MCTA Treasurer’s Manual

Foreword

July 15, 2003

To the President, Executive Board, Officers, and all the members of the Massachusetts Collectors and Treasurers Association:

It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I present to you the updated and revised Treasurers manual for use by City, Town, and District Treasurers of Massachusetts.  The revised manual represents a process that began over three years ago with the goal of completely updating this most important guidebook to reflect new legislation, regulations, procedures, and technological advances.  The last complete revision was issued in 1986.

As you are well aware, the Treasurers manual is an indispensable tool in carrying out the many day to day duties and responsibilities of the Treasurers office.  It was with this in mind that a multi step process was developed and implemented to insure that the manual was as complete and accurate as possible.  This process began by breaking the Treasurers manual revision committee into several sub-committees, each charged with the responsibility for revising one chapter.  Upon completion of the initial revision, all chapters were then subjected to a “peer review” completed by individuals who were not members of the sub-committee.  Following this process the entire manual was submitted to the Department of Revenue for a two step review by the Bureau of Accounts and by the Division of Local Services Legal department.  Other agencies and individuals, such as the Public Employees Retirement Administration Commission and tax title attorneys were asked to review relevant chapters and materials.  The completed chapters were then reviewed for one more time by a member of the original sub-committee. 

Before going to the printing and distribution phase, each of the chapters was set up on a closed section of the MCTA website and a number of interested parties were asked to make another review.  The entire manual was then sent to Bruce Stanford, retired MADOR Property Tax Bureau Chief and former English teacher, to review for content and to bring all chapters into a common format and writing style.

The members of the MCTA are most fortunate to have a group of individuals who were willing to devote time out of their busy schedules to make this endeavor possible.  All committee members donated their time and talents in a most unselfish manner.  I am most grateful for both the magnitude of the response for volunteers and to the extraordinary effort that was put into this project.  City, Town, and District Treasurers were not the only members of the revision committee.  Several members hailed from the banking community, the Department of Revenue, the legal profession, and from investment services.  The Executive Director and the staff of the MCTA made a tremendous contribution on behalf of the committee and I extend my thanks to them.  It is because of the effort of all the individuals mentioned above that this revised manual is made possible and in the page that follows I would like to acknowledge those individuals for a job well done.  It was a pleasure to work with all of the members.

While my duties as Chairman of this committee are coming to an end, I am hoping that a group of volunteers form a committee for the purpose of updating the Treasurers manual on a regular basis in order to keep the manual current and relevant. 

The Treasurers Manual will be made available to everyone electronically from the MCTA website, with updates being made as required.  To assist in this goal of continual update, please turn to the back of your manual and find the two pages inserted for you to bring errors or changes to the attention of the committee.

I hope that you find the manual to be a useful and beneficial tool in carrying out your duties as Treasurer.

Sincerely yours,

Paul J. Mokrzecki
Chairman, Treasurer’s Manual Revision Committee