The Boston Herald
Friday, January 17, 2003
Budget rose $600M under Menino
by Ellen J. Silberman
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, among the loudest voices railing
against state budget cuts, presided over a nine-year spending spree that added $600 million
to the city's budget and packed 1,900 new employees onto its payroll.
More than 500 of the extra employees - a quarter of the
total - live in Hyde Park, Menino's far-flung neighborhood at the southern tip of the city, a Herald
analysis of payroll records shows.
The Hyde Park hires include Menino's daughter-in-law, who
holds a top job in Property Management. His son is also a police officer, but was first hired as a
cadet when Menino was a city councilor.
And more than 60 of the city workers hired since Menino
became acting mayor in July 1993 list their address as Readville, the narrow mile-long precinct that
Menino calls home.
Personnel accounts for 65 percent of the city's budget,
making the new hires Boston's budget buster.
"He added 2,000 jobs, now he can lop off 400 jobs," said Joe
Slavet, former director of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and a former fellow at the
McCormack Institute.
"Peanuts" is how Slavet described the $27 million Boston may
have to cut if Gov. Mitt Romney follows through on his threat to slash aid to cities and towns
by as much as $200 million.
"To wring their hands over this is really much ado about
nothing," he said.
Menino's spending over the course of his tenure marks a
staggering 50 percent increase from Mayor Raymond L. Flynn's last budget in fiscal 1994.
"That $600 million is in programs that everybody in those
programs thinks is critical," said Samuel R. Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research
Bureau, which developed a long-term budget analysis from city documents.
Even this year's budget, which runs through June 30,
finalized as the economy faltered and the state's budget crisis deepened, grew 2.4 percent over last
year's, Tyler said.
"It's the lowest percentage increase they've had," Tyler
said.
Lisa Signori, Menino's budget chief, defended the mayor's
ever-growing budget.
"The city of Boston has had balanced budgets, followed good
fiscal policy and has had increases in its bond ratings," she said.
But Signori also said the city's available reserves of about
$60 million aren't enough to get Boston through the rough times ahead.
Slavet said Menino made an age-old mistake by spending his
way through the good times.
"You only have to back to the advice that Moses gave to the
Pharaoh," he said. "You have to stock up in the seven good years for the seven lean years.
"It's old Biblical advice," he said. Now, "he's got to learn
the hard way."
City Council President Michael F. Flaherty, Jr., a Menino
ally, said, "We had a great run through the mid to late '90s. We've added a lot of programs. We've
expanded services."
Slavet suggested consolidating city services - an option the
Menino administration is exploring - eliminating frills like the city Home Center, which
advises first time homebuyers, and laying off the park rangers who patrol the
Boston Common on horseback - another option under discussion.
"There are plenty of things that you can do," Slavet said.
"You can sort of say: this is absolutely necessary; this would be nice; this is a frill. We all do that in
keeping our own little budgets."
Searching for ways to close the expected year-end budget
gap, Menino last week put layoffs on the table, telling the Herald that he might be forced to issue
as many as 450 pink slips.
But sources say the mayor backed away from hasty layoffs
after he realized that union contracts require him to follow strict seniority rules - and get rid of
his own people rather than Flynn holdovers.
Richard Driscoll, a top official in the city's Human
Resources Department, estimated that 450 layoffs would only affect people hired in the last five years.
"They're flummoxed," said a City Hall source. "I don't think
(Menino) knows what to do, I really don't."
Signori said pink slips are still a strong possibility.
"The layoff picture is not something that is clear," she
said. "There will be layoffs. There's a question of timing."
Menino has asked the state for authority to levy some $85
million in new taxes and fees including new entertainment and meals as well as extra fees on
parking and towing.
The mayor has decried local aid cuts, predicting hard hits
on everything from basic services like trash collection to shuttering schools.
"We're going to get right to the core of government," Menino
predicted.
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State House News Service
Thursday, January 16, 2003
If Gov. Mitt Romney has not uncovered enough unpleasant
budget surprises, here's another: 2,200 contractors entrusted to keep state roads clear of snow
and ice have already spent $23 million more than the Legislature appropriated
last summer for the seasonal work.
Crews that plow state roads and spread sand and salt to make
sure byways are free of hazardous ice have been paid for work performed through Dec. 21. But
the state's snow and ice removal budget has dried up. As tax receipts continue
to miss projections that have proven too optimistic, ten of millions of
new dollars are now needed to pay vendors for work already performed.
The Legislature could have seen this coming. And with 63
days of winter ahead, they probably wish they had.
