CLT UPDATE
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
In Taxachusetts the beat goes on . . .
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“This slowdown had to occur. We couldn’t continue
to grow at the phenomenal rates we were because the national economy
has been slow to recover,” said Alan Clayton Matthews, an associate
professor of public policy at Northeastern University and the
director of the New England Economic Partnership, who delivered the
forecast of the Massachusetts economy during the NEEP fall
conference at the Federal Reserve Bank on Wednesday....
He said the structural deficit can also be
expected to grow in coming years as spending needed to keep pace
with increases in education, health care and debt service
obligations will grow at 6 percent a year, while revenue growth will
lag at 5 percent annually.
With one of the highest per capita revenue
capacities in the country, Clayton-Matthews suggested that if the
state were to set tax rates and fees at the average of all states it
could increase revenue by $5 billion above current levels, based
on a New England Public Policy Center study of fiscal 2002 revenue
and spending.
State House News Service
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Mass. economic forecast:
"Precarious" with a chance of slow growth
The state is strapped with a $2 billion budget
deficit, yet it’s spending millions of dollars on chauffer driven
rides to methadone clinics.
An I-Team investigation found that day in and day
out, chauffeur driven livery cars make the trek to local methadone
clinics with recovering heroin addicts and other drug users on
board....
In the last two years, more than $71 million were
spent driving MassHealth members to medical appointments.
And the I-Team has learned that last year, in
four regions of Massachusetts, the state spent an estimated $1.4
million just on rides to and from methadone clinics....
“This is the way the system is. It just wastes
money because it can,” said Barbara Anderson, who heads Citizens for Limited Taxation. “I remember when they used to
send welfare mothers to the welfare office to get their welfare
checks in a cab, and this is the same sort of thing.”
I-Team: State Spends Millions On Methadone Clinic
Rides
By Kathy Curran, WBZ-TV
Monday, November 15, 2010
How much vacation will you get this year? Two
weeks? One week? None at all?
How would you like a job that gives you almost
four months off with pay? Believe it or not, the I-Team has found
state employees getting just that....
There are 441 assistant clerks across the state
and if you add up vacation, sick days, personal days and holidays,
223 of them get 76 days, or nearly four months off.
Most of the remaining clerks, 146, get 61 days,
or slightly more that three months off....
“It’s just wrong,” says Barbara Anderson,
co-founder of Citizens for Limited Taxation. “It’s just wrong
for the system to be giving that kind of pay and perks and that kind
of time off.”
“If you had everyone working at full capacity you
could have a much smaller payroll and you could save a lot of
money,” Anderson adds. “But that’s not what the system’s for. The
system is for those employees to have three and four months off.”
I-Team: State Employees Given Months Of Vacation
Time
By Kathy Curran, WBZ-TV
Monday, November 22, 2010
[Methuen] City councilors voted unanimously last
night to ask the state Legislature to allow the city to borrow $1.9
million to cover a deficit caused by employees' unexpectedly high
health care costs.
The city ended the last fiscal year on June 30
nearly $2 million in the red with the Health Care Trust Fund. Mayor
William Manzi asked city councilors to approve a three-year bond to
pay it off, instead of forcing taxpayers to foot the bill all at
once....
Employee union members spoke in favor of the
borrowing request. Donna Gogas, the leader of the city's employee
health care coalition, noted that workers have already seen their
co-payments and deductibles rise.
The Eagle-Tribune
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Council approves $1.9 million deficit borrowing request
When [Salem] police Capt. John Jodoin retired
this year, he qualified for a lump sum of $48,306 for unused
vacation and sick days, but he believes — and the union agrees —
he's owed $17,461 more.
Jodoin claims he should be paid additionally for
the 10 holidays in the upcoming year, two more vacation days for his
work schedule differential, and stipends for training and longevity
worth $11,700, according to city officials....
The city, however, contends that Jodoin's
contract says nothing about honoring future holiday pay, the
schedule differential or the stipends. The city is refusing to pay.
Now, the superior officers union is grieving the
matter, and an arbitrator must decide....
The retired captain's situation also raises
concerns about the long-held practice of buying back unused sick
days and vacation days. Driscoll said Salem simply can't sustain the
benefit long-term....
The city's buyback liability — the total
presently owed if all eligible employees were to cash out now — adds
up to $7.8 million, according to Viscay. The amount is roughly the
size of the entire Police Department budget....
[Mayor Kim Driscoll] said the situation isn't
unique to Salem.
"Frankly, it's very common," Driscoll said. "It
doesn't mean it's right or affordable." ...
Driscoll said the city isn't trying to cast
aspersions on employees who receive what's a guaranteed benefit, but
the large payouts to retirees are not affordable.
The Salem News
Friday, November 26, 2010
Retirees' payouts focus of dispute
On the face of it — and neither the individual
nor the police union were commenting as of Friday — it seems
ludicrous to have to pay someone who's already retired for holidays
that fall the next year....
Paying an officer for future holidays and having
to pay his replacement for the same holidays just doesn't make
sense.
An Eagle-Tribune editorial
Monday, November 29, 2010
Retired officer expects holiday pay
Every year, American schools pay more than $8.6
billion in bonuses to teachers with master’s degrees, even though
the idea that a higher degree makes a teacher more effective has
been mostly debunked.
Despite more than a decade of research showing
the money has little impact on student achievement, state lawmakers
and other officials have been reluctant to tackle this popular way
for teachers to earn more money.
