Gov. Romney's bold and innovative budget proposal certainly
has rocked the Beacon Hill establishment like nothing in memory has. Once the shock wears off, prepare for the coming kneejerk
overreaction from those wanting more, more, ever more.
Barbara and I are still puzzling over the numbers, the language, and the rationale --
though today's Boston Herald editorial is pretty clear.
Gov. Romney proposes spending over a hundred million dollars
more than this fiscal year's budget ... but he had to cut $3.2 billion from what the state
intended to spend, wanted to add to this year's bottom line. The spenders planned for a $26
billion budget, but have to settle for one that's only a $124 million more than this year's.
Yesterday I reported that Barbara and I were invited to
stand with Gov. Romney at a noon State House news conference today. That changed this morning after we read of the
governor's proposed "user fees."
We'd hoped that our longstanding opposition to taxes on
prescription drugs and nursing home beds disguised as fees, and the public outrage, would encourage the governor to
eliminate those unconscionable assaults on responsible citizens trying to provide for
themselves. We were stunned this morning to learn that, not only do they survive -- but
Gov. Romney is expanding the ploy into other areas, disguising taxes as more "user
fees."
We may never see another tax if this ploy is perpetuated.
Income tax hike? Why bother? Just "assess" a five percent "user fee" on jobs!
Barbers pay a fee for a state barber's license. How far off
can it be before we start paying an additional buck a haircut "user fee"?
The opportunities for the state to rake in ever more "user
fees" are endless.
Barbara called the governor's office and asked for someone
to justify the tax as truly a fee, to provide the basis for it. Nobody was available who could, so we regretfully were forced
to decline his invitation.
Romney spokeswoman Nicole St. Peter defined the difference,
as the administration sees it: "Fees go for a direct service; Taxes are something that is assessed, that everyone has to
pay."
Thus CLT stands by its long-held position that the prescription drug "user fee," the
nursing home bed "user fee," and the newly-proposed health insurance and hospital "user
fees" are in fact taxes.
We're also concerned that these tax hikes will be easily
accepted by the Legislature while the governor's reforms won't, leading to even greater tax increases before the debate ends.
Nobody's going to agree with everything that's in any proposed budget. We recognize this
and otherwise still strongly support Gov. Romney's innovation, courage, and leadership.
CLT will do all we can to help him get it past the vocal special interests and through a
business-as-usual Legislature.
It's the best, most revolutionary proposal we've seen and
may ever see; long overdue and in these times critical.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Mitt talks chop: Cuts top 'bold' plan
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
Gov. Mitt Romney unveiled the most radical Beacon Hill
reform plan in decades yesterday, a $22.86 billion spending bill that slashes local aid, lays off 2,000
state workers, yanks health care from the poor, raises the specter of casino
gambling and reshapes almost every facet of state government.
"This is my chance to be bold," Romney said.
The governor's much-anticipated inaugural budget proposal
closes a $3.2 billion deficit with a mix of reform plans, program cuts and fees hikes - but no
new taxes, in keeping with his campaign pledge.
The deficit-busting plan relies heavily on $2.2 billion he
estimates can be saved through sweeping - and controversial - proposals to restructure the
bureaucracies that oversee human services, the judiciary, higher education and
transportation.
The all-encompassing nature of the reform proposals left
political observers stunned, sparking kudos along with protests.
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran dashed cold water on
Romney's budget, bristling at the suggestion that past leaders have larded the government with
"waste and inefficiency."
Finneran noted that most budgetary growth in the last decade
has been in education and health care.
"Nobody other than the governor has suggested that there's
$2 billion in inefficiencies and waste," Finneran said.
Senate President Robert Travaglini, D-Boston, said the
Senate will hold Romney's proposal to a "litmus test."
"Will the changes and consolidation and numerous fees the
governor is now offering to implement cause more harm than good?" Travaglini said.
