CLT
UPDATE
Sunday, June 8, 2003
Being right again, then and now
It took a superior court judge's ruling to deliver the final death blow to that ill-conceived prescription drug tax.
And, yes, that leaves the state another $18 million (the money it must return to the pharmacies which ended up absorbing the $1.30 per prescription tax) in the hole, but maybe legislators will take away a few lessons from this sorry episode.
Judge Allan van Gestel, not a man to mince his words, noted that it didn't matter that legislators and then acting Gov. Jane Swift called it an "assessment." "Despite political pronouncements to the contrary at the time of the enactment, what we are dealing with is an excise tax," the judge wrote....
This was an effort by legislators - who were too cute by far - to hide a tax. Van Gestel has authoritatively blown the whistle on that, and that ought to be the end of it.
A Boston Herald editorial
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
A tax by any other name
Gov. Mitt Romney will drop his velvet gloves and deliver some old-fashioned Beacon Hill payback - vowing to veto a legislative pay raise after lawmakers yesterday killed his reform plan and saved UMass President William M.
Bulger.
Minutes after the state Senate summarily killed Romney's bid to oust Bulger and reform the state government, a senior administration official told the Herald the governor changed his mind on the pay-raise plan....
The legislative plan to seize control of pay hikes cleared the House late Wednesday and is expected to pass the Senate next week. The bill would give control to Finneran and Travaglini over all legislative pay, which currently must be approved by both houses and the governor.
Fifty members of the House voted against the bill in April, a margin that could allow Romney's veto to withstand a two-thirds override.
The Boston Herald
Friday, June 6, 2003
Spurned Romney to nix raises for pols
The House yesterday voted to give communities an option to raise property taxes above the cap created by Proposition
2½, a move critics said chips away at that law's effectiveness and doesn't solve the immediate financial problems of municipalities.
The House voted 91-62 to allow money needed for "overlay" accounts that cover property tax abatements to be collected outside of the tax levy cap of Proposition
2½. Like other Proposition 2½ overrides, a town meeting or city council would need to approve the measure, and then voters would have a chance to vote it up or down....
Opponents, however, said the amendment violates the spirit of Proposition
2½, which was passed by voters in 1981 as a way to limit annual property tax increases. Critics said the referendum aspect makes it unlikely many communities would be able to reap the benefits of the amendment.
"Somebody was trying to give the communities what they were asking for without doing much of anything at all," said
Barbara Anderson, the executive director of the Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government. "It sounds like someone grasping at things to do."
...
Michael Widmer, the executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the reform package offers little short-term help for communities.
"The major ways in which communities can get help in the (fiscal year) '04 time frame is through additional revenues," said
Widmer. "I think there's very little in terms of loosening restrictions that would help in the short term."
The Lowell Sun
Thursday, June 5, 2003
House lawmakers OKs Prop. 2½ exemptions,
but nixes big-ticket relief
Hot on the heels of Senator Mark Dayton’s (D-MN) suggestion to institute a tax on emails, the 350,000 member National Taxpayers Union denounced the concept. Senator Dayton suggested the idea at a hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
"The widely circulated email hoax of recent years should remain just that, a hoax," NTU President John Berthoud stated. "Senator Dayton’s idea of a tax on email messages is yet another example of the ceaseless desire by some Members of Congress to get into Americans’ wallets."
National Taxpayers Union
News Release - May 23, 2003
Warning! This is NOT a Hoax!
Senator Dayton Suggests Tax on Email
Promised a generous state reimbursement that now looks uncertain, dozens of Massachusetts cities and towns have embarked on ambitious school building projects, issuing bonds that now weigh down their balance sheets with more than $2 billion in debt, an Associated Press analysis has found.
Experts have called the Massachusetts School Building Assistance program the most generous of its kind in the country, reimbursing communities on average 70 percent of school building costs....
For some, it has meant delaying school projects. But the AP analysis, based on more than 100 interviews with local officials and a review of documents, revealed the scope of another looming problem: dozens of communities, unwilling to wait to improve their schools and confident the state would never renege on its commitment, have issued their own bonds to get the projects started....
The reimbursements from the state are a promise, but not a legal obligation. Most communities expect the state will pay eventually, but not any time soon.