That could soon change, as local school districts
around the country grapple with shrinking budgets....
As of 2008, 48 percent of public school teachers
in the United States had a master’s degree or above, and most got a
bonus of between $1,423 and $10,777 each year, according to research
at the University of Washington....
Their colleague, research professor Dan Goldhaber,
explained that research dating back to a study he did in 1997 has
shown that students of teachers with master’s degrees show no better
progress in student achievement than their peers taught by teachers
without advanced degrees.
Goldhaber said his findings were criticized
vehemently in the 1990s, but repeated studies since then have
confirmed the results.
Associated Press
Friday, November 26, 2010
Teacher degree bonuses examined
Costly, but value largely debunked
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday vowed
to adopt the rest of an advisory panel’s immigration reform
recommendations, including pushing for in-state tuition for illegal
immigrant students at state colleges, during his second term.
The Democratic governor made the announcement to
cheers at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy
Coalition’s annual Thanksgiving luncheon. The group’s executive
director served as co-chair of the advisory panel that made the
recommendations.
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Massachusetts governor's second term
will push tuition for illegal
immigrants
Fresh off his election to a second term, the
governor was in his best pander mode when he told a recent gathering
hosted by the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
that he intends to push for illegal immigrants to receive driver's
licenses, along with in-state tuition rates to state colleges and
universities.
According to the State House News Service, he
equated anyone who would oppose those measures as unwilling to
"embrace newcomers."
"The concern over illegal immigration has become
so shrill that all immigrants get swept up in that emotion," he
asserted.
And why might that be? Could it be because he,
the governor, the leader of the state, wants to start treating
illegal immigrants as if they are legal?
It is not those who oppose these measures who are
lumping illegal immigrants together with those who are legal. It is
he who is deliberately conflating the two....
George Orwell would nod with recognition at this
doublespeak.
The Eagle-Tribune
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Governor has mastered doublespeak on illegal immigrants
By Taylor Armerding
Despite the worst economy in 75 years,
legislators got a 5.5 percent bump in pay last year. They got a
raise of 4.8 percent in 2007, 4.1 percent in 2005, 6.5 percent
in 2003 and 8 percent in 2001. Who knows what’s in store for
2011? ...
One realization in this horrible recession:
that there are two tiers of workers in America — those who work
for the government and those who don’t. The number of federal
workers earning $150,000 or more has increased tenfold in five
years and more than doubled since Obama took office, a USA Today
analysis showed.
Given all this, you might think our
legislative leaders could throw tapped-out taxpayers a bone —
maybe give up their per diem gas money for driving to work.
Alas, nearly all of them just got re-elected.
So don’t bet on it.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Beacon Hill: Yes we can?
By Margery Eagan
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
While catching up with the long-neglected routine
chores, I've been watching and waiting to see how the election
results shake out. The pattern has taken shape. Little here has
changed -- but then, the election results told me that on November
3rd. I was hoping, but there was no message received except "kick me
again, I like it."
I'd feel so lonely, neglected, abandoned -- if
not for you!
Unlike the rest of the nation, here in
Taxachusetts -- one of, if not the, Bluest states -- the beat goes
on, barely a speed bump. The voting majority inexplicably reelected
most of the incumbent Bacon Hill politicians, again -- then went
ahead and elected even worse to fill vacancies. Nothing much has
changed for the next two years but for doubling the number of
taxpayer-dependable votes in the House to 32. We're going to need to
really fight just to hold our own in the two years and more ahead.
Just surviving here will unfortunately remain a struggle.
It'll be hard, but our potential success has some
precedent. In April we were able to again
save Proposition 2½
from the tax-borrow-and-spenders' most recent attack to gut it --
and now we have an even better edge in the state House of
Representatives with those newly-elected taxpayer allies.
Reelected Gov. Deval
Patrick has already announced his preference for a graduated income
tax -- you know, divide-and-conquer one rate at a time without ever
hitting critical taxpayer-resistance mass? -- so look for it on the
horizon. Now that he's safely ensconced for four more years, like
in-state tuition for illegal aliens look for the a Grad Tax campaign
ahead, the sixth time around. (The Graduated Income Tax was
CLT's reason for existence back in 1978, when taxpayer resistance in
Massachusetts was born here, and we've beaten it back every time.)
Now enters Alan
Clayton Matthews, an associate professor of public policy at
Northeastern University, calling for even higher taxes and it
won't fall on deaf Bacon Hill ears. This is called "cover" --
at least "the first step."
The waste, fraud, and abuse scandals continue to
erupt daily -- for whatever that's worth among the brain-dead
electorate who should just stay home and keep watching The View or
whatever they do, leave governing and elections to the more aware
who make some effort to know what's going on.
What do even the most outrageous exposés
matter -- if the clueless remain clueless on their state-subsidized
couches then get dragged out on election day and directed to vote
"D" for whoever for whatever?
Government employee union
extortion scams go on, and will until we change Bacon Hill or the
end arrives. Change is in the air regardless -- because OPM
(Other People's Money) is quickly running out. Even the Bacon Hill
pols are finally comprehending that we lowly taxpayers are tapped
out -- unemployed, under-employed, cutting-back on our spending,
have lost our squirreled-away pensions, paying tax penalties for
lack of mandated health insurance we simply can't afford, just so
that we can pay our taxes to provide extraordinary benefits to our
"public servants."
By now even the pols
recognize that the end it near, quite likely on their watch -- no
more kicking it down the road.
