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CLT UPDATE
Saturday, February 1, 2014
State revenue hikes now unilaterally imposed by MassDOT
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“I think anybody who voted for it ought to stand
up and stand tall. This is an investment in the safety of our roads
and the future of public transit and to not do that is
irresponsible. I don’t make any apologies for the vote I cast last
year and I’m happy to go before the voters and defend it.”
Rep. Jay Kaufman (D-Lexington), on the likely
question on the 2014 ballot asking voters if they want to repeal the
recent law that provides for automatic hikes in the gas tax by tying
future increases to the Consumer Price Index.
“I don’t know how one stands tall when one has
taken a vote never to stand tall again, but to forever let a tax
automatically increase rather than ever vote for another gas tax
increase. Cowards do not stand tall, cowards cringe from
accountability.”
Barbara Anderson, President of
Citizens for Limited Taxation.
Beacon Hill Roll Call
Friday, January 31, 2014
QUOTABLE QUOTES
Massachusetts drivers this summer could face
higher fees for vehicle inspections or license renewals as part of
the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s plan to close a
projected $55 million budget gap for fiscal 2015. Despite an influx
of $135 million in new revenue from last year’s package of tax hikes
to finance transportation....
The Registry collected $550 million in revenue in
2013, including $134 million in motor vehicle inspection fees.
Registration fees, title certificates and driver’s license fees are
other top revenue generators at the RMV.
State House News Service
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Higher RMV fees eyed to go along with summer fare hikes
State officials will seek to raise Registry of
Motor Vehicles fees by 10 percent on July 1 to fill a $53 million
gap in the state Department of Transportation’s operating budget
next year....
“We are limited in what we have available,” [Dana
Levenson, MassDOT's chief financial officer] said. RMV fee
increases, he continued, “is the only place we have to go to close
the gap.” ...
And the RMV might be due for fee hikes: Many of
the fees incurred most often by customers have not increased
since 2008. The price of vehicle inspections has not changed in
15 years, Levenson said.
And if there’s one thing MassDOT officials
learned last year, it’s that they shouldn’t expect an increase in
the gas tax index this year.
“We’ve heard from the public that they don’t like
gas tax increases — loud and clear,” said Alan G. Macdonald, a
member of the MassDOT board of directors.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, January 30, 2014
RMV fees may rise 10 percent
― CLT BLAST FROM THE (NOT TOO
DISTANT) PAST ―
March 4, 2010
― Less than
four years ago ―
Bay State drivers were whacked with more than
20 different fee hikes at the Registry of Motor Vehicles last year,
taking another $75 million from drivers as part of Gov. Deval
Patrick’s plan to balance the budget.
A quietly imposed $5 RMV fee rescinded by Patrick
this week was just the latest in a long list of license,
registration and title fees that critics say are hitting people when
they’re down.
“People are tired of being nickel and dimed to
death,” said House minority leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading).
“They’re unemployed and scraping to get by and they’re getting hit
from every corner.”
The price of a driver’s license is up 25
percent, from $40 to $50. The charge for a registration renewal
increased from $41 to $50, and the cost of a new registration went
from $36 to $50. . . .
The Boston Herald
Thursday, March 4,
2010
Drivers hit with 20 RMV fee hikes
The potential 10 percent fee increase, which was
discussed at a Department of Transportation board meeting on
Wednesday, raised the hackles of a number of RMV patrons interviewed
Thursday in Boston....
Sheila Walsh, who is self-employed and lives in
Charlestown, called the proposed fee hike "awful." "People will jump
up and down and kick, but we have no control over it, other than
people being more careful who they vote in," Walsh said....
The transportation bill that the legislature
passed gave the Department of Transportation an additional $500
million a year this fiscal year and about $800 million a year by
2018 by increasing the gas tax, the cigarette tax and the tax on
cigars and smokeless tobacco and imposing the state sales tax on
certain software services. (The software tax was later repealed and
replaced with money from budget surpluses.) ...
The proposal does not need additional legislative
action, since the department already has the authority to raise
revenue. The proposal does have to be approved by the Department of
Transportation board and submitted to the Secretary of State.
Assuming the board goes forward with its plan, there will be public
hearings in May.
The Springfield Republican
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Registry of Motor Vehicles customers upset by proposed fee increases
House lawmakers raised the bottom-line on a
five-year transportation borrowing plan from $12.4 billion to more
than $12.7 billion, quietly packing the bill Wednesday night with
sidewalk, bike path and road projects for lawmakers to take home