CLT
UPDATE
Thursday, May 19, 2005
On Bacon Hill, the spending spree
begins anew!
Senate leaders yesterday unveiled a proposed $23.98
billion state budget that boosts spending practically across-the-board,
partly thanks to a boom in April tax revenues....
In crafting its budget, the Senate committee benefited from a surprising
$2.024 billion in tax collections in April, about 11 percent higher than
April of last year and $318 million more than projections for the month.
The House of Representatives used lower April revenue estimates when the
branch completed its version of the state budget on April 29.
Gov. W. Mitt Romney has said that tax revenues for the fiscal year that
ends June 30 are on track to total about $1 billion more than projected
by state officials.
Overall, the Senate proposes spending $230 million more than the House
version of the budget.
The Springfield Republican
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Budget expands spending
The House and Senate this spring have proposed spending plans
for the coming year that add $3.24 million in all to their operating budgets, a
hike of nearly 7 percent over last year....
The increased spending on House and Senate internal costs has been proposed only
a few months after the lawmakers themselves began receiving 4.1 percent raises,
which will be spread over the next two years, and as both houses propose to
reduce state employees' health insurance contributions to the levels they were
prior to the fiscal crisis that began in 2003. That benefits change alone is
slated to cost about $75 million, according to the Executive Office of
Administration and Finance.
Eric Fehrnstrom, Governor Mitt Romney's communications director, said the
spending splurge was "one sure sign that the government has too much money."
"The economy is stronger, and as a result there is more money," Fehrnstrom said.
"We'd like to see that money go to other priorities, such as education or
lowering the income tax to 5 percent. Instead of returning that money to
taxpayers, they spend it."
But Senator Michael W. Morrissey, a Democrat and longtime lawmaker from Quincy,
said the increased funding for legislative operations was a matter of
fairness....
The $23.9 billion Senate budget proposal includes some other surprises. It
proposes a new $10 surcharge for all cars rented in the city of Revere, a
popular alternative to rental firms at Logan International Airport in East
Boston ...
Senate officials declined to comment, but Barbara Anderson of Citizens
for Limited Taxation said the move was clearly intended to stop Revere from
becoming "a little New Hampshire" that offers cheaper car rentals.
"Obviously, people are going to Revere to beat the Boston surcharge," she said.
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Lawmakers seek a hike in spending on staff
Budget proposals up $3.24 million
The Senate plans to begin debate on the bill next week, with
amendments due in the Senate Clerk's office by 6 pm Thursday. [Ways and Means
Committee Chairwoman Therese] Murray joked today with her colleagues that she
does not anticipate many amendments. "Hopefully no one will be adding any bills
as amendments," she said. "That won't be needed." ...
Senate spending was higher, she said, because its plan would carry over $236
million in unused fiscal 2005 money taken from the reserves to pay '06 bills - a
calculation made possible by a spike in tax collections last month.
Analysts at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said that when spending items
moved off-budget are accounted for, such as the MBTA, pension costs and the
School Building Assistance program, the Senate proposes to spend roughly $330
million more than the House ...
Neither the House nor the Senate included Romney's proposal to reduce the income
tax rate to 5 percent, but Senate Republicans have pledged to offer the tax cut
as a budget amendment.
State House News Service
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Senate budget ups the ante for local aid, education, Medicaid
The essential dilemma in the Senate's fiscal 2006 budget is
this: If there's room for $300 million in additional spending - over the House
and the governor's budgets - why can't state taxpayers get an income tax cut?
...
But all of those initiatives are counting on rising revenues to meet rising
expectations and thus our question: Why not make good on the income tax
rollback? ...
The larger point is that Massachusetts is at a crossroads, much as it was in
1993 when the last fiscal crisis abated. Then, the state embarked on a
seven-year spending spree including significant investments in education and
children's health care. But at least taxes were cut dozens of times during the
same period, allowing taxpayers to share in the state's better fiscal fortunes,
and imposing some restraint on new spending. That, at a minimum, is what should
be done now.