State highway officials have data indicating the five-year
statewide average for snow and ice removal is $47.5 million and the ten-year average is $44.5 million.
During last year's mild winter, the state still spent $33.5 million. And just two
years ago, the tab for keeping state roads safe during the winter months was
$70 million.
Yet the Legislature, even after raising taxes by $1.2
billion last year appropriated only $16.5 million to keep 12,000 lane miles of roadways and
2,900 state bridges safe over the winter, a sum more fitting for a state like say,
Virginia. It's enough to make one wonder whether Beacon Hill's budgeters,
who claim to shy away from good politics when drafting the annual $23 billion
budget, have spent much time in the state they're paid to represent.
Doug Cope, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Highway
Department, confirmed Wednesday that contractors have already spent nearly $40 million
clearing roads this winter. Cope said underfunding of the account is a legislative
tradition. Lawmakers prefer to wait and see how much it snows and then
deal with the bill in the spring. That strategy works when times are flush. But the
economy was in recession last summer and many believe it still is.
"Any type of winter weather requires us to deploy equipment," said Cope,
noting this winter's 33 "weather events" range from one-inch coatings to
full-blown snowstorms. In heavy storms, 4,000 pieces of equipment are deployed.
"It's really hard to guesstimate how much you're going to
spend in a given year because you don't know what kind of weather your going to have," said Cope.
"So far this year we have seen the effect of El Nino."
Couldn't the Legislature have budgeted based on its average
snow and ice removal costs in recent years?
"That's up to the Legislature," said Cope. "They're the
appropriating authority."
Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation and a student of Beacon Hill politics and policy, said the underfunding will really hurt
this year. "We got a double whammy here," he said. "We knowingly underfunded it at
the outset and now we've been hit with a very tough winter. This severe of a winter may not be predictable but we're going
to have winter. That's pretty common knowledge."
Widmer said the Legislature should have appropriated snow
and ice removal funding based on the five and ten-year average spending rates. "This delays
the day of reckoning," he said. "It makes our fiscal problems worse or more
painful. That means in essence cuts in other areas. This will probably come out
of the hides of cities and towns."
So why do lawmakers knowingly underfund the cost of clearing
winter roads. Former Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Mark Montigny
(D-New Bedford) did not return phone calls seeking comment. A House Ways
and Means Committee spokesman said chairman Rep. John Rogers (D-Norwood) is "very interested"
in the subject and has discussed it with Gov. Romney but was not available to discuss it for this story.
Widmer said lawmakers lowball the account so they can spend
the difference in other parts of the $23 billion budget. "In the budget process, it opens up $30
million," he said. "It makes room for other programs. And in this kind of tight
budget, cutting $30 million can fund a lot of programs. Of course in the end the
costs are the costs. The chicken comes home to roost."
The highway department is spending its budget as efficiently
as possible, Cope said. In a 27-page report filed in April 2002, Auditor Joseph DeNucci last year
concluded the department had adequate controls in place over snow and ice
removal spending. House aides last year questioned whether all of the snow
and ice spending was justified.
Cope said the state's salt supply is at about 30 percent of
capacity. The state receives about 30,000 tons of salt per week and is building its supply during
this frigid, but precipitation-free week. "Our salt supplies are in pretty good
shape," he said.
As the fiscal year drags on, with unilateral budget cuts
looming, Cope offers the last words lawmakers or Romney want to hear: "To pay those bills that came in
subsequent to December 21 we will require a supplemental appropriation. We'll
begin the process of seeking a supplemental budget request from the Legislature."
Romney aides confirmed he will file a supplemental budget
request in a few weeks.
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State House News Service
Friday, January 17, 2003
Weekly Roundup - Week of Jan. 13, 2003
By Craig Sandler
[Excerpt]
For longtime observers, the striking development of the week
was how the Legislature's most powerful player willingly gave up the Legislature's most
important power. Tom Finneran, the Speaker, is frequently perceived as the
most significant political force at the State House. On the surface, you'd think
he'd be unwilling to give up budgetary power and let Romney claim credit for
solving the fiscal problem.
Beneath that surface, though, he was dealing with the core
realities of democracy - he couldn't get his members to agree on what needs to be done, so
they're going to let Romney do it. As one rep said in the hallway this week: "If
he looks good, we look good."
Or bad. An odd and unpleasant example of the kind of
thinking Romney will have to avoid came this week as cities and towns bemoaned the fact that
neither they nor the state budgeted enough this year for snow and ice removal.