For communities, it's like charging up a personal credit card on a business trip, then learning the company may not pay back for years....
"The reason it's becoming a crisis is because these BANS were not always needed ... and the state stepped in within two or three years generally," state Treasurer Tim Cahill said. "But it's gotten out of control. I don't think cities and towns or the general public realizes how big the commitment is." ...
Many of the local treasurers don't believe they'll get stuck with the entire bill. But if Harvard were stuck, the average property tax bill would increase 10 percent. In Pembroke, that would add up to $990 per household....
State officials say they sympathize. But they emphasize the reimbursements aren't binding.
As the backlog grew, SBA began requiring communities to sign a statement that they understand it isn't a guarantee.
"They sign it but they don't believe we'll ever leave them hanging," said Jeff
Wulfson, who administers the SBA program. "If the state were to not make these payments, there would be at a minimum a tremendous amount of recriminations among voters who thought they were misled."
Supporters of SBA projects often told voters they were throwing away free money if they voted them down.
Associated Press
Sunday, June 8, 2003
No guarantees on school aid
Another day, another University of Massachusetts poll purporting to show that Bay State voters would rather plug the Commonwealth's fiscal hole with higher taxes than with lower spending. By my count, this is the third UMass poll on tax hikes vs. spending cuts this year, and according to Thursday's story in the Globe, 47 percent of respondents now want their taxes to go up while only 29 percent want the state budget to go down.
I'd be more inclined to trust these numbers if they came from a poll sponsored by an institution that didn't have a vested interest in higher government spending. Considering that 46 percent of Bay State voters wanted to eliminate the state income tax entirely in November, I'm skeptical that a similar percentage is now ready for heavier taxes.
According to a report just issued by the scrupulously nonpartisan Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, state residents list "the amount of taxes an average family has to pay" as one of the five worst things about life in this state. Those findings are borne out by the Tax Foundation, which reports that Massachusetts has the fifth-highest per-capita tax burden in the country.
"Taxachusetts" isn't just a nickname. It's reality.
The Boston Globe
Sunday, June 8, 2003
[Excerpt] Musings, random and otherwise
By Jeff Jacoby
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
How many times must we be right before the
tax-and-spenders stop calling us "cynical"?
"The prescription drug fee is a tax" we've
been asserting for a year. Now the court has declared that the
prescription drug fee is a tax and has thrown it out; the state must
reimburse pharmacies for the illegal tax. Next will come the parallel
nursing home bed "fee" for those also paying their own way --
and who knows how many of the $300-$500 million in other
"fees" that are included in the current budget proposals. A
word of warning to Beacon Hill: "Don't count your chickens before
they hatch!"
The School Building Assistance program was a
budget-busting boondoggle when revenue was pouring in and money was no
object on Beacon Hill. We warned that "taking advantage of it"
would inevitably stick municipal taxpayers with the huge bill and it's
happening just as predicted. Another legislative "promise" has
been broken, but some fools still believe in legislative promises and
the tooth fairy -- even after the "temporary tax increase"
promise of 1989 that's still with us over a decade later despite
even our tax rollback ballot question. Some folks will just never learn
to take off the "kick me again" signs.
But Governor Romney is learning. We've been pushing
for him to veto Finneran's "leadership pay raises" power grab
and he has at last announced that he will. If this were ever to become
law, Finneran and Senate President Travaglini would become the only
individuals in the United State empowered to unilaterally appropriate
and spend taxpayer money with zero checks or balances. Inevitably it
would spell the end of representative democracy -- and any remaining
shot at Romney's reform mandate -- as the two legislative leaders would
have a powerful new carrot-and-stick to hold over their respective
members. If you think Finneran's powerful now, imagine handing him the
state's checkbook without him needing a co-signer!
Remember back in 1998, when the Legislature's
proposed constitutional amendment was on the ballot, the one that
purported to "prohibit state legislators from changing their
base pay"? Recall that we warned voters that this guaranteed pay
raise would not prevent them from fattening their paycheck by other
devious means ... eg., increased per diems, office expenses, whatever?
Those have already come to pass, and this is just one more devious means
that again proves we were right. C'mon citizens, wake up and remove
those "kick me again" signs; it's getting painful to watch.