Day by day it's more
apparent that the "fixed costs" they and their predecessors have
passed out to buy votes will soon bankrupt states and
municipalities, and taxpayers -- and those costs are due primarily
if not exclusively to "public employee" salaries and benefits.
There is an ongoing
sell-off of tax-free municipal bonds -- the Masters of the
Universe are bailing out. Pay attention.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/tag/municipal-bonds/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2010/11/california-muni-bonds-rans-interest-rates-mutual-funds.html
Soon California (debt =
$77.8 Billion) and New York (debt =
$64.8 Billion) are expected to seek bail-outs from Washington,
but with a Republican majority soon controlling the House, success
seems unlikely. The alternative is for states and municipalities to
declare bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy will void
contracts, including those extorted by state and local government
employee unions.
This is the wave of the
future, I strongly suspect.
So keep on pushing us
further over the edge, union bosses. Bring on the climax --
the inevitable solution -- sooner than later!
Massachusetts is set to
lose a U.S. congressional seat during the dicennial redistricting in
the coming year, dropping the state to nine representatives. I can't
say I regret this while hoping to save the nation as a whole. This
is the closest we political junkies get to seeing a "political
bloodbath" ahead -- like in musical chairs, one of the Massachusetts delegation will have to
go! But why do you suppose this is happening?
Perhaps it's because our
more productive citizens are moving away (to which I can attest, as
keeper of the CLT membership rolls) in this Diaspora, while the
population of those living off taxpayers' largesse, legal and
otherwise, is steadily increasing.
Immigration activists urging census boycott
We've all heard about
President Barack Obama's now-infamous illegal alien Aunt Zeutini and
her dependence on us state taxpayers (hypocritically hectoring that
we are
"our brother's keeper" in his lectures to us mortals) in her South Boston
public-housing abode. But "Auntie Z," though starkly symbolic, is
but the tip of a huge iceberg.
Nonetheless, emboldened
Gov. Deval Patrick has announced his renewed drive to provide in-state
tuition to illegal immigrants -- after being shot down in
flames before. Let this be a lesson to other taxpayers; that they need to be
aware of who they vote for
-- elections do have consequences.
Saddle up, friends. Those
consequences mean that we in Taxachusetts have
especially tough times ahead.
"We must all hang
together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately."
— Benjamin Franklin
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Chip Ford |
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State House News Service
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Mass. economic forecast: "Precarious" with a chance of slow growth
By Matt Murphy
After riding a “robust” recovery since the recession ended in August
2009, economic and job growth in Massachusetts is expected to slow
in the coming months before clearing the final hurdle toward
recovery in early 2011, when employment and revenue growth will
begin a steady climb upward, economists said.
Economists meeting in Boston Wednesday morning projected that
Massachusetts would not regain all the jobs lost during the most
recent recession until 2013, hampered by the struggling national
economy. State tax revenues are not expected to reach and surpass
pre-recession levels until fiscal 2013.
Led by Massachusetts, the New England region experienced an economic
decline less severe than the rest of the country and a recovery that
started sooner and exceeded national averages, but the economic
outlook for the state and the region remains "precarious" with
employment gains and growth expected to come slowly.
“This slowdown had to occur. We couldn’t continue to grow at the
phenomenal rates we were because the national economy has been slow
to recover,” said Alan Clayton Matthews, an associate professor of
public policy at Northeastern University and the director of the New
England Economic Partnership, who delivered the forecast of the
Massachusetts economy during the NEEP fall conference at the Federal
Reserve Bank on Wednesday.
Clayton-Matthews said the fourth quarter of 2010 will be the weakest
in four-year forecast cycle for Massachusetts, and could show
negative payroll growth and a reduction in government jobs. He did
say, however, that the rebound from the recession will be stronger
than the one the state went through in early part of the last decade
with an annual economic expansion rate of 1.6 percent, compared with
0.9 percent after the recession of 2001.
Economists predicted Massachusetts and New Hampshire will lead the
region in economic growth and employment recovery, but only New
Hampshire will add jobs at a clip greater than the national average
over the next four years.
Job growth in Massachusetts is projected at 8.2 percent through
2014, below the national average of 9.8 percent but higher than New
England rate of 7.3 percent.
The unemployment rate is anticipated to fall to 7.3 percent by 2012,
and dip below 6 percent a year later for the first time since 2008.
Clayton-Matthews said employment growth in 2013 and 2014 will be
slowed by the aging of the state’s workforce.
NEEP Vice Chairman and Forecast Chair Ross Gittell, a University of
New Hampshire professor, said the economic outlook for New England
remained "precarious." The forecast calls for the New England
economy to grow slowly for another nine to 12 months and then pick
up strength.
The overall New England economic growth rate is projected to exceed
the national average through 2012, and then dip below the national
growth rate. Employment levels are not expected to reach the peak
levels from before the 2008 recession in the region until the third
quarter of 2013, a quarter later than the country.
State economic growth slowed in the third quarter to a 3.7 percent
annualized rate from 6 percent in the first quarter, and is expected
to slow further to 3 percent through March 2011.
The forecast is likely to have an impact on the state's consensus
revenue projections due out next month as Gov. Deval Patrick and the
Legislature prepare to start crafting budgets for fiscal 2012.