The shortfall at the state level is $23 million and growing. The reps and mayors
seemed to be suggesting the problem was too much winter instead of too little
planning.
Michael Norton of the News Service this week looked at the
same numbers you'd think the lawmakers would [see above]. Over
the last 10 years it's cost the state an average of $44.5 million a year to clear its winter roads. This year,
reps and senators budgeted $16.5 million. The phenomenon was echoed in
municipal budgets statewide.
The state and locals argued they were just following
standard procedure - that they underbudget for snow and ice every year, hoping for warm weather. It's
the essence of poor planning, and the flaw is obvious: it's not warmer than usual
every year. This year, for instance. And the state and communities have been
experiencing winter since 1620. It is the kind of behavior that got the state into
such trouble. Failing to match budget reserves with easily predictable increases
in health care costs was another.
This is why, whatever posturing goes on in the House about
"fiscal discipline," or in the governor's office about restructuring, the numbers describing reality
are written in red ink, and everyone - House, Senate, Romney - looks foolish.
Their behavior was commendable, but their math still could use some work.
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The Scituate Mariner
Thursday, January 16, 2003
Fiscal planning pays off
By Amy Lambiaso
[Excerpt]
State Rep. Frank Hynes, D-Marshfield, is telling town
officials throughout his district to make no mistake - Massachusetts is experiencing its worst fiscal
crisis ever....
"These are unprecedented fiscal difficulties," Hynes said.
"Like a fast-spreading illness to your body, it only gets worse if you don't stop it immediately."
Hynes ... said it was of utmost importance to take care of
the localized fiscal problems immediately or the next few years will be even worse than what
cities and towns are now expecting. He said the House Ways and Means Committee is
currently estimating the budget deficit could reach levels of $750 to $900 million within the next few months.
"The expected and necessary economic growth is just not
there," Hynes said. "Revenues are completely flat and don't look to be improving anytime soon."
Local aid to municipalities make-up roughly $5.5 billion of
the state's $23 billion budget. The predicted 5 percent reduction in state aid would mean an
approximate $200 million in savings, Hynes said. If the deficit reaches the
magnitude of more than $750 million, the state might have to dip into the
$300 million now reserved in the state's stabilization fund.
But the legislature is looking at alternative solutions to
counter such a budget hit. Hynes said a program to allow cities and towns to postpone its last monthly
bills in June to the next fiscal year in July, enabling the final month's revenues
to be used toward the payment is being discussed. The plan would rollover
funds in such a way until up to 2008 when the budget had hopefully rebounded.
Hynes also anticipates the legislature may pass a law
allowing communities that operate under the Community Preservation Act to broaden its function to
include more than the three specified areas of community housing, open space
acquisitions and historical preservation. If such a law passed at the state level,
Town Meeting and Selectmen could vote to allow the 3 percent surcharge to
apply to the police and fire departments and schools as well, easing the burden
on those departments should they suffer from what state aid cuts may come
through....
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The Boston Herald
Friday, January 17, 2003
Mayors fear Mitt's power to cut
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
Gov. Mitt Romney vowed yesterday to inflict looming local
aid cuts equally on all cities and towns - even as some mayors raise fears the governor will wield
dictatorial powers and others threaten outright tax revolt.
The Senate yesterday passed legislation offering Romney
unfettered discretion to make the cuts - even teeing up the power to cherry-pick wealthier
communities while protecting poor urban areas. "Even in the Roman Empire,
they had a triumvirate who ran the government," said Medford Mayor Michael
McGlynn, president of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. "They're
giving authority to the governor that makes him a complete dictator."
But while legislative support quickly coalesced around the
Senate bill, Romney promised a group of suburban lawmakers he would adhere to the "intent" of a
House provision requiring cuts to be applied in equal percentages to all cities
and towns.
"The governor is not going to pick and choose and treat one
differently than another," said a senior administration source. "They'd all get cut
proportionately."
The suburban lawmakers, who met with Romney after the Senate
action, had feared they would bear the brunt of the cuts if Romney tried to give special
protection to poor urban areas.
"He looked us in the eye," said Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick). "His personal
assurance is good enough for us."
Romney's move could mollify suburban mayors, who condemned
the Senate's offering of near-total cutting discretion.
Romney's equity pledge capped a day of rapid events at the
State House, where the Senate voted 29-8 to expand Romney's emergency budget-cutting
powers to allow him to cut local aid to address a current-year deficit estimated
at $600 million.