A Boston Herald editorial
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Tax cut ignored in spending spree
If the Senate Ways and Means budget becomes law, cities and
towns across the state would make good use of the extra education aid that it
proposes. The question for the Legislature as a whole is whether the state can
afford any increases in education and other programs without comparable
increases in tax revenue....
Massachusetts has far to go to fulfill the spirit of the 1993 education reform
law, which gave state government the responsibility for guaranteeing that all
students receive a quality education....
The Senate plan joins the House in authorizing pay raises for legislative staff
members. Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom leapt upon the item as proof that
there is room in the budget for a tax cut. That $3.24 million item is tiny
compared to unmet needs in health and education. If class sizes are to go down
in Melrose, Northampton, and other communities, state government will need more,
not less, revenue.
A Boston Globe editorial
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Budget expansion
Chip Ford's CLT Commentary
In my
Commentary in the CLT Update on Tuesday, I predicted, "The Senate,
of course, has an advantage over the House spending: The April revenue
figure citing the "the largest single monthly total ever" -- so it's got
more of our surplus money to play with and pass out." And pass it out it
shall!
Beginning with a $3.24 million increase to the
Legislature's operating budgets, a pay hike of almost 7 percent for
legislative aides, and a $75 million reduction in the amount state
employees contribute toward their health insurance (the Legislature
does after all have its priorities, and those start with
taking care of itself then its own), the Senate has proposed spending
$330 million more than the House, increasing the state budget in the
coming fiscal year to almost $24 billion.
The Senate's spending spree is going so swimmingly
that its budget architect, Sen. Therese Murray (D-Plymouth), predicted
that senators won't have many amendments to grab for their share of pork
from the surplus bonanza. "That won't be needed," she "joked." She's
laughing because her joke's on us taxpayers.
But still the state can't yet afford to
respect the voters' four-year old income tax rollback mandate, according
to the Legislature, or to keep its 16-year old broken promise.
"Massachusetts has far to go to fulfill the spirit of
the 1993 education reform law, which gave state government the
responsibility for guaranteeing that all students receive a quality
education...." the Boston Globe editorial today intoned.
But in his Boston Herald column of Feb. 14, 2004 ["Ed
funding not key to performance"], Charles D. Chieppo noted, "Over the
last nine years, annual state education funding has jumped 78 percent,
to $3.2 billion."
As always with the Boston Globe editorial elite, More
Is Never Enough (MINE): "state government will need more, not less,
revenue" it pontificates, while at the same time defending more of our
money grabbed by the Legislature to spend on itself: "That $3.24 million
item is tiny compared to unmet needs ..."
High within the gated Morrissey Boulevard Ivy Tower
they're apparently ignorant of former US Senator Everett Dirksen's sage
observation: "A million here and a million there and pretty soon you're
talking about real money." To the Globe elite, it isn't real money
unless it's still ours. Those infinite "unmet needs" can and will never,
ever be satisfied -- even if they were to take all of our money,
every cent of it. And just consider all the new "unmet needs"
that would create.
 |
|
Chip Ford |
The Springfield Republican
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Budget expands spending
By Dan Ring
Senate leaders yesterday unveiled a proposed $23.98 billion state budget
that boosts spending practically across-the-board, partly thanks to a
boom in April tax revenues.
The annual budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, approved
yesterday by the Senate Ways and Means Committee, doubles spending for
an honors program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
provides $900,000 for state police to fight gangs in Springfield and
eight other cities, and sharply increases reimbursements for communities
that can't collect taxes on state-owned properties within their borders.
State colleges and the five-campus University of Massachusetts system
also received solid increases.
"After five relatively difficult years, it looks like we're back on
decent financial footing," said Sen. Michael R. Knapik, R-Westfield, a
member of the committee.
The committee's plan increases spending by nearly 4 percent over this
current fiscal year, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation.
In crafting its budget, the Senate committee benefited from a surprising
$2.024 billion in tax collections in April, about 11 percent higher than
April of last year and $318 million more than projections for the month.
The House of Representatives used lower April revenue estimates when the
branch completed its version of the state budget on April 29.