Job growth in Massachusetts is projected to accelerate early next
year at a rate of 1.1 percent in 2011 growing to 2.4 percent in
2012, according forecasts. Professional and business services are
projected to be the fastest growing sectors of the economy, adding
jobs at an annual rate of 3.1 percent through 2014. Other sectors
expected to exceed the state’s overall growth rate are construction,
leisure and hospitality, education and health services, though
construction jobs will still be scarcer than pre-recession.
Sectors projected to grow at a slower rate include financial
activities, manufacturing, trade transportation and utilities and
government.
Overall, personal income in Massachusetts is expected to grow at 3.2
percent a year, and wages and salaries will exceed that of the
nation by 20 percent. Virtually stagnant in 2010, the wage and
salary growth will be seen starting in 2011.
Strong revenue collections over the first four months of the fiscal
year have led to a current revenue surplus of more than $400 million
for state budget officials, who are facing increased spending
demands on social programs tied to high unemployment.
Clayton-Matthews, however, said that “even strong revenue growth
will not solve the state’s budget crisis because the structural
deficit is enormous.”
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has estimated the state’s
structural deficit to be $2 billion or more in fiscal 2012, based on
the state’s use of “rainy day” funds and federal stimulus dollars to
balance the current budget.
Clayton-Matthews, however, suggested that because revenue and
spending never fully recovered from the “dot-com” recession in 2001,
the actual deficit in terms of spending needed to keep pace with
public goods and services provided during the late 1990s is closer
to $4 billion.
He said the structural deficit can also be expected to grow in
coming years as spending needed to keep pace with increases in
education, health care and debt service obligations will grow at 6
percent a year, while revenue growth will lag at 5 percent annually.
With one of the highest per capita revenue capacities in the
country, Clayton-Matthews suggested that if the state were to set
tax rates and fees at the average of all states it could increase
revenue by $5 billion above current levels, based on a New England
Public Policy Center study of fiscal 2002 revenue and spending.
I-Team:
State Spends Millions On Methadone
Clinic Rides
By Kathy Curran, WBZ-TV
Monday, November 15, 2010
BOSTON (CBS) — The state is strapped with a $2 billion budget
deficit, yet it’s spending millions of dollars on chauffer driven
rides to methadone clinics.
An I-Team investigation found that day in and day out, chauffeur
driven livery cars make the trek to local methadone clinics with
recovering heroin addicts and other drug users on board.
Most of the passengers are members of MassHealth, the state medical
plan once known as Medicaid, and it is an expensive trip when
there’s only one person in the passenger seat. Expensive for the
taxpayers, that is, who are paying the fares.
“The word has got out now that MassHealth is pretty much a free taxi
service,” said one professional driver who asked the I-Team to hide
his identity.
“Why would you want to use your own gas and your own car when you
can just call MassHealth and get a luxury ride to Boston in a
Lincoln Town Car?” said the driver, who used to work for a livery
service that contracts with the state.
“I found myself doing taxi work, basically picking up people and
shuttling them down to Canal Street in a luxury vehicle,” the driver
said. “I’ve done as many as five or six trips in a week and I’m just
one person.”
Making the daily trips to methadone clinics is a huge cost to
MassHealth, a program that is the single biggest account in the
state budget.
In the last two years, more than $71 million were spent driving
MassHealth members to medical appointments.
And the I-Team has learned that last year, in four regions of
Massachusetts, the state spent an estimated $1.4 million just on
rides to and from methadone clinics.
Methadone clinics aren’t always easily accessible to patients or to
public transportation, but critics say one patient in each
chauffer-driven car goes too far.
“Clearly chauffer driven transportation is not a requirement in
order for somebody on MassHealth to go to a methadone clinic,” says
Michael Widmer, head of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
Widmer said the $10 billion MassHealth budget accounts for one third
of the state budget and is growing rapidly. “This is a perfect
example where there has to be some savings,” he said.
“This is the way the system is. It just wastes money because it
can,” said Barbara Anderson, who heads Citizens for
Limited Taxation. “I remember when they used to send welfare
mothers to the welfare office to get their welfare checks in a cab,
and this is the same sort of thing.”
Terry Dougherty, the state director of Medicaid, said the state is
required by federal rules to provide transportation services to
MassHealth members.
To meet that requirement, the state contracts with regional
transportation authorities, which then hire private livery companies
to drive MassHealth members.
“I can see where people may think of it as a taxi service,”
Dougherty said. “The fact of it is that since 1986 under federal law
we must provide everybody their transportation to medically
necessary treatments. If we can do a better job, we’ll look into
that and get even more efficiencies.”
To get the free rides, Mass health members need a letter from their
doctor saying it is a medical necessity.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2010/11/15/i-team-state-spends-millions-on-methadone-clinic-rides/
I-Team:
State Employees Given Months Of
Vacation Time
By Kathy Curran, WBZ-TV
Monday,
November 22, 2010
BOSTON (CBS) — How much vacation will you get this year? Two weeks?
One week? None at all?
How would you like a job that gives you almost four months off with
pay? Believe it or not, the I-Team has found state employees getting
just that.
France is the home of the endless vacation, the gold standard when
it comes to paid time off from work. “We are known as having one of
the most generous social systems in the world,” says Christophe
Guilhou, the French Consul General in Boston. “We’re not far from,
let’s say, eight weeks per year.”
Massachusetts isn’t France, but the I-Team discovered assistant
clerks in courthouses all across the Commonwealth have an even
better deal than the French when it comes to time off with pay. “I’m
not suggesting that this is not an excellent employment
opportunity,” says Daniel Hogan, clerk of the Boston Municipal Court
and president of the state Association of Magistrates and Assistant
Clerks.
