CLT
UPDATE
Friday, June 13, 2003
Press snoozed through Prop 2½
mugging
The Senate also supported an amendment allowing city and town leaders, without voter approval, to raise more in property taxes by exempting funds set aside for abatements from the Proposition 2½ limit....
[The] Senate amendment would give mayors and city councils the power to boost property tax revenues by exempting the amount each city or town pays in tax abatements from the amount they can tax property owners under the Proposition 2½ limit.
The amount exempted would be limited to the actual amount paid in tax rebates in the previous year or the average of the previous three years, whichever is greater.
The House approved a similar amendment, but would require local voters to approve the change.
Associated Press
Friday, June 13, 2003
Senate would let voters hike tax
[No mention of Overlay Account exemption]
The Boston Herald
Friday, June 13, 2003
Senate would let towns raise, keep local taxes
by Elizabeth W. Crowley
[No mention of Overlay Account exemption]
The Boston Globe
Friday, June 13, 2003
Senate approves local-option sales, meals tax hikes
By Raphael Lewis
[No mention of Overlay Account exemption]
The MetroWest Daily News
Friday, June 13, 2003
Senate nixes four-day school, hotel tax
By Michael Kunzelman
The state Senate last night put the final touches on a pay-raise plan that strengthens legislative leaders' grip on power while giving Gov. Mitt Romney a potential out of his public veto threat.
Senators tacked a two-year sunset provision onto the controversial bonus pay bill, which passed on a voice vote, arguing that if members don't like the way leaders use their added power, they can rescind it at the beginning of the new session in 2005. Last night, Romney communications director Eric Fehrnstrom suggested the governor might look more favorably on the amended bill because his chief objection to it was that it would "take away the right of future governors to oversee legislative compensation." ...
Critics of the scheme said all eyes are on Romney now, who they said would be to blame if he now switches back to supporting the legislative power grab.
They said another troubling aspect of the bill not previously discussed is explosive provisions that make any raises immediate and retroactive to January - meaning the cash-strapped state would owe pols thousands of dollars.
"If the governor doesn't veto this, it proves he's gone into the tank and given up on reforming state government," said a leading opponent of the pay-raise plan, Rep. James Marzilli (D-Arlington).
The Boston Herald
Friday, June 13, 2003
Senators play ball with Mitt:
Pay-raise plan may avoid gov veto
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran stepped onto a plane last night and jetted to Venice for five days, leaving behind an unfinished state budget with just two weeks remaining before the start of the next fiscal year.
Although the Legislature has promised for months that it will finish its budget before July 1, Finneran's absence could make it harder to meet that deadline.
The speaker, who is traveling with his wife, Donna, is scheduled to give a speech before an international conference of lawmakers....
"The speaker is about to be the center of attention," Barbara
Anderson, who tangles frequently with Finneran as executive director of
Citizens for Limited Taxation, said, her tongue firmly in her cheek. "You can't expect him to forgo that for a little thing like the state budget. We all have our priorities."
The Boston Globe
Friday, June 13, 2003
Finneran jets to Venice amid budget talks
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Only Associated Press State House reporter Steve
LeBlanc got it and reported it.
The Boston Herald missed it. The Boston Globe missed
it too. The MetroWest Daily News missed it. The Worcester Telegram &
Gazette carried the AP report.
In a late-evening extended session the Senate passed
the Overlay Account exemption by a vote of 25-11 and adjourned at 9:10
pm.
Earlier in the day, state Sen. JoAnn Sprague
(R-Walpole) offered an amendment to halt the attack on Proposition 2½.
"I hope my colleagues realize that each town’s residents are
going to suffer ... and will meet us at the polls. When you decide in
the Legislature and the mayors raise our taxes without local support,
they will say you did wrong by us."
"Make no mistake about it: this really tampers
with Prop 2 ½. That’s what this is. This is really a hit,"
argued Senate Minority Leader Brian Lees (R-East Longmeadow). "We
have heard about this for years and resisted it. This is a direct
assault on Prop 2 ½ and hits the taxpayers who have no say in the
matter."
Nonetheless, the six Senate Republicans' effort
to kill the proposal was defeated by a close vote of 21-17 -- one of the
closest senate votes in memory enlisting many Democrats' support. That
fact alone should have been a red flag news event.
What was The Big Story today for the
usually-excellent Boston Globe's
State House news bureau? House Speaker Finneran's trip to Venice to address
an international group of legislators.
Finneran leaving the
state in the middle of the budget process was easier to write, I guess,
than exposing a substantive issue that will effect millions of taxpayers
forever. Does anyone actually think the speaker-for-life would
leave the state if he wasn't confident of absolute control even by
remote control over his House flock? Sheesh.