Gov. W. Mitt Romney has said that tax revenues for the fiscal year that
ends June 30 are on track to total about $1 billion more than projected
by state officials.
Overall, the Senate proposes spending $230 million more than the House
version of the budget.
Under the Senate plan, the budget for Medicaid, a federal-state health
insurance program for the poor and disabled, would jump by about 7
percent to $7.4 billion.
The full Senate will begin debate on the budget Monday.
In June, a House-Senate committee will produce a compromise from the
budgets approved by the two branches. The compromise will be sent to the
governor's desk.
The Senate budget focused on improving higher education, said Sen.
Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, chairwoman of Senate Ways and Means.
The budget provides $20.184 million for Westfield State College, up 9
percent from this year; $8.062 million for Greenfield Community College,
up 8 percent; $15.973 million for Holyoke Community College, an increase
of 9 percent; and $20.720 million for Springfield Technical Community
College, up 10 percent.
The University of Massachusetts system received $408.8 million, an
increase of $17 million from this year. The Amherst campus gets about
half that amount.
The flagship Amherst campus also netted $3.43 million for the
Commonwealth College honors program, which offers small classes and more
difficult courses for students who meet and maintain certain high
standards.
Robert P. Connolly, an associate vice president at the university, said
university officials are very pleased. Connolly said the Senate plan
represents more progress in restoring cuts that occurred between 2001
and 2004 at the university during the state's fiscal crisis.
Cities and towns also will profit from the budget. The Senate panel
provides $16.1 million for reimbursements to communities that can't
collect taxes on state-owned properties, up $3.6 million, or 29 percent,
from this year.
The Senate plan includes $3.288 billion in Chapter 70 general aid to
school districts, up 3.3 percent; $761.3 in aid from the state Lottery,
a hike of 3 percent, and $378.5 million in additional assistance, the
same as this year.
The Senate also includes $55 million in additional Chapter 70 money.
Murray said that money will be held in reserve and disbursed to
communities if legislators approve a bill to change the formula for
distributing Chapter 70 money.
Geoffrey C. Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association, said the $55 million is "a very, very positive step" for
communities.
Beckwith said he is also "very encouraged" that Murray said she supports
helping cities and towns pay for at least some of the $93 million
deficit in snow and ice removal this year. Murray said money for snow
and ice cleanup for communities might be included in a separate spending
bill later this year.
Beckwith said the budget doesn't make up for all the reductions in local
aid that occurred during the downturn in the economy earlier this
decade, but it does help.
Home care for the elderly and the environment also received increases.
Spending on environmental programs would increase to $182 million, up
6.5 percent from this year, said Megan A. Amundson, analyst for the
Environmental League of Massachusetts.
The budget for operating and maintaining state parks increases to $19
million, up 7 percent.
Albert Norman, executive director of Massachusetts Home Care in
Greenfield, said the Senate budget features $137.1 million for home care
for the elderly, a 3.8 percent increase from this year. The money pays
for about three hours a week of home care, including help with eating,
dressing and bathing, for each of some 34,000 elderly across the state.
Norman said about 534 people are on a waiting list for home care.
Geoffrey W. Wilkinson, executive director of the Massachusetts Public
Health Association, said the Senate budget is an improvement for public
health, but it doesn't provide adequate funding in some key areas.
Wilkinson said the budget for vaccines and immunizations is at $27
million, up $2 million from this year but about $2 million less than
needed.
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Lawmakers seek a hike in spending on staff
Budget proposals up $3.24 million
By Raphael Lewis and Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff
In his parting address last September, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran
told his colleagues that his greatest regret was failing to push through
a pay raise for the aides who toil for lawmakers.
"Sal, if you don't do something real quick about that, shame on you," he
said to his successor, Salvatore F. DiMasi.
Apparently, DiMasi and Senate President Robert E. Travaglini were
listening closely.
The House and Senate this spring have proposed spending plans for the
coming year that add $3.24 million in all to their operating budgets, a
hike of nearly 7 percent over last year.
