedural regulations may differ depending on the municipality’s classification as a city or town. Town by-laws, for example, require the approval of the state Attorney General, whereas city ordinances do not.”3
“The annual Town Meeting makes rules, adopts budgets, adopts bylaws and does a town's business. An open Town Meeting allows all registered voters in that town to attend, speak and vote. A representative Town Meeting allows only representatives elected by the voters to vote, although all registered voters may attend. The agenda is called a warrant, and the elected town moderator conducts the Town Meeting. An elected board of selectmen carries out the decisions of Town Meeting and sets some town policies, and they may employ town administrators to oversee the day-to-day business of the town. The town charter sets up the government of the town and may be changed.” 4
Massachusetts has 14 counties, 296 towns and 55 cities for a total of 351 cities and towns.5,6 There is no unincorporated land in Massachusetts and all land is contained in one of the 351 cities and towns.7
1 The League of Women Voters, MA. Massachusetts Government: Local Government. Retrieved from http://www.lwvma.org/govlocal.shtml 2 Massachusetts Municipal Association. Massachusetts Municipal Directory: Forms of Municipal Government. 3 Barron, D., Frug, G., & Su, R. Dispelling the myth of home rule: Local Power in Greater Boston. Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. 4 The League of Women Voters, MA. Massachusetts Government: Local Government. Retrieved from http://www.lwvma.org/govlocal.shtml 5 http://www.mass.gov/portal/government-taxes/local/ 6 Massachusetts Municipal Association. Massachusetts Municipal Directory: Forms of Municipal Government. 7 The League of Women Voters, MA. Massachusetts Government: Local Government. Retrieved from http://www.lwvma.org/govlocal.shtml