Most attention yesterday was riveted on Romney's $621
million in program cuts - particularly the $232 million he nicked from the $5.3 billion local aid
account.
When piled on top of recent rounds of emergency cuts, cities
and towns next fiscal year would receive $350 million less than this year under Romney's
budget plan - an average reduction of 5 percent.
Boston was by far the biggest loser, suffering a $46 million
whack that amounts to a 10.5 percent reduction in state aid.
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino fumed that it's "unfair" to
cut so deeply into the state's "economic engine," accusing Romney of breaking his pledge to
protect core services.
Menino said the local aid cut would force him to make
layoffs and eviscerate programs that provide for the "basic quality of life."
"This gets beyond the core of government," Menino said.
"This gets into the marrow."
But beyond Boston, many cities and towns took less of a
local aid hit than they had anticipated - and some communities even saw a slight increase aimed at
boosting their school funding.
Romney protected the $4.1 billion education account,
offering a $25 million increase - meager by comparison to huge increases of recent years but a far cry
from the drastic cuts some had predicted.
Despite the cuts and consolidations, overall state spending
would grow by $124 million, or half a percent, next year - an increase driven by skyrocketing costs
in Medicaid, the $6.5 billion health care program for nearly 1 million poor,
elderly and disabled.
The budget-busting program saw 8.9 percent in inflationary
growth, requiring Romney to pour $534 million in new money despite measures to force an
unknown number of people off health care.
Romney proposed tightening eligibility requirements,
counting assets like cars, houses and savings accounts in a way that would boost incomes and allow fewer
people into the program.
And Romney would yank Medicaid benefits from anyone who can
get health insurance through their work, impose new co-payments and premiums, and
steer recipients toward cheaper generic drugs.
The Medicaid squeeze comes as thousands of people are still
reeling from cuts that took away prosthetics, eyeglasses and dental care - and as 50,000 more
are kicked off MassHealth Basic April 1.
Lowell resident Donna Tornberg lost her coverage in January
and now can't replace the $15,000 prosthetic leg that helps her navigate three flights of stairs
after losing her leg to a drunk driver.
Tornberg, 44, said Romney ought to get out of the State
House and talk to some of the people whose health care he's taking away.
"He doesn't know anybody who's handicapped or anybody who's
low income," she said. "He's got money. He doesn't have to worry about it."
Advocates for the elderly were also scrambling after Romney
proposed wiping out the $98 million Prescription Advantage program, which provides cheap
drugs to about 80,000 seniors.
Romney also slashed $2.4 million from the home care program,
a favorite of many elders, said Mass. Home Care Director Al Norman.
"I'm sure that older people are going to be furious when
they hear that all of these commitments have been dropped," Norman said.
Affordable housing advocates were angry, after Romney
slashed $29 million, or 24 percent, from the housing budget - including all $20 million from a special
trust fund that's helped create 2,000 new affordable housing units in the last
two years.
"This is a significant setback for working people," said
Rev. David Olson, president of the Greater Boston Interfaith Alliance. "We think it is a terrific
political miscalculation."
In a move that could blow open the debate over legalized
gaming, Romney seeks to wring $75 million from casino operators in neighboring states -
promising to allow video slot machines at as many as six sites statewide if they
don't pay up.
Romney also uses $657 million in one-time revenues, such as
giving the pension system $180 million in surplus land instead of cash.
Elizabeth W. Crowley contributed to this report.
Return to top
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Timing seems right for Romney's ambitious budget
Analysis/by Joe Battenfeld and David R. Guarino
A worsening fiscal crisis and a public appetite for change
will boost Gov. Mitt Romney's ambitious bid to reshape state government - despite entrenched
opposition from Democratic lawmakers and special interests.
The GOP governor seemingly faces an uphill fight over the
next few months in convincing the Legislature to back the dramatic budget plan he unveiled at the
State House yesterday.