There goes Johnny-One-Note again. "The major ways in which communities can get help in the (fiscal year) '04 time frame is through additional revenues,"
proposed Michael Widmer, president of the fat-cat business-backed
so-called Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "Mickey W" has
never met a tax he wouldn't advocate -- unless it's on his
fat-cat big-business members.
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby was right on
target in his column today commenting on the latest in a long string of
self-serving polls released by UMass showing support for higher taxes.
In the upcoming CLT membership mailing that should hit within two weeks
we have included our own poll on tax increases. If you're a
member watch your mailbox and get it right back to us. We figure that a
CLT poll can be just as legitimately impartial as the bevy of UMass
polls that keep making the news. After the results are tabulated, we'll
announce them to the media too.
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Chip
Ford |
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
A Boston Herald editorial
A tax by any other name
It took a superior court judge's ruling to deliver the final death blow to that ill-conceived prescription drug tax.
And, yes, that leaves the state another $18 million (the money it must return to the pharmacies which ended up absorbing the $1.30 per prescription tax) in the hole, but maybe legislators will take away a few lessons from this sorry episode.
Judge Allan van Gestel, not a man to mince his words, noted that it didn't matter that legislators and then acting Gov. Jane Swift called it an "assessment." "Despite political pronouncements to the contrary at the time of the enactment, what we are dealing with is an excise tax," the judge wrote.
Not only that, but it was never properly approved by federal authorities (it was part of a Medicaid funding scheme), and it was so poorly drafted that the judge felt compelled to point out a grammatical error. Van Gestel also pointed out that "'outside sections'" of the Massachusetts budget are hardly the most appropriate way to adopt legislation."
That warning could not have been more timely - with the House and Senate about to sit down in conference committee to iron out the fiscal 2004 budget which is stacked high with such sections.
This was an effort by legislators - who were too cute by far - to hide a tax. Van Gestel has authoritatively blown the whistle on that, and that ought to be the end of it.
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The Boston Herald
Friday, June 6, 2003
Spurned Romney to nix raises for pols
by David R. Guarino and Elizabeth W. Crowley
Gov. Mitt Romney will drop his velvet gloves and deliver some old-fashioned Beacon Hill payback - vowing to veto a legislative pay raise after lawmakers yesterday killed his reform plan and saved UMass President William M.
Bulger.
Minutes after the state Senate summarily killed Romney's bid to oust Bulger and reform the state government, a senior administration official told the Herald the governor changed his mind on the pay-raise plan.
"At the same time they are turning down Gov. Romney's reform program, they are putting the finishing touches on a pay-raise bill for themselves - there seems to be a lot of backsliding going on," the top aide said.
"We're not going to sign away any chance for the public to participate in the decision of whether legislators should get an increase in pay."
The sudden turn by Romney, who had said he'd let lawmakers organize the House and Senate as they wish, means House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and Senate President Robert E. Travaglini will need to muster a two-thirds vote to win their power grab.
"I'm glad the governor finally gets it, it's good to see that he is going to stand up to (Finneran and Travaglini)," said state Rep. James Marzilli (D-Arlington), an opponent of the pay raise bill.
The tiff between Romney and the Legislature came after the Senate rallied around
Bulger, its former leader, voting 33 to 6 along party lines to kill Romney's ouster bid.
Senators called it a purely political move that would throw the five-campus system into chaos and roll back a decade of progress.
"In a sense, for politics, (Romney) is asking us to do bad public policy," said Sen. Robert A. Havern III (D-Arlington).
During a 3 1/2-hour debate on Bulger's fate, senators accused Romney of trying to paint them as anti-reform Bulger loyalists.
Sen. Michael W. Morrissey (D-Quincy) said the university system needs a leader. "We need a captain of the ship. We may not like who the captain is, so go change it," he challenged Romney.
In a statement, Bulger said he sees the vote "as an expression of confidence in the University of Massachusetts system. We are gratified and honored to receive the Senate's strong support."
As expected, senators also voted down separate, more expansive reforms - including the creation of new cabinet offices, restructuring of health agencies and court reform.
Ticking off a list of reforms in the budget - which include many of the new agencies, senators said the governor has no right to lay sole claim to the reformer mantle.