There are 441 assistant clerks across the state and if you add up
vacation, sick days, personal days and holidays, 223 of them get 76
days, or nearly four months off.
Most of the remaining clerks, 146, get 61 days, or slightly more
that three months off.
Even the French consul general is surprised. “If you compare it to
France, where you have a quite generous social system, I think it
goes beyond the French system,” Guilhou says.
Back in the summer, the I-Team caught one of those assistant court
clerks, since-retired Stephen Donovan, taking even more time off on
the taxpayers’ dime.
We recorded Donovan with our hidden cameras taking long lunches at a
downtown Boston bar, downing drink after drink while court was in
session.
Donovan was paid $84,869 a year, which is the salary for most
assistant clerks.
“It’s just wrong,” says Barbara Anderson, co-founder of
Citizens for Limited Taxation. “It’s just wrong for the system
to be giving that kind of pay and perks and that kind of time off.”
“If you had everyone working at full capacity you could have a much
smaller payroll and you could save a lot of money,” Anderson adds.
“But that’s not what the system’s for. The system is for those
employees to have three and four months off.”
Benefits for assistant clerks are set by the state legislature. The
clerks handle the administrative work of the courts, conducting
arraignments and bail hearings, issuing arrest warrants, and
presiding over small claims court.
“These people are entitled to the time that they accumulate and
they’re entitled to take a vacation with their family,” says Hogan,
who heads the association which represents the assistant clerks.
Hogan claims reducing the clerks’ time off with pay would not
increase efficiency in the courts.
“I understand the thought process of the citizens,” Hogan says.
“They look at public employees in general and say that some of the
benefits that they receive are excessive.
“However, I do believe that in the case of an assistant clerk, the
responsibilities that clerks and assistant clerks take on, on a
daily basis, the pay and the benefits are commensurate.”
When we asked Guilhou what French workers would think of the system
in the Massachusetts courts, he laughed. “I prefer them not to know
about the system,” he says.
Someone who should know a lot about the personnel system in the
state courts is retiring Chief Justice Margaret Marshall.
Marshall told the I-Team in July that she is convinced there is
nothing left to cut when it comes to the court’s payroll.
The chief administrator of the trial court, Robert Mulligan,
declined the I-Team’s request for an interview.
Mulligan’s spokeswoman later released a statement claiming the
number of days off for the clerks is consistent with what is given
to management employees in the state’s executive branch.
But figures provided by the governor’s office show that is not true.
State managers get between two and four weeks less each year in time
off with pay.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2010/11/22/i-team-state-employees-given-months-of-vacation-time/
The Eagle-Tribune
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Council approves $1.9 million deficit borrowing request
By J.J. Huggin
METHUEN — City councilors voted unanimously last night to ask the
state Legislature to allow the city to borrow $1.9 million to cover
a deficit caused by employees' unexpectedly high health care costs.
The city ended the last fiscal year on June 30 nearly $2 million in
the red with the Health Care Trust Fund. Mayor William Manzi asked
city councilors to approve a three-year bond to pay it off, instead
of forcing taxpayers to foot the bill all at once.
"It would allow us to take what is essentially a one-year hiccup in
health care usage and spread it over a few years," Manzi said.
Employee union members spoke in favor of the borrowing request.
Donna Gogas, the leader of the city's employee health care
coalition, noted that workers have already seen their co-payments
and deductibles rise.
Manzi said he thought the budget was balanced when the new fiscal
year began July 1, but the health care figures were based on "our
best estimates," just like revenue was. He said there have been
years where health care costs ended up being less than what they
budgeted for.
The aspect of the borrowing request that had drawn the most
discussion had to do with language saying no "official" shall
knowingly go over budget, except during an emergency. If they do,
they can be held personally liable.
"Any violation of this section shall be considered sufficient cause
for removal," the petition says.
Manzi said the state Department of Revenue requires such requests to
include that language. He said similar requests in Lawrence and
Salem included it.
"We need the language in," he said.
The Salem News
Friday, November 26, 2010
Retirees' payouts focus of dispute
By Stacie N. Galang
SALEM — When police Capt. John Jodoin retired this year, he
qualified for a lump sum of $48,306 for unused vacation and sick
days, but he believes — and the union agrees — he's owed $17,461
more.
Jodoin claims he should be paid additionally for the 10 holidays in
the upcoming year, two more vacation days for his work schedule
differential, and stipends for training and longevity worth $11,700,
according to city officials. Superior officers who retired shortly
before Jodoin received the benefits.
The city, however, contends that Jodoin's contract says nothing
about honoring future holiday pay, the schedule differential or the
stipends. The city is refusing to pay.
Now, the superior officers union is grieving the matter, and an
arbitrator must decide. Messages left with Jodoin and union leaders
were not returned by press time.
The payout Jodoin says he's owed came to light in the past year when
the city centralized its payroll and completed a payroll audit,
Mayor Kim Driscoll said.
"I don't know how long we've paid prospective holidays," she said.
"Somebody started the practice."
Jodoin's situation also means the city has paid the benefit twice,
once for the retiree and second for his replacement, Driscoll
argued.
The unions are relying on what's called past practice, arguing that
the benefit should remain because it's been granted for years,
according to City Solicitor Beth Rennard.