But Romney has several potent weapons at his side -
including a skillful sales persona and a public that overwhelmingly voted to reject "business as usual"
Beacon Hill politics.
With a budget deficit pegged at more than $3 billion, Romney
has already succeeded in at least setting up a stark choice - reform, deeper cuts or tax
hikes.
"This is clearly the moment to undertake this sort of reform
agenda, not only as a new governor but in the midst of a fiscal crisis," said Michael
Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
Legislators are likely to go along with some parts of
Romney's plan, largely because they will face pressure to either accept Romney's reforms or take the
unpopular route of raising taxes for the second year in a row.
But getting some of his proposals through the Legislature
seems daunting at best, even improbable.
The budget outlined by Romney goes after a number of
politically powerful symbols long protected by Democrats - including UMass President William M.
Bulger and employee labor unions.
Romney proposed vaporizing Bulger's office and changing
seniority rules that have protected state employees. Romney's proposals to restructure higher
education, raise tuition and separate the University of Massachusetts at
Amherst campus from the state system also will be fiercely opposed by
education advocates.
Romney's moves will likely add to his public image as a
reformer, leading some critics to charge he is simply playing politics by targeting
Bulger.
But while Bulger's popularity has waned since he refused to
testify before a congressional panel probing FBI corruption and the Mob, he still enjoys strong
support from House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and others.
There are also some 200,000 alumni from the University of
Massachusetts living in the state, another powerful constituency.
"This (proposal) has no chance and he knows it," Democratic
Party Chairman Phil Johnston said. "If he were serious about this he would have done the
groundwork in advance."
Romney and his aides insisted he was not targeting Bulger
for political reasons. And aides said Romney will not back down from a fight with Bulger just to
appease lawmakers.
"This is my opportunity to be bold," Romney said.
Romney plans to aggressively promote his budget plan over
the coming weeks, holding town meetings this weekend and going on radio and TV talk shows.
The governor is also getting help from the Republican State
Committee, which is sending out daily e-mails to supporters and others urging them to call
lawmakers to back the budget plan.
"This is going to be won in the field, in rallying the
citizenry and reminding them what last year's election was about," Republican Party Executive Director
Dominick Ianno said. "The Legislature will be reminded that Gov. Romney ran
on a platform to fix Beacon Hill, and his budget reflects that."
Romney still faces a tough task in selling the most
important claim in his budget plan - that the restructuring proposals will save $2 billion.
Finneran yesterday echoed past doubts about the reform
savings raised by Senate President Robert E. Travaglini.
"Nobody other than the governor has suggested that there's
$2 billion in inefficiency and waste," Finneran said. "I hope that we can find it. I hope that
we can identify it."
Since the bare-bones budgets of the early 1990s, Finneran
said, most budget growth has been in education and health care - not exactly pork. "It seems,
therefore, to suggest that at least some people in the Romney administration
think that education and health care programs and advances might also be
synonymous with inefficiency and waste," the Democratic speaker said.
But Finneran stressed, "all the governor's proposals are on
the table" and "everything has to be given a fresh and vigorous look."
Return to top
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 27, 2003
A Boston Herald editorial
Romney delivers on budget promise
Gov. Mitt Romney, only in office seven weeks, has already
delivered on his core campaign promise by offering a $22.858 billion balanced budget that closes the
estimated $3.2 billion deficit next year without raising taxes. But remarkably,
he also does so while increasing spending. That's right. Increasing spending by
about $124 million.
That's because in the never-never land that is state
government, the much talked about budget gap of $3.2 billion is the chasm between what will actually
be spent in this fiscal year and what is estimated it will cost to maintain the
same level of services next year.
So the cuts that will be decried by one special interest
after another, are actually reductions in the increase state government otherwise would have
had.
But don't expect Romney to get any plaudits for pulling off
this feat. This being Boston, home of the bean, the cod and the entitlement crowd, instead expect
lots of predictions from Beacon Hill of blood in the streets.