In the Senate, which unveiled its annual budget proposal yesterday, the
new money means a return to funding levels that have not been seen since
2003, when Travaglini discovered he had inherited a budget shortfall
from his predecessor, Thomas F. Birmingham.
Since then, Travaglini has cut costs so dramatically that 23 Senate
aides lost jobs, lawmakers were no longer allowed to get newspaper
subscriptions, live television broadcasts of sessions are no more, and
Senate stationery no longer has the official gold seal of old.
"The Senate has had a very lean budget since President Travaglini has
been here," said Arthur Bernard, Travaglini's chief of staff. "The
budget hasn't been increased since we got here. There was a shortfall.
That's why there were layoffs. We've managed on a shoestring, and now we
need to meet our office needs, copiers, furniture, mundane stuff."
The increased spending on House and Senate internal costs has been
proposed only a few months after the lawmakers themselves began
receiving 4.1 percent raises, which will be spread over the next two
years, and as both houses propose to reduce state employees' health
insurance contributions to the levels they were prior to the fiscal
crisis that began in 2003. That benefits change alone is slated to cost
about $75 million, according to the Executive Office of Administration
and Finance.
Eric Fehrnstrom, Governor Mitt Romney's communications director, said
the spending splurge was "one sure sign that the government has too much
money."
"The economy is stronger, and as a result there is more money,"
Fehrnstrom said. "We'd like to see that money go to other priorities,
such as education or lowering the income tax to 5 percent. Instead of
returning that money to taxpayers, they spend it."
But Senator Michael W. Morrissey, a Democrat and longtime lawmaker from
Quincy, said the increased funding for legislative operations was a
matter of fairness.
"I know that we have been recovering over the past few years, like
everybody else," Morrissey said. "Generally, most employees have gone
without [raises]. They are nonunion. They, too, are feeling the strain
of the rising cost of living."
The $23.9 billion Senate budget proposal includes some other surprises.
It proposes a new $10 surcharge for all cars rented in the city of
Revere, a popular alternative to rental firms at Logan International
Airport in East Boston, and a $30 fee for criminal offender record
requests.
The car-rental surcharge is an apparent attempt by the Senate to level
the playing field in the competitive rental car market near Logan.
Currently, the city of Boston charges a $10 surcharge on certain car
rentals, to raise money to help pay for the new convention center in
South Boston.
The proposed rental-car surcharge in Revere would help pay for a new
police station in that city. Senate officials declined to comment, but
Barbara Anderson of Citizens for Limited Taxation said the
move was clearly intended to stop Revere from becoming "a little New
Hampshire" that offers cheaper car rentals.
"Obviously, people are going to Revere to beat the Boston surcharge,"
she said.
Overall, the Senate would spend about $230 million more than the House.
The largest amount of new money in the Senate's plan is for education.
The Senate plan would raise current state spending on local school
districts by $160 million, an increase of about 5 percent, and funnel an
extra $40 million to state colleges and universities, an increase of 4.6
percent. It also includes smaller increases for preschool programs,
school transportation, and adult education.
The budget Senate leaders unveiled yesterday also pays particular
attention to pools, parks, beaches, rinks, and other areas and
facilities that the Department of Conservation and Recreation oversees.
It increases the agency's funding, but orders it to keep all beaches,
pools, and parks open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Because of a
shortage of staff, some pools and recreation areas open in mid-June and
close before the end of August.
The Senate plan would boost the agency's budget to $80 million from
$70.8 million, an increase of about 15 percent. The House has proposed
$77.8 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and
Romney proposed $70.2 million.
The plan specifically sets aside money for the Connell Rink in Weymouth,
Houghton's Pond in Canton, the Jim Roche Memorial Rink in West Roxbury,
and the Cronin Rink in Revere, which has been shuttered for two years.
It also orders the agency to contract with a private vendor to make sure
that Revere Beach is free of trash between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Travaglini represents most of Revere.
But Gary Briere, the chief of recreation for the department, said it
will difficult to comply with the order, because many lifeguards are
college students who return to school before Labor Day. Briere also
pointed out that pool attendance declines in the middle of August.