"We have gone further (on reforms) and I think we've done better," said Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Therese Murray (D-Plymouth).
Romney issued a statement saying, "This was not a good day for reform in Massachusetts," but promising to keep up the fight. The state Republican Party chided Democrats for offering "flimsy excuses" to reject the plans.
The legislative plan to seize control of pay hikes cleared the House late Wednesday and is expected to pass the Senate next week. The bill would give control to Finneran and Travaglini over all legislative pay, which currently must be approved by both houses and the governor.
Fifty members of the House voted against the bill in April, a margin that could allow Romney's veto to withstand a two-thirds override.
Republicans said they expect to back the governor but House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones (R-North Reading) worried that Romney runs a "risk" of appearing hypocritical for having backed the raises initially.
Sen. Dianne Wilkerson (D-Roxbury) said the Senate is merely looking for the same power the governor already enjoys, saying, "If there was not that kind of freedom already then I doubt we'd see a $150,000 press secretary," Wilkerson said, referring to Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom.
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The Lowell Sun
Thursday, June 5, 2003
House lawmakers OKs Prop. 2½ exemptions,
but nixes big-ticket relief
By Jason Lefferts, Sun Staff
The House yesterday voted to give communities an option to raise property taxes above the cap created by Proposition
2½, a move critics said chips away at that law's effectiveness and doesn't solve the immediate financial problems of municipalities.
The House voted 91-62 to allow money needed for "overlay" accounts that cover property tax abatements to be collected outside of the tax levy cap of Proposition
2½. Like other Proposition 2½ overrides, a town meeting or city council would need to approve the measure, and then voters would have a chance to vote it up or down.
House proponents said the amendment gives cities and towns more latitude to deal with the loss of state aid and other revenues. The House turned down large-ticket items such as adding allowing local 5 percent state meals tax or sales tax and instead put together a number of smaller options for cities and towns as part a municipal relief package.
"In my mind, it was just another tool for a city and town," said Rep. Karen
Spilka, an Ashland Democrat. "If a town wants to do this, why shouldn't we be allowed to do it?"
Opponents, however, said the amendment violates the spirit of Proposition
2½, which was passed by voters in 1981 as a way to limit annual property tax increases. Critics said the referendum aspect makes it unlikely many communities would be able to reap the benefits of the amendment.
"Somebody was trying to give the communities what they were asking for without doing much of anything at all," said
Barbara Anderson, the executive director of the Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government. "It sounds like someone grasping at things to do."
House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said the amendment devalues the power of a law that has protected taxpayers for over two decades.
"This is a frontal assault on Prop 2½," said Jones, a North Reading Republican.
The state mandates that a community set aside a certain percentage of its property tax revenue usually between 1.5 and 3 percent to be used in later years to pay for property tax abatement claims. By exempting the money from Proposition
2½, communities would be able to tax to the full levy, and then tax more to cover the abatements.
Locally, it would give communities the chance to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue to offset losses in state aid and other funds. Local aid for most communities will be slashed about 10 percent, and education aid about 15 percent.
For example, Lowell could tax an additional $1.5 million if it excluded its overlay accounts, according to the Department of Revenue's overlay figures for this year. Chelmsford would free up $433,000, and Westford $376,000.
Bernard Lynch, the town manager in Chelmsford, said the measure would give communities another tool, but said it is unlikely it would fit every city and town in the state.
"I think that in certain communities it make sense. Certain communities may want to do it, and make that decision on their own," Lynch said. "I do think it's worth a community to make that decision. I'm not sure what we'll do here in Chelmsford."
The amendment was one of dozens attached to the larger bill, but House members offered few big-ticket options to create revenue for cities and towns.
Amendments to allow individual communities to add a penny to the sales or meals tax failed. A surcharge on entertainment tickets for movies, sporting events and other events met the same fate.
A portion of the original bill, allowing communities to post legal notices on their Web sites instead of paying for newspaper advertisements, was eliminated. Also, an amendment to increase excise taxes statewide and additional $30 million by adding a year before a car is taxed at the lowest level was defeated by voice vote. The current schedule is for five years.
The bill does allow communities to increase parking ticket fines, towing costs, and gun-related license fees. It allows communities to post uncashed checks it has written once a year, and if the checks are not claimed over a period of time (60 days for a check less than $100, a year for a check over $100), the check can be recalled and the money put back into the community's general fund.