For today, though, let's give credit to Romney where credit
is due. He delivered a budget that:
Does not raise taxes.
Does not rely on one-time savings or gimmicks.
Goes after almost every sacred cow on Beacon Hill from
University of Massachusetts President William Bulger to state employee benefits and union
prerogatives.
Trims the state government bureaucracy by 1,000 employees.
Closes outdated and costly facilities like Worcester State
Hospital and the Fernald School.
Funds education reform.
Romney also deserves points for creativity. For the first
time, the budget is only available online, saving $50,000 in printing costs and allowing broader
access.
The governor also blows up the hundreds of budget line items
associated with government programs - and subject to legislative micromanagement - in favor
of 72 master accounts allowing flexibility to move resources where needed.
And Romney proposes raising $75 million per year from
gambling enterprises in neighboring states, or authorizing video lottery machines at up to a
half-dozen locations if those so-called "blocking payments" are not forthcoming.
Round one goes to Romney. But this was the easy part. Now
comes the legislative battle. Let's hope the governor - and his budget reforms - are still
standing by Round 15.
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Layoffs, new fees in Romney budget
Says $2.17b would be saved in restructuring
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff
Governor Mitt Romney yesterday unveiled a $22.86 billion
spending plan for next year, proposing stiff new Medicaid fees on health insurers and recipients
and a revamping of the state's higher education system as part of a sweeping
government reorganization.
Under the budget for fiscal 2004, which begins July 1, state
spending would remain essentially flat at this year's level. The plan would result in layoffs of
about 2,000 state employees, about 3 percent of the work force.
Romney proposed restructuring the state's local aid formula,
which would help some of the state's poorer communities but cut deeply into aid to Boston and
other older urban centers. With the exception of K-12 education and Medicaid,
most areas of state government would be cut by nearly 5 percent on average
under Romney's plan.
The governor would also sharply expand the state's bottle
bill, imposing new deposit fees of 5 cents on bottles and cans of juice and bottled water, and 15
cents on hard liquor and wine containers. Romney also proposed nearly 100 fee
hikes, including higher charges on everything from motorcycle licenses
to bar exams, to raise $60 million.
"The budget is balanced, it doesn't raise taxes, it
preserves our commitment to care for those who can't care for themselves," Romney said at a news
conference to introduce his proposals. He called his budget proposal "the most
significant restructuring of state government in half a century."
But budget analysts and legislative leaders met Romney's
assertions with skepticism, saying the amount the governor says the state would save via his
streamlining plans is vastly inflated. Romney's restructuring plan, which he
said will save $2.17 billion, includes more than $600 million in hiked fees
and other new revenue, and $500 million in one-time changes, such as selling off
state land and refinancing bonds, that do not address long-term spending
problems.
"Nobody other than the governor has suggested that there is
$2 billion in inefficiency and waste," House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran said.
Senate Ways and Means Committee chairwoman Therese Murray
said that Romney's combination of complicated restructuring proposals with measures
that would balance the budget is confusing both endeavors. She said she doesn't
believe the state could reap anywhere near the savings Romney sees from
restructuring, even if it immediately adopted all of the Republican governor's
recommendations.
"I don't see how we get that in 2004, even if we said
tomorrow that we'd do it all," said Murray, a Plymouth Democrat. "This deluge of filings is distracting us
from the problem."
Independent analysts and state lawmakers predicted that
Romney's proposals would result in deep service reductions, a possibility that the administration
sought to downplay yesterday. Romney aides were unable to describe the
specific impact of many of his service cuts, saying the details need to
be worked out.
"With some exceptions, the services are either unchanged or
will be better," said Eric Kriss, Romney's secretary for administration and finance. "It
encompasses a tremendous amount of change in a short period of time to take
us out of our financial difficulties."