This assault on Prop 2½ will now go to a
House-Senate conference committee, but in one form or another is has
been adopted by both branches now. The best we can hope for is the
governor's veto. If the public is kept in the dark it eventually will
become aware ... when homeowner's property taxes mysteriously spike.
Then they'll finally blame their legislators and wonder why they didn't
have a clue that it had happened, never even heard it was coming at
them.
Today we will issue another news advisory attempting
to simplify the issue even further. If that doesn't work, we'll do
another early next week, our "Dick and Jane" version.
("See Dick run from tax hike. Run Dick run.")
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Chip
Ford |
Associated Press
Friday, June 13, 2003
Senate would let voters hike tax
By Steve LeBlanc
Visitors to Nantucket could be digging a little deeper at the cash register for their souvenirs and T-shirts if a proposal approved by the Massachusetts Senate becomes law.
The amendment, included in a municipal relief package approved 29-7 by the Senate yesterday, would allow voters on Nantucket to impose a 1 percent surcharge on top of the state's 5 percent sales tax, with the extra money going back to the island.
The local-option tax was just one of several passed by the Senate, including measures that would allow local residents to hike ferry fees and meals taxes.
The Senate also supported an amendment allowing city and town leaders, without voter approval, to raise more in property taxes by exempting funds set aside for abatements from the Proposition 2½ limit.
Supporters said the Nantucket tax hike is targeted at the wallets of thousands of tourists and visitors who flock to the tony vacation spot each year.
Republicans at first opposed the amendment, but withdrew their criticism after the measure was changed to require local voter approval. Gov. Mitt Romney has said he would oppose any local tax increases that didn't require a referendum.
The House rejected the Nantucket sales tax hike. Critics said it would create a patchwork with the sales tax changing from town to town.
Another Senate amendment would allow voters to impose a meals tax of up to 3 percent in their cities and towns.
The Senate plan originally would have allowed local city councils and boards of selectmen to impose the meals tax without the approval of voters.
During the debate, however, senators approved a Republican amendment to require any meals tax hike to go before voters, saying it's only fair to give voters the power to approve or reject new taxes in their communities.
"All we are asking is that the taxpayers in the communities where this issue comes up have an opportunity to say that they want it to happen," said Sen. Brian Lees, R-East Longmeadow. "If they say "yes' they say "yes,' if they say "no' they say "no.' It's as simple as that."
The amendment was approved by a 24-13 vote.
Restaurant owners oppose the surcharge, saying it's unfair to impose a higher tax on one industry and not others. Earlier in the debate, the Senate rejected an amendment that would have allowed communities to impose a surcharge on motel rooms.
Senators also approved an amendment that would give voters in Barnstable, Falmouth, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard the option to approve up to a $1 fee for passengers on ferries each way.
The House rejected similar meals and entertainment taxes when it approved its municipal aid package. It agreed to study the proposed ferry fees.
Another Senate amendment would give mayors and city councils the power to boost property tax revenues by exempting the amount each city or town pays in tax abatements from the amount they can tax property owners under the Proposition 2½ limit.
The amount exempted would be limited to the actual amount paid in tax rebates in the previous year or the average of the previous three years, whichever is greater.
The House approved a similar amendment, but would require local voters to approve the change.
The House and Senate bills are intended to help local communities cope with deep cuts in state aid by allowing them collect higher fines, streamline services and have more fiscal flexibility.
The Senate bill would increase fines for blocking intersections from $50 to $200; hike from $50 to $200 penalties for college students who fail to register their car in Massachusetts and impose a $1 a day fee for visitors to state parks, forests and reservations.
But the Senate rejected an amendment that would have doubled from $25 to $50 the fine for drivers who don't buckle up children riding in their cars.
The Senate approved other amendments, including one that would allow cities and towns to create distinctive license plates. Drivers would pay an extra fee for the plates, with the money going back to the communities.
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The Boston Herald
Friday, June 13, 2003
Senators play ball with Mitt:
Pay-raise plan may avoid gov veto
by Elizabeth W. Crowley
The state Senate last night put the final touches on a pay-raise plan that strengthens legislative leaders' grip on power while giving Gov. Mitt Romney a potential out of his public veto threat.
Senators tacked a two-year sunset provision onto the controversial bonus pay bill, which passed on a voice vote, arguing that if members don't like the way leaders use their added power, they can rescind it at the beginning of the new session in 2005. Last night, Romney communications director Eric Fehrnstrom suggested the governor might look more favorably on the amended bill because his chief objection to it was that it would "take away the right of future governors to oversee legislative compensation."