"Certainly, we would love to be able to extend the season of operation
at our beaches and pools as much as we possibly can," Briere said. "The
challenge in that would be finding staff to be able to guard those
facilities between those dates."
Return to top
State House News Service
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Senate budget ups the ante for local aid, education, Medicaid
By Amy Lambiaso
Senate leaders unveiled a budget plan on Tuesday to spend hundreds of
millions of dollars more next year than what the House or Gov. Mitt
Romney have proposed, due mostly to targeted increases in education,
health care, local aid, and public safety.
The $23.9 billion budget plan was unanimously approved by the Ways and
Means Committee during a morning executive session, with committee
members - including Republicans - thanking committee staff and
Chairwoman Therese Murray for investing in those programs and residents
they believe were most affected by budget cuts of the last few years.
Murray said the budget proposal (S 2100) builds a "strong foundation"
for the state, which has struggled to recover from declining revenues,
growing health care costs, and less money from the federal government.
"Even though it may seem that we've begun to turn a corner, it is
crucial that we continue to proceed with care so that the Commonwealth
does not end up in a more precarious state," Murray said during a press
conference. Spending increases are focused on "historic Senate
principles" that support education, health care, local aid, and public
safety, she said.
The Senate plans to begin debate on the bill next week, with amendments
due in the Senate Clerk's office by 6 pm Thursday. Murray joked today
with her colleagues that she does not anticipate many amendments.
"Hopefully no one will be adding any bills as amendments," she said.
"That won't be needed."
Following debate and passage of a budget, the House and Senate will
appoint members to meet privately to hash out differences between the
two plans, before sending a compromise version to Romney.
The Senate's spending plan increases the number of low-income and
disabled residents who can receive Medicaid, prevents a substance abuse
treatment center on Long Island from closing, and includes an open
enrollment period next spring for Prescription Advantage, the state's
prescription drug program for senior citizens.
The Senate budget is predicated on the state collecting $17.1 billion in
revenues next year and would spend roughly $230 million more than what
the House proposed and more than $700 million more than Romney's budget,
Murray said. Senate spending was higher, she said, because its plan
would carry over $236 million in unused fiscal 2005 money taken from the
reserves to pay '06 bills - a calculation made possible by a spike in
tax collections last month. The administration built its budget on a
$17.3 billion revenue estimate for next year although the administration
now believes that number will rise to $17.5 billion.
Analysts at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said that when
spending items moved off-budget are accounted for, such as the MBTA,
pension costs and the School Building Assistance program, the Senate
proposes to spend roughly $330 million more than the House, $140 million
of which is higher Medicaid spending.
Calling it a "good news" and a "very responsible" budget, Sen. Michael
Knapik (R-Westfield) said he believed Senate Minority Leader Brian Lees
would "be pleased" with the budget.
"It's been a long trudge back to this point," Knapik said. "But I think
this budget puts us back on firm footing for the future."
The new budget would spend roughly $420 million of one-time money, with
$150 million coming directly from the state's rainy day fund. Other
one-time spending includes $150 million of unused Medicaid spending
being carried over from fiscal 2005, and $120 million from a federal
Medicaid reserve account.
The spending plan also relies on $100 million in anticipated new revenue
from closing so-called loopholes in corporate tax laws that businesses
often use to avoid paying taxes, and another $78 million from "enhanced
audits." The budget also transfers 100 percent of annual money from the
tobacco settlement to the General Fund in what aides say has become a
common budgetary practice.
"Revenues are not at the rate they were at during the 90s," said Sen.
Steven Panagiotakos (D-Lowell), vice chairman of the committee. "They
are still very, very far away from that."
Unlike the House budget, which was stripped of virtually all policy
initiatives, the Senate included 109 outside sections. Some would name
the Dilboy Stadium in Somerville after the late Sen. Charles Shannon,
establish a $10 surcharge on rental cars in Revere, and deal with how
the state disposes of state property.