Romney's budget would actually increase state spending
slightly next year, by about one-half of 1 percent, about as much as the budget grew this year. But
because of mandated cost increases in debt service and the state's Medicaid
program, and because state revenue growth is expected to be flat in fiscal
2004, most programs funded by the state would receive less money under
Romney's plan than they are currently receiving.
The billions in savings touted by the administration are
based not on a comparison of year-to-year spending, but measure his recommended
appropriations for next year against a hypothetical benchmark: the total that
state agency heads say they'd need to spend to maintain the current level of
services.
Budget analysts who were poring over the plan yesterday said
they believe Romney's emphasis on "reorganization" masks significant cuts to services.
"It will definitely mean service reductions," Michael J.
Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said of Romney's budget proposal.
"I give him an A-plus on the boldness, but a somewhat lower grade on the fiscal
document."
To generate revenues, Romney proposes that the state collect
$75 million from Connecticut and Rhode Island casino operators, whom Romney wants to pay
the state on an annual basis to stop it from expanding legalized gambling. In
part to spur negotiations with gambling facilities, the governor said
yesterday that he is prepared to allow slot machines at several sites in Massachusetts,
possibly including the state's four racetracks.
"If they refuse to provide at least $75 million to us - and
there's some logic for saying yes, and some for saying no - then we will engage in video lottery
terminals of our own," Romney said.
The governor would also seek to raise $128 million in
revenue by closing corporate tax loopholes, $50 million from increased tuition at state colleges and
universities, $230 million from recent fee hikes at the state's registry of deeds,
and $10 million in sales tax revenue by assigning slightly higher values to used
vehicles.
The budget proposal will now move on to the House and
Senate, which are slated to approve their own budget plans late this spring, before the July 1
start of fiscal 2004. In previous years, Republican governors have seen most of
their major budget proposals ignored by the Democrat-led Legislature,
but Romney is looking to tap into the same voter sentiment that sent him to the
corner office to achieve more success.
In other proposals, Romney would:
Eliminate the Pacheco Law, which makes privatization of
state services nearly impossible, and to abolish some civil service protections for state workers and
reduce the number of employees in unions. The governor believes his package
of reforms would save the state $263 million per year.
End the Prescription Advantage program, which provides
senior citizens with low-cost drugs, unless the federal government agrees to pick up half of the
costs. That cut would save the state $98 million next year.
Transfer $180 million worth of surplus land to the state
pension fund, to cut the state's cash commitment to the fund next year. Kriss said the pension fund
managers could then decide how to manage the land.
Force healthy parents of children ages 2 to 5 to work in
exchange for welfare. The governor said he would expand child care options for welfare recipients to
make that possible.
Cut the $10 million state subsidy for the Hynes Convention
Center. James E. Rooney, director of development for the convention center, said his staff would
try to make cuts and increase revenues, but he said it would affect the Hynes
Auditorium, Springfield Civic Center, and regional tourism offices.
Through a budget rider, institute a legal change that would
make drunken-driving convictions easier to obtain. Under the change, drivers would
be considered legally impaired automatically if they register a blood alcohol
content at or above the legal limit, which is.08 percent. Massachusetts is
the only state without such a law, a situation that lost the Bay State an estimated
$29 million in federal highway funds over the past five years.
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Medicaid recipients face new fees
State hospital, Fernald school closings planned
By Alice Dembner, Globe Staff
About 150,000 Medicaid recipients earning less than $13,300
a year would face new fees for health care, and the state would close Worcester State
Hospital for the mentally ill and the Fernald Developmental Center for the
mentally retarded, under the state budget proposed yesterday by Governor
Mitt Romney.
State residents who pay for their own health insurance would
also see their premiums rise if the Legislature approves Romney's $22.8 billion budget. The
budget calls for a $90 million "user fee" on health insurers to help pay for
Medicaid, a tax that insurers said would eventually be passed on to the
public.