Previously, administration officials said Romney didn't want to sign away his own power to review any increase in lawmakers' pay.
The administration announced its sudden change from supporting the bill moments after the Legislature killed Romney's broad reform proposals.
"We haven't seen the amendment yet. We'll have to take a close look at the changes that have been made to see if they address the governor's objections," Fehrnstrom said.
Opponents of the pay raise said they smelled a compromise between Romney, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and Senate President Robert E. Travaglini.
"As a Republican, I don't want to see him getting into the (former Gov.) Bill Weld type deal-making mentality with the leadership," Sen. Robert L. Hedlund (R-Weymouth) said of Romney.
The bill allows House and Senate leaders to confer bonus pay on an unlimited number of loyalists. All senators and almost one-third of the 160 House members already receive bonus pay - most between $7,500 to $15,000 - for serving on committees or holding other positions.
But the legislator who introduced the sunset clause, Sen. Joan Menard (D-Somerset), said she's not sure Romney won't still reject the bill.
"They haven't called me or talked to me about this," Menard said of the administration. "I have no idea where the governor stands on this or what he will do."
Critics of the scheme said all eyes are on Romney now, who they said would be to blame if he now switches back to supporting the legislative power grab.
They said another troubling aspect of the bill not previously discussed is explosive provisions that make any raises immediate and retroactive to January - meaning the cash-strapped state would owe pols thousands of dollars.
"If the governor doesn't veto this, it proves he's gone into the tank and given up on reforming state government," said a leading opponent of the pay-raise plan, Rep. James Marzilli (D-Arlington).
The bill now must be reconciled with a House version and passed by the Legislature before moving to the governor's desk.
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The Boston Globe
Friday, June 13, 2003
Finneran jets to Venice amid budget talks
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran stepped onto a plane last night and jetted to Venice for five days, leaving behind an unfinished state budget with just two weeks remaining before the start of the next fiscal year.
Although the Legislature has promised for months that it will finish its budget before July 1, Finneran's absence could make it harder to meet that deadline.
The speaker, who is traveling with his wife, Donna, is scheduled to give a speech before an international conference of lawmakers.
Finneran is a featured speaker at the Venice meeting of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, which will include top lawmakers from US states and European nations. He was chosen to appear because he served as president of the organization's National Speakers Conference last year.
"The speaker is about to be the center of attention," Barbara Anderson, who tangles frequently with Finneran as executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, said, her tongue firmly in her cheek. "You can't expect him to forgo that for a little thing like the state budget. We all have our priorities."
The House-Senate conference committee on the budget must finish its work by the end of next week to ensure that a final spending plan will be in place before the fiscal year begins.
Governor Mitt Romney has 10 days to issue vetoes that the House and Senate can then consider overriding.
The committee held the first of its closed-door meetings Monday, and although legislative leaders say much progress has been made, significant differences remain unresolved. While Finneran isn't a member of the conference committee that's making final budget decisions, major items are typically settled only after extensive consultations with the House speaker and the Senate president.
Finneran could not be reached yesterday, and his spokesman, Charles Rasmussen, declined to comment on the trip.
The conference in Venice runs through next Thursday, but Finneran and his wife have decided to return to Boston on Tuesday so he can tend to pressing state business, according to House aides who declined to be named. They said the speaker plans to remain in regular phone contact with aides and Ways and Means Committee chairman Representative John H. Rogers while in Venice.
Late budgets have plagued the Legislature in recent years, and the institution's image has suffered because of it. In 1999, the budget wasn't completed until Nov. 16. Two years later, the legislative deadlock lasted even longer, with the governor finally signing the budget into law on Dec. 1.
Lawmakers have committed to completing the budget promptly this year, with Senate President Robert E. Travaglini putting himself on the line by guaranteeing an on-time budget. By all accounts, relations among House and Senate leaders are better this year than in previous years, when personal tensions between Finneran and then-Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham often kept matters tied up.
House aides said the speaker's trip would be funded out of his campaign account, but they said they did not know how the fare for his wife would be paid. The State Legislative Leaders Foundation is backed by a variety of businesses and interest groups, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Raytheon Co., AT&T, and
Verizon.
Despite the timing of the trip, some groups that oppose Finneran's agenda aren't all that bothered.
"We wish he would leave town more often, and leave more decisions in the hands of rank-and-file House members," said Eric
Weltman, organizing director of Citizens for Participation in Political Action, which pushed an "overthrow Finneran" bid last year.
"He's going to Venice?" said Dominick Ianno, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party. "That's great - can he take Travaglini with him?"
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