Recognizing that the current law allowing the administration to sell off
surplus state land without prior legislative approval expires June 30,
lawmakers have been trying to settle on a compromise that gives local
cities and towns some say in what happens to community land.
Other sections include authorizing the administration to establish a
bulk-purchasing plan for prescription drugs, earmarking $500,000 for the
cleanup of Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield, and establishing new
commissions to review the Department of Youth Services and the future of
the metropolitan beaches under the purview of the Department of
Conservation and Recreation.
Neither the House nor the Senate included Romney's proposal to reduce
the income tax rate to 5 percent, but Senate Republicans have pledged to
offer the tax cut as a budget amendment. The budget also does not
include funding to support stem cell research.
The Senate budget does includes a one-time $650,000 payment to the
family of Clinton resident Martin McNamara, a part-time firefighter
killed in a 2003 Lancaster fire. Romney proposed a similar payment in a
supplemental budget earlier this year to help the family, which, under
state law is not eligible to receive death benefits.
Murray said policy initiatives dealing with education were omitted from
the budget so they can be fully vetted by committees. The Senate budget
hikes education spending by $200 million, with $55 million of that
increase being held "in reserve" for when legislation is approved to
change the formula for distributing education aid to cities and towns,
known as Chapter 70. If the Legislature and governor cannot agree on
changes to the formula and no law in enacted, the $55 million would not
be spent, Senate aides said.
Fiscal analysts say the Senate plan mirrors the House and governor's
budget by offering a $100 million boost in Lottery aid, with additional
increases in Chapter 70. Murray said the budget reflects the Senate's
best effort to help cities and towns that she acknowledged are
struggling to pay bills accumulated this winter for snow and ice
cleanup.
"We've really done a lot to address the local aid issues," Murray said,
noting increases in library aid, regional school transportation, and
payments in lieu of taxes for smaller communities. Murray was hopeful
that more could be done in future budgets. "They are having an extremely
difficult time making ends meet."
Local officials say that while the Senate budget goes further than the
House and administration did to help cities and towns by earmarking $55
million more for education aid in the future, communities are far from a
full recovery.
"The fiscal picture for cities and towns remains very difficult and very
grim," said Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts
Municipal Association. "No one believes that the fiscal situation for
the state or for cities and towns has turned around in this year to the
extent to which difficult budget choices will go away. Many communities
will face their most difficult budget year ever next year, but it would
be even worse if we didn't see the progress being made today in this
proposal."
Murray said the Legislature is planning to release a supplemental budget
shortly for fiscal 2005 that would spend roughly $150 million and could
address local aid needs.
According to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the Senate budget
raises spending in nearly every category, including criminal justice,
Medicaid and housing assistance for the poor, economic development,
employee benefits, and assistance to the mentally sick and disabled. The
Senate proposes spending less than the House and governor to fund
regional transit authorities and the state highway department.
Acknowledging that health care has been a long priority of the Senate,
Murray called fiscal 2006 a "transition year," with increases in cancer
screening programs and the Mass Health HIV program. Under the budget,
the state's Medicaid funding would grow by 7 percent to $7.39 billion,
and allow 26,000 more residents to enroll in the insurance program for
the poor, elderly and disabled.
A $32 million investment in Mass Health Essential, the state's insurance
program for the long-term unemployed and legal immigrants, would extend
coverage to 10,000 low-income residents and restore coverage for 3,500
elderly and disabled immigrants.
Health Care For All Executive Director John McDonough lauded the
Senate's budget as taking "significant strides in restoring the damage
caused by years of cuts to health care programs."
Hospital representatives called the budget "very good news," in that it
fully restores the $120 million reduction in reimbursements for
hospitals that treat the uninsured. The House restored $86 million of
that money during its budget debate process.
In public safety, the Senate proposed adding $1 million for GPS tracking
of the state's most dangerous sex offenders, funding two new State
Police classes, earmarking $900,000 to combat gang violence in 10
cities, and doubling funding to $12.2 million for the State Police Crime
Lab. The Senate also proposes hiring 33 new DNA technicians, and
increasing funding for substance abuse programs that will keep a
facility on Long Island known as Project Rebound open.
Return to top
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
A Boston Herald editorial
Tax cut ignored in spending spree
The essential dilemma in the Senate's fiscal 2006 budget is this: If
there's room for $300 million in additional spending - over the House
and the governor's budgets - why can't state taxpayers get an income tax
cut?
Increases in spending are sprinkled throughout state government in the
Senate blueprint. Many initiatives are worthy ones, like the plan to
nearly double funding for the State Police Crime Lab in Sudbury to $12.2
million, including funding for some 33 new DNA technicians. Heaven knows
we need them. Other initiatives, like the $200 million hike in education
spending and $800,000 more for the Massachusetts Cultural Council are
excessive.
But all of those initiatives are counting on rising revenues to meet
rising expectations and thus our question: Why not make good on the
income tax rollback?
There's no good answer. And Senate Republicans ought to support Gov.
Mitt Romney by pressing this point during the budget debate next week.
With some 109 outside sections, the Senate Ways and Means Committee was
somewhat more reserved than the governor in using the budget to make
law. (The governor's budget proposed 171 outside sections.) Still the
Senate couldn't resist some micromanaging.
Really, is it necessary to order the Department of Conservation and
Recreation to keep state-run pools and beaches open from Memorial Day to
Labor Day in a budget document? Or must the hauling of trash from Revere
Beach be mandated in a spending plan?
Changing laws on the sale of surplus property, bulk purchasing of
prescription drugs, tuition retention at public colleges and
universities, and surcharges on rental cars (in Revere), all included in
outside sections, should be handled in the normal course of legislative
business.
The larger point is that Massachusetts is at a crossroads, much as it
was in 1993 when the last fiscal crisis abated. Then, the state embarked
on a seven-year spending spree including significant investments in
education and children's health care. But at least taxes were cut dozens
of times during the same period, allowing taxpayers to share in the
state's better fiscal fortunes, and imposing some restraint on new
spending. That, at a minimum, is what should be done now.
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Thursday, May 19, 2005
A Boston Globe editorial
Budget expansion
If the Senate Ways and Means budget becomes law, cities and towns across
the state would make good use of the extra education aid that it
proposes. The question for the Legislature as a whole is whether the
state can afford any increases in education and other programs without
comparable increases in tax revenue.
In Melrose, where class sizes have increased from 19-20 students to
23-27 over five years because of cuts in state aid, Mayor Robert J.
Dolan would use the extra money for new teachers. Northampton Mayor
Claire Higgins would restore library aides in elementary schools and
reduce class sizes in the high school. Framingham has been partially
buffered from state cuts by a property tax override in 2002, but it is
drawing down cash reserves to maintain services. Town manager George P.
King's first priority would be to put $600,000 back in these accounts.
The budget proposed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee this week
favors immediate improvements in services over an increase in the
state's own reserves. Who can blame the committee for wanting to restore
$160 million for education aid? Massachusetts has far to go to fulfill
the spirit of the 1993 education reform law, which gave state government
the responsibility for guaranteeing that all students receive a quality
education.
The committee also would increase spending on worthwhile healthcare
programs. One example is the restoration of Medicaid dental benefits to
pregnant women and new mothers, to ensure that they do not pass mouth
disease on to their children.
Still, the Ways and Means Committee relies on one-time revenue sources,
especially the state rainy day fund, and an unexpected surplus in
Medicaid to provide extra services that are not proposed either in
Governor Romney's budget or the House plan. But the Medicaid money is a
windfall, and as the Senate budget writers noted, it is uncertain
whether Massachusetts can rely on a continuing high level of federal
support for this program. With state tax revenue last month up 11.2
percent over April 2004, a prudent government would be making sure the
rainy day fund is amply funded.
The Senate plan joins the House in authorizing pay raises for
legislative staff members. Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom leapt upon
the item as proof that there is room in the budget for a tax cut. That
$3.24 million item is tiny compared to unmet needs in health and
education. If class sizes are to go down in Melrose, Northampton, and
other communities, state government will need more, not less, revenue.
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