While senators stripped out the House's equity provision,
Senate leaders said the goal was to give Romney the broadest possible power in concert with his
promise to adhere to the House's intent.
"We're both looking to do exactly the same thing - treat
everybody fairly," said Senate Minority Leader Brian P. Lees (R-East Longmeadow).
Nevertheless, Democratic Senate leaders expressed surprise
late last night at word that Romney conceptually supported the House provision, after they
argued on the Senate floor that equal percentage cuts would slap "handcuffs"
on Romney.
Senate Ways and Means Chairman Therese Murray said equal
percent cuts could drive some communities below a legally permissible level of education
funding - opening the possibility of lawsuits.
"I'd be very surprised at (Romney's support of across-the-board cuts),"
Murray (D-Plymouth) said. "That would really seriously jeopardize a number
of communities."
Senate President Robert E. Travaglini could not be reached
for comment last night, but Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said both legislative branches
had signed on with the governor's plan.
"Both the House and the Senate agree that any cuts to local
aid line item accounts be made on a proportionate basis," Fehrnstrom said.
On the question of education aid, the Senate inserted a
provision during floor debate prohibiting Romney from cutting school spending below the
court-ordered "foundation" budget.
Romney has said he would try to avoid cuts to the state's $4
billion Chapter 70 education reform account.
House and Senate negotiators were working into the night to
hammer out their differences, in hopes of whisking the legislation onto Romney's desk by tonight.
Meanwhile, the looming local aid cuts - which Romney is
expected to announce by early next month - drew a radical threat yesterday from Lynn Mayor
Edward Clancy Jr.
Clancy, a former state senator, said he's considering
withholding all of the income tax receipts the city collects from city workers on behalf of the state if
Romney cuts Lynn's $134 million local aid package.
"For Gov. Romney to try and unilaterally break that is a
material breach of that contract," Clancy said. "I believe we have a right to set off those funds
against anything we're chopped."
As controversy swirled around Romney yesterday, Lt. Gov.
Kerry Healey said she would submit a legislative package next week to ease the regulatory and
financial burden cities and towns must bear as a result of unfunded mandates
from the state.
During meetings this week with local leaders, Healey has
talked about easing civil service rules on hiring, making changes to public bidding laws and giving
communities more flexibility on public construction jobs - all measures aimed
at lowering local costs.
But Fall River Mayor Ed Lambert said, "The irony is, with
the financial losses we're talking about in local aid, who is going to be hiring, who is going to be
buying and who is going to be building anything?"
Elizabeth W. Crowley contributed to this report.
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The MetroWest Daily News
Friday, January 17, 2003
Editorial
Repeal the prescription assessment
It didn't take long for the grandstanding to begin. The
state-mandated $1.30 prescription drug assessment went into place the first of the year, and on the
second day lawmakers learned just how angry the new legislation would make
their constituents.
So Attorney General Thomas Reilly held a press conference to
explain that the assessment is a charge against pharmacies, not a tax on consumers, and he
threatened pharmacies with punishment if they continue to pass the charge
onto customers as a tax.
Rep. John Rogers carried the threat a little further.
Pharmacies passing the cost on to customers will face dire financial consequences. The state, he said,
could rescind the $3 to $5 dispensing fee pharmacies receive for each Medicaid
prescription filled.
Some legislators say the problem isn't the fee, but the
wording of the legislation. It doesn't specifically prohibit pharmacies from passing on the cost
to their customers. Their proposed solution? Additional legislation adding that
prohibition into the mix.
But this is flawed legislation that can't be fixed, and Sen.
Richard T. Moore, chairman of the Legislature's Committee on Health Care, has a common sense
suggestion.
Repeal the legislation.
He agrees the state must somehow raise $36 million to fund
the state's Medicaid program, an amount that will be matched by the federal government.
Moore, D-Uxbridge, and Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, argued when the legislation was first
proposed, and do so today, that the state must carefully study the issue and find a revenue source that distributes the cost
of Medicaid more fairly.
Not only is raising the money on the backs of the working
poor, the middle-class and elderly wrong, the bickering alienates pharmacies that
threatened last year to stop filling Medicaid prescriptions because the state
reimbursement barely covers their cost of doing that business.
It was naive of the Legislature to assume pharmacies would
not pass on the cost of the assessment to their customers. The cost of doing business is always
passed on to the consumer. They must not compound that error by presuming
to dictate pricing decisions made by private businesses.
We support repealing the legislation. But if state lawmakers
can't make that decision, they should at least stop pointing the finger of blame at pharmacies
and accept responsibility for their actions.