Buybacks and payouts
The retired captain's situation also raises concerns about the
long-held practice of buying back unused sick days and vacation
days. Driscoll said Salem simply can't sustain the benefit
long-term.
Before September 2000, contracts with the city's unions allowed
employees to accrue between 80 and 90 sick days for cash-out at
retirement.
Since then, the city whittled away at the maximums, which now range
from 40 to 70 days, but this only affects employees hired after the
contract change was approved. Most nonunion employees receive no
such benefit.
City Finance Director Rich Viscay estimated 75 percent of city
employees fall under the maximum 80 to 90 sick days.
The city's buyback liability — the total presently owed if all
eligible employees were to cash out now — adds up to $7.8 million,
according to Viscay. The amount is roughly the size of the entire
Police Department budget.
The city's buyback liability has steadily increased from $6.5
million in 2007 to $6.9 million in 2008, Viscay said.
This fiscal year, the city has set aside $850,000 to cover buybacks
for all the employees they anticipate will retire, according to
Driscoll.
The mayor said the situation isn't unique to Salem.
"Frankly, it's very common," Driscoll said. "It doesn't mean it's
right or affordable."
Jodoin was able to take the highest number of vacation days
permitted by contract at 55 and the 90-day maximum for sick days.
His daily rate totaled $333.15 for the $48,306 payout.
That rate was based on his base captain's pay, a 25 percent increase
under the Quinn Bill and a 9 percent increase for his night
differential.
The day rate is higher for his disputed days: $508.38 for holidays
and $677.84 for the straight vacation days, according to the city.
Driscoll said the discovery of the holiday and stipend pay just
happened to affect Jodoin first, but the city had to draw a line in
the sand.
Avoiding golden parachutes
After health insurance, reining in buyback payouts is the city's
second priority, the mayor said.
Driscoll said the city must find a way to fulfill the principle of
the sick-day benefit, that is, grant employees and their families
insurance against an illness that would keep them away from work,
without also creating what's become a golden parachute for retirees.
"There's got to be another way to skin the cat and provide
security," she said. "The money is getting too high for us to
ignore."
The challenge will be to reduce the maximums employees can accrue,
which was negotiated and agreed upon by the unions and the city
years ago, Driscoll said.
"We have to negotiate this out," she said. "Both management and
labor agreed to this."
Driscoll said the city isn't trying to cast aspersions on employees
who receive what's a guaranteed benefit, but the large payouts to
retirees are not affordable.
In Jodoin's case, an arbitrator will have to decide whether the city
must honor the contested pay.
Rennard, the city solicitor, estimated the arbitration process at
eight to nine months.
"We're going to try to move it as quickly as possible," she said.
The Eagle-Tribune
Monday, November 29, 2010
An Eagle-Tribune editorial
Retired officer expects holiday pay
From our neighbors in Salem, Mass., comes a story that does much to
illustrate what's wrong with the attitudes of public employees
today.
There, a police captain who retired this year expects to be paid for
next year's holidays.
On the face of it — and neither the individual nor the police union
were commenting as of Friday — it seems ludicrous to have to pay
someone who's already retired for holidays that fall the next year.
But that appears to have been the practice in Salem, at least with
the Police Department; which is why Capt. John Jodoin feels he's
entitled to another $17,461 on top of the $48,306 he'll receive for
unused vacation and sick time.
The latter would seem a nice severance package on top of the
generous pension police officers, like most public employees,
receive. But there's apparently a tradition, if not contract
language, that allows a retiree to collect for holidays the year
after they leave the force.
"It's very common," Mayor Kim Driscoll told The Salem News last
week. But she adds, correctly, "It doesn't mean it's right or
affordable."
Indeed, cities and towns can no longer afford such excesses. Credit
Driscoll for trying to put a stop to this one, which has drawn a
grievance from Jodoin's union.
Paying an officer for future holidays and having to pay his
replacement for the same holidays just doesn't make sense.
Associated Press
Friday, November 26, 2010
Teacher degree bonuses examined
Costly, but value largely debunked
By Donna Gordon Blankinship
SEATTLE — Every year, American schools pay more than $8.6 billion in
bonuses to teachers with master’s degrees, even though the idea that
a higher degree makes a teacher more effective has been mostly
debunked.
Despite more than a decade of research showing the money has little
impact on student achievement, state lawmakers and other officials
have been reluctant to tackle this popular way for teachers to earn
more money.
That could soon change, as local school districts around the country
grapple with shrinking budgets.
Last week, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the economy has
given the nation an opportunity to make dramatic improvements in the
productivity of its education system and to do more of what works
and less of what doesn’t.
Duncan told the American Enterprise Institute that master’s degree
bonuses are an example of spending money on something that doesn’t
work.
Billionaire Bill Gates also took aim at school budgets and the
master’s degree bonus.
“My own state of Washington has an average salary bump of nearly
$11,000 for a master’s degree — and more than half of our teachers
get it. That’s more than $300 million every year that doesn’t help
kids,’’ he said.
“And that’s one state,’’ said Gates, the cochairman of the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, at a speech last week in Louisville, Ky.,
to the Council of Chief State School Officers. Gates also took aim
at pensions and seniority.
“Of course, restructuring pay systems is like kicking a beehive,’’
he said.
As of 2008, 48 percent of public school teachers in the United
States had a master’s degree or above, and most got a bonus of
between $1,423 and $10,777 each year, according to research at the
University of Washington.
Most school budgets have been tight for years, with districts
trimming everything from printing to teachers.