The fees and closures are among the far-reaching changes
Romney proposed to help pay for $10.9 billion in spending on health care and human services in
fiscal 2004. Spending would rise $417 million over this year's budget for health
and human services, but because Medicaid spending will grow by an even
larger amount, the administration is proposing cuts in other areas - including
ending the prescription drug plan for seniors, restricting prescription drug use
among Medicaid recipients, reducing payments to hospitals and nursing homes,
and making it tougher for seniors to qualify for nursing home care paid by the
state.
Health and Human Sevices Secretary Ronald Preston said that,
without the cuts, spending would grow more than $1 billion a year just to provide the same
services. "That rate of increase is not sustainable," he said, even with half of
Medicaid paid by the federal government. Preston also said the administration
believes that "able-bodied people ought to pay a little something" toward their
care.
Preston noted that the budget is not all doom and gloom. It
restores coverage for leg braces and other prosthetic devices for nearly half a million state
residents on Medicaid. And it adds nearly $33 million in community services
for the mentally retarded, much of it mandated by a court settlement. It also
adds $26 million for troubled children served through the Department of Social
Services.
Health insurers, hospital officials, and advocates all
criticized the budget yesterday, saying the changes would unfairly burden the poor and unduly
stress the health care system.
"We don't think the answer to the budget is to make the
poorest people pay more," said Marcia Hams, deputy director of Health Care for All, a
Boston-based group that advocates for affordable health care.
Senator Therese Murray, chairwoman of the Ways and Means
Committee, which will review the budget, said the premiums and co-payments proposed
for the Medicaid program would backfire on the state, costing more money.
"You can't get money out of people who have no money," said
Murray, a Plymouth Democrat. "They're not going to bother going to doctors or buying
drugs. Instead, you're going to see them in the emergency rooms."
The budget proposes charging a premium of up to $19 per
month for 150,000 low-income people whom the state covers under part of the Medicaid program
that is not required by the federal government. Many of these people are
disabled or elderly.
In addition, nearly all 1 million Medicaid recipients would
be required to pay copayments of up to $3 per visit for any health care that costs more than $50.
And thousands of low-income people who participate in the Children's Medical
Security Program, established to help provide health insurance to all of the
state's children, would pay premiums of up to $32 per month, as well as
copayments for each doctor's visit. Together, these fees would raise $18.5
million in revenue, according to the administration.
The state also plans to save $76 million on prescription
drug spending in the Medicaid program, by requiring more use of generic drugs and prior
authorization from the state for Medicaid members who are taking multiple
medications. In addition, all new applicants for Medicaid benefits would face a
detailed review of their assets as well as their income to qualify, which is
expected to exclude thousands from the program. And the state would restrict
nursing home admissions to sicker patients.
Preston called this an effort to cut out "people who don't
need care as much as others."
The closing of Worcester State Hospital and the Fernald
school is part of the governor's reorganization plan. The hundreds of people who live at these
facilities would be moved into community programs or other hospitals.
A new "user fee" of $150,000 would be imposed on each of the
600 health insurers in the state to help fund Medicaid. The state plans to use the extra
$90 million a year to leverage additional federal matching aid.
Douglas Brown, acting Medicaid commissioner, said the fee on
health insurers was modeled on similar fees assessed to pharmacies and nursing homes and
grew out of policy discussions about the indirect benefits that insurers get from
the Medicaid program.
"Medicaid picks up and insures the neediest, most vulnerable
patients, covering the risks these insurers don't cover," he said.
But Dr. Marylou Buyse, president of the Massachusetts
Association of Health Plans, said the new fees, on top of other government mandates, "add up to a
significant financial burden on health care in Massachusetts." Since most health
insurers get all their income from premiums, she said the fees - if they
become an annual assessment - would probably be passed on to the public.
Preston said the state is also discussing a hospital user
fee, a proposal that the president of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, Ronald Hollander, said
would shift "an unsustainable burden onto the hospitals." He also criticized
the governor's plan to reduce by $45 million the state's payment for free care
provided by the hospitals.