It also allows school officials and others to avoid the $25 fee to the state to do criminal background checks mandated for some potential employees, and instead allows local police departments to do the checks quicker and at no cost.
Geoff Beckwith, the executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said some areas that could have been changed to reduce costs like construction bid rules were left out and revenue enhancers were mostly missing, making the reform package just a small step toward help for cities and towns.
Michael Widmer, the executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the reform package offers little short-term help for communities.
"The major ways in which communities can get help in the (fiscal year) '04 time frame is through additional revenues," said
Widmer. "I think there's very little in terms of loosening restrictions that would help in the short term."
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National Taxpayers Union
News Release - May 23, 2003
Warning! This is NOT a Hoax!
Senator Dayton Suggests Tax on Email,
Nation’s Largest Taxpayer Group Announces Adamant Opposition
(Alexandria, VA) – Hot on the heels of Senator Mark Dayton’s (D-MN) suggestion to institute a tax on emails, the 350,000 member National Taxpayers Union denounced the concept. Senator Dayton suggested the idea at a hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
"The widely circulated email hoax of recent years should remain just that, a hoax," NTU President John Berthoud stated. "Senator Dayton’s idea of a tax on email messages is yet another example of the ceaseless desire by some Members of Congress to get into Americans’ wallets."
Berthoud observed, "Senator Dayton suggested that this would be a way to curtail spam. That’s a ridiculous idea. Currently, there are numerous options available to eliminate or greatly reduce unwanted email messages. Using filters, junk mail folders, or email address blockers offer relief and most importantly, such alternatives can be done easily and do not impose a tax on the American people."
Besides the Dayton proposal, other Internet tax schemes loom on the horizon. The Streamlined Sales Tax Project
(SSTP), a multi-state authority established to add a sales tax onto Internet transactions, has gained momentum in many areas of the country. "The Internet has opened many doors for advancement, unfortunately, some officials see the Internet simply as a new means to fatten government coffers," Berthoud cautioned.
"Rather than discussing another way for government officials to use the Internet as a cash cow, Members of Congress should explore serious solutions to the quantity of unsolicited messages and stop milking the American people for every dime they can," Berthoud concluded.
NTU is a non-profit, non-partisan citizen organization founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and accountable government at all levels. To review NTU publications regarding Internet taxation, please visit us online at
www.ntu.org.
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Associated Press
Sunday, June 8, 2003
No guarantees on school aid
By Justin Pope
Promised a generous state reimbursement that now looks uncertain, dozens of Massachusetts cities and towns have embarked on ambitious school building projects, issuing bonds that now weigh down their balance sheets with more than $2 billion in debt, an Associated Press analysis has found.
Experts have called the Massachusetts School Building Assistance program the most generous of its kind in the country, reimbursing communities on average 70 percent of school building costs.
But the program is being crushed by its own popularity and the state's budget crisis. The $11 billion it has promised to cities and towns now exceeds the state's share of the Central Artery project, prompting some, including Gov. Mitt Romney, to call it "the next Big Dig."
While the problem from the state's perspective is a big topic on Beacon Hill, the impact of the SBA backlog on Massachusetts' 351 cities and towns is not as well-documented.
For some, it has meant delaying school projects. But the AP analysis, based on more than 100 interviews with local officials and a review of documents, revealed the scope of another looming problem: dozens of communities, unwilling to wait to improve their schools and confident the state would never renege on its commitment, have issued their own bonds to get the projects started.
Facing a $3 billion budget gap, state officials have warned municipalities that reimbursements they've been promised could be delayed for years -- perhaps a decade or more -- and Education Commissioner David Driscoll has called for a moratorium on new projects. When the money does arrive, there could be less of it.
The reimbursements from the state are a promise, but not a legal obligation. Most communities expect the state will pay eventually, but not any time soon.
For communities, it's like charging up a personal credit card on a business trip, then learning the company may not pay back for years.
"This is the biggest problem that cities and towns face," said Bart Snow, Marblehead's finance director and accountant.