Michael Podgursky, an economics professor at the University of
Missouri, said the economic downturn may force payroll reform in
some places where the political will has been lacking. And they
don’t have to blow up the old system to do it, he said.
“We’re experimenting now,’’ he said, noting pay-for-performance
experiments in New York City, Houston, and Nashville.
Ninety percent of teachers’ master’s degrees are in education, not
subjects such as English or math, according to a study by Marguerite
Roza and Raegen Miller for the Center on Reinventing Education at
the University of Washington.
Their colleague, research professor Dan Goldhaber, explained that
research dating back to a study he did in 1997 has shown that
students of teachers with master’s degrees show no better progress
in student achievement than their peers taught by teachers without
advanced degrees.
Goldhaber said his findings were criticized vehemently in the 1990s,
but repeated studies since then have confirmed the results.
Roza and Miller found more than 2 percent of education spending in
13 states — Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware,
Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina,
plus Washington and Nebraska, where the spending was more than 3
percent — went to master’s degree bonuses.
The American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest
teachers union, doesn’t oppose changes in the way teachers are paid
and is willing to talk about just about any reform idea, said Rob
Weil, deputy director of educational issues.
Weil said the problem is that most school districts don’t know what
they want to do instead of the traditional salary schedule that
gives teachers more money for years of service and additional
education.
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Massachusetts governor's second term will push tuition for illegal
immigrants
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday vowed to adopt the rest
of an advisory panel’s immigration reform recommendations, including
pushing for in-state tuition for illegal immigrant students at state
colleges, during his second term.
The Democratic governor made the announcement to cheers at the
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition’s annual
Thanksgiving luncheon. The group’s executive director served as
co-chair of the advisory panel that made the recommendations.
“Now, as we stand on the threshold of another four years, I want to
commit to you that we will implement this report in its entirety,
working with you, over the next several years,” said Patrick, who
received a standing ovation from a hundred or so immigrant advocates
on Tuesday.
“I know that embracing newcomers is out of fashion these days. The
concerns over illegal immigration have become so shrill that all
immigrants get swept up in that emotion,” Patrick added. “And I want
you to know that you are welcome here in this commonwealth. This is
your commonwealth. This is your home.”
However, the governor did not say specifically how he would
implement the recommendations or which ones he would try to adopt
first. He said nearly half of the recommendations already have been
adopted.
Patrick’s comments come just two weeks after he won re-election with
large support from the state’s immigrant population, which is the
seventh largest in the country.
A year ago, the advisory panel released 130 recommendations on
possible Massachusetts immigration reforms following public hearings
around the state. Its report — which largely dealt with legal
immigrants and refugees — called for the return of bilingual
education, more translators at health centers and a better system to
recognize foreign professional degrees.
The report’s call for in-state tuition for illegal immigrant
students drew fire from critics and local conservative radio talk
shows.
Asked by reporters if his plan to implement the rest of the
recommendations meant he would push for a state law granting
in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, Patrick said Massachusetts
would need changes in federal law for that to happen.
“Well, my understanding is ... there is a federal law that is in the
way of that, and without a change in the federal law we can’t do it
on our own,” said Patrick, who promised to push for the proposal
while running for his first term. “I’d like to see that federal law
changed.”
However, several states, including California, Illinois, New Mexico,
New York, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin allow undocumented
students to attend state colleges at in-state tuition rates. Federal
law does not forbid illegal immigrants from attending universities
and colleges in the U.S. State laws vary on whether to grant illegal
immigrants in-state tuition rates.
Patrick spokesman Kyle Sullivan said the governor wanted to make
sure any proposed state law would withstand challenges, which is why
he wanted the backing of a federal law.
On Monday, the California Supreme Court ruled that illegal
immigrants who meet certain residency requirements are entitled to
the same tuition breaks offered to in-state high school students to
attend that state’s public colleges and universities.
Following Patrick’s announcement, House Minority Leader Bradley H.
Jones, Jr. called the in-state tuition plan “a ridiculous idea” and
said lawmakers should instead be focused on fixing the state’s
economy.
“Providing in-state tuition to illegal immigrants should not be a
priority of Gov. Patrick and the fact that it is does not shock me,
but it certainly disappoints me,” the North Reading Republican said
in a statement. “This idea failed miserably in the legislature a few
years back and I am confident it will do so again.”
Nearly four years ago, Massachusetts House lawmakers soundly
rejected a bill that would have allowed illegal immigrants to attend
college at in-state tuition rates.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimated at the time that
about 400 to 600 students might enter Massachusetts schools as a
result of the bill and that it likely would result in $2.5 million
of extra revenue.
The Eagle-Tribune
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Governor has mastered doublespeak on illegal immigrants
By Taylor Armerding
I have a problem with undocumented doctors. I'm very much in favor
of those who have become physicians legally.
But in Gov. Deval Patrick's Through-the-Looking Glass world, my
"shrill" opposition to illegal doctors means I'm opposed to all
doctors.
Oh, and I also lack "human kindness and compassion."
Same for lawyers. I support those who have passed the bar and
entered the profession legally. I'm opposed to those who haven't,
and are therefore undocumented, otherwise known as illegal.
But according to Patrick's logic, I'm lumping all the legitimate
lawyers in with the illegal ones. How unfair, how bigoted of me. How
unwelcoming of me.
The governor would, of course, protest that he has never said any
such thing. And he hasn't — not about doctors and lawyers. But that
is exactly the logic he applies to illegal immigrants.