"That's going to force our hospitals to cut core services
throughout the Commonwealth," Hollander said.
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Romney proposes item-pricing alternative
By Andrew Caffrey, Globe Staff
Governor Mitt Romney is proposing to allow retailers to use
electronic pricing machines, such as in-aisle scanners, as a substitute for placing individual price
tags on most products in their stores, as they're currently required to do in
Massachusetts.
The governor's proposal, if adopted by the Legislature,
would deliver a huge victory to retailers, who have long complained the Massachusetts requirement
is costly and can introduce pricing errors. Several chain stores were hit with
class-action suits in recent months alleging they've failed to follow the
Massachusetts item-price rule after Home Depot settled a similar suit in
November for $3.8 million.
Tucked into the back of the fiscal year 2004 budget Romney
released yesterday, the provision would allow supermarkets and other retailers to
receive waivers from the item-pricing rules if they pay a fee to the state and
place scanners in aisles where shoppers could quickly check prices. Stores could
elect to install so-called electronic pricing labels on shelves below
the products that digitally display prices, or keep the paper strips displaying prices that are
pasted to shelves now....
The waiver fee would be based on the number of registers per
store - $2,000 for stores with seven registers or more, for example and less for stores with
fewer registers. Romney administration officials estimate the waivers could
generate $3 million or more in revenues.
As a protection for consumers, Lindstrom said retailers that
use the electronic system could not raise prices on items more than once within a 72-hour period.
Fines for price errors would be doubled, to $200 per item....
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Plan would raise fees on certain services
By Cynthia Roy, Globe Correspondent
Nearly 100 state fees, including those on bottled beverages,
public health testing, and driver's licenses, would rise next year under Governor Mitt
Romney's 2004 proposed budget, which was released yesterday.
The administration estimates the fee increases, which must
be approved by the state Legislature, would bring an additional $60 million in revenue to the
cash-strapped state.
Some Romney critics said yesterday that they don't see any
difference between raising taxes - as Romney has pledged not to do - and raising fees. But a
Romney spokeswoman said the two are separate issues.
"Fees go for a direct service," spokeswoman Nicole St. Peter
said. "Taxes are something that is assessed, that everyone has to pay."
Bottles of water and uncarbonated beverages, which have not
previously come under the state's bottle law, would cost 5 cents more; and a 15-cent charge
would be added to bottles of wine and liquor under the proposal. Romney's
move would make Massachusetts one of only 11 states with a bottle deposit fee
on noncarbonated drinks and only the fifth - along with Vermont and Maine -
to charge for wine and liquor.
The state has not changed or expanded the 5-cent deposit fee
on beer and soda since 1982.
"It is time to bring bottle charges up to date," Ellen Roy
Herzfelder, secretary of Environmental Affairs, said yesterday.
Romney also said he would like to raise 12 motor-vehicle-related fees to
generate $8.6 million. Motorcyclists would pay $40 for a new license instead of
$34; while new - and often younger - drivers would see the price of a learner's
permit double to $30.
David Shaw, spokesman for the Registry of Motor Vehicles,
said the permit fees should have been increased five years ago, when drivers were allowed to
use them for two years instead of one.
The biggest fee increases at the Registry will be shouldered
by those who are looking to reinstate revoked licenses, he said.
"A big bulk of the money will come from drivers who have had
their licenses suspended because they did something wrong," Shaw said. "So it's only going to
affect those people who choose to act illegally."
Fee increases at the Department of Public Health would
generate the most new money for the state, $9.1 million. The fee changes include $6 million in hikes at
state labs and hospitals, as well as a new $50 charge for tuberculosis tests
and a $400 fee for those who test positive.
Stephen E. Collins, executive director of the Massachusetts
Human Services Coalition, a health-care advocacy group, called the TB screening fee "ludicrous."
"There's going to be a real problem if people start
declining the screening and the disease starts to spread," he said.
Return to top