State officials have said they weren't sure how much local debt had been issued for SBA projects. But the AP found at least 82 of the 119 municipalities with projects on the waiting list have issued "bond anticipation notes" totaling at least $1.92 billion to plan SBA projects or in many cases begin construction.
The so-called "BANS" allow communities to pay for their projects and pay back nothing except interest for up to seven years. Then, communities must start paying down principal -- bills that may be millions of dollars larger. They were counting on state aid to soften that blow.
"The reason it's becoming a crisis is because these BANS were not always needed ... and the state stepped in within two or three years generally," state Treasurer Tim Cahill said. "But it's gotten out of control. I don't think cities and towns or the general public realizes how big the commitment is."
Additionally, municipalities have issued at least $375.4 million in long-term debt to fund projects on the waiting list, and plan to issue an additional $162.5 million in BANS within the next year. Many also have obligations to their regional school districts, which have issued $535.4 million in BANS, according to an analysis of information provided by Thomson Financial.
The multibillion-dollar statewide problem is a multimillion-dollar one for individual communities, but can be equally crushing.
Harvard, with a $14 million town budget, issued $17.5 million in BANS to renovate and add to its high school. The state has promised to pay back 55 percent, including interest, but at No. 146 on the waiting list Finance Director Evan Katz says it could be more than a decade before Harvard sees any money. Only 19 projects "cleared" the state's waiting list in 2002.
Many of the local treasurers don't believe they'll get stuck with the entire bill. But if Harvard were stuck, the average property tax bill would increase 10 percent. In Pembroke, that would add up to $990 per household.
"Right now, this is why we're called 'Pem-BROKE,"' Tax Collector and Treasurer Linda Porazzo said.
More vulnerable are the 20 communities the AP identified where voters authorized such projects, but refused to make them Proposition 2½ overrides, or "debt exclusions." Those communities cannot pass their obligations on to property taxpayers; they likely must come straight out of the operating budget.
"It would crucify us if we had to start paying part of that out of the budget," said Donald Kaminski, treasurer of Oxford, where only a portion of $25 million in BANS are debt-excluded. In Newton, with no debt exclusions, the delay is causing a "substantial drain" in the ability to stay on top of capital needs like roads and sewers, Chief Budget Officer Sandy Pooler said.
State officials say they sympathize. But they emphasize the reimbursements aren't binding.
As the backlog grew, SBA began requiring communities to sign a statement that they understand it isn't a guarantee.
"They sign it but they don't believe we'll ever leave them hanging," said Jeff
Wulfson, who administers the SBA program. "If the state were to not make these payments, there would be at a minimum a tremendous amount of recriminations among voters who thought they were misled."
Supporters of SBA projects often told voters they were throwing away free money if they voted them down.
"Many times during the campaign it was stated the School Building Assistance program had never reneged on its commitment, and we were repeatedly assured that would not happen," said Kevin
Sorgi, treasurer in Milton, which could soon have more than $100 million in BANS out to fund six projects.
Twice, Sorgi advised Milton voters to hold off on an ambitious building program, and they did. But when new legislation increased the town's reimbursement rate to 90 percent, Sorgi decided the deal was too good to pass up, and the town approved it.
Mercifully, interest rates are low and the projects are high on the list, but Sorgi expects the average property tax bill to rise $600 by 2005 and stay there until reimbursements kick in.
"Somebody's livelihood depends on delivering these reimbursements," Sorgi said. "If the politicians let us down, the politicians will find themselves looking for work."
For some, 15 years was too long to wait for a new school.
"We're well aware of the uncertainties, but I guess, what do you do? Hold off? The project is out there, the project is needed," said Treasurer Joe Collins of Danvers, another district with BANS but no debt exclusion.
But many communities, like Taunton, are holding off until seeing checks from the state. With revenues down and other state cuts, they can't afford to take risks.
A number of ideas are being considered for restructuring the program, including having the state issue debt to raise money for the reimbursements, or converting the program to a revolving trust, which could make low-interest loans to communities.
In an interview last week, Cahill said preserving the reimbursement rates for communities that have already spent money is a priority.
"I would not be comfortable ... going back to town treasurers and saying commitments you've already started funding, now you'll have to come up with another 15 percent," Cahill said. "I would hope that wouldn't be part of the solution. But the communities that have not yet gone out, I would think everything's on the table."
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