Fresh off his election to a second term, the governor was in his
best pander mode when he told a recent gathering hosted by the
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition that he
intends to push for illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses,
along with in-state tuition rates to state colleges and
universities.
According to the State House News Service, he equated anyone who
would oppose those measures as unwilling to "embrace newcomers."
"The concern over illegal immigration has become so shrill that all
immigrants get swept up in that emotion," he asserted.
And why might that be? Could it be because he, the governor, the
leader of the state, wants to start treating illegal immigrants as
if they are legal?
It is not those who oppose these measures who are lumping illegal
immigrants together with those who are legal. It is he who is
deliberately conflating the two.
And the governor is a master at impugning his opponents' motives,
without saying it directly. "The spirit of human kindness and
compassion will flourish in this commonwealth," he told the crowd.
His implication, of course, is that anybody who wants immigration
laws enforced lacks human kindness and compassion.
By that logic, why should any law be enforced? Is Patrick unkind and
lacking in compassion because he presides over a state where traffic
laws are enforced.
George Orwell would nod with recognition at this doublespeak. It's
like the war department being called the Ministry of Peace. The word
"undocumented" itself is Orwellian. It implies that the only problem
is that some people forgot to carry a piece of paper with them.
There is no piece of paper. That is why they are illegal.
Patrick presented no evidence that opponents to such measures, like
me, oppose legal immigrants in any way, or are somehow confused
about the meaning of legal and illegal. Like many citizens, I'm two
generations descended from immigrants — legal immigrants.
I'm a cheerleader for legal immigrants — they bring new blood and
new ideas to their adopted country. In many cases, they have a much
greater appreciation for the freedoms the rest of us have come to
take for granted. In many cases, they are more motivated and work
harder than the rest of us. They set a living example of what a
privilege it is to be an American.
But the governor and others, when they deliberately leave out the
word "illegal" when specifically talking about illegal immigrants,
cheapen the sacrifice that legal immigrants make. He makes them into
fools. Why should they have followed the rules when there is no need
to do so? Why wait, when there are enablers like Patrick to condone
and reward the misconduct of others?
The governor wants to provide tuition benefits to illegal immigrants
that would be denied to a U.S. citizen from another state. This is
kindness and compassion? This is madness.
I wonder how compassionate Patrick would be if a family moved into
the basement of one of his high-end residences. You know, just
because they were seeking a better life. Would he mind if they used
the heat and air-conditioning without paying for it? Would he mind
if they ate his food because, you know, they were having a tough
time affording it themselves? Would he be willing to put them on his
health plan if they didn't bother him in any other way?
Heck, they might even agree to help shovel his drive in the winter
and mow his lawn in the summer. What more would he want from them?
Especially if they were quiet at night and didn't use the kitchen or
the dining room when he and Diane were using it.
No, I suspect that kind of compassion would be a bit much. But it's
fine, in his view, for people here illegally to receive the benefits
of citizenship, courtesy of the rest of us.
The governor thought the voters were wise to re-elect him. He ought
to listen to them on this topic as well. A large majority of us
support and welcome legal immigrants. We don't support enabling and
rewarding illegal immigrants. We know the difference. He should too.
Taylor Armerding is associate editorial page editor of The
Eagle-Tribune.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Beacon Hill: Yes we can?
By Margery Eagan
So President Obama, better late than never, has decided to freeze
federal workers’ pay for two years.
Maybe that could be an inspiration to Beacon Hill. So far, the
desperation of the masses has failed to move our legislative
leaders.
State Senate President Therese Murray last week, incredibly,
defended a corrupt Probation Department where top legislators
recommend campaign donors over non-donors for jobs. “That’s part of
what we do,” she told the Herald.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo basically said the same thing.
Before that, Murray defended the suspect process that keeps awarding
her fellow legislators pay raises, taxpayers be damned. Despite the
worst economy in 75 years, legislators got a 5.5 percent bump in pay
last year. They got a raise of 4.8 percent in 2007, 4.1 percent in
2005, 6.5 percent in 2003 and 8 percent in 2001. Who knows what’s in
store for 2011?
How does that compare with your experience, private-sector
desperadoes?
Meanwhile, Congress has yet to decide whether to extend unemployment
benefits to millions of Americans with no jobs at all, including
nearly 60,000 unemployed workers in Massachusetts.
Merry Christmas to them.
Many of us did not know until this week that legislators have made
it perfectly legal for certain state workers to not only retire in
their 50s, but to also collect both a retirement pension and a
salary, at the same time, for the same job. That’s double dipping —
a loophole at the center of a controversy involving late Middlesex
Sheriff James DiPaola.
Every time you turn around, somebody else in state government’s
higher echelons is crying poor mouth.
Right before Thanksgiving, the Herald reported on the state’s top
development agency, where two dozen workers already earn six-figure
salaries and CEO Robert Culver banks $299,000. But that’s not enough
over at MassDevelopment. Their excuse? Staffers haven’t had a raise
since 2007.
Have you?
One realization in this horrible recession: that there are two tiers
of workers in America — those who work for the government and those
who don’t. The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more
has increased tenfold in five years and more than doubled since
Obama took office, a USA Today analysis showed.
Given all this, you might think our legislative leaders could throw
tapped-out taxpayers a bone — maybe give up their per diem gas money
for driving to work.
Alas, nearly all of them just got re-elected. So don’t bet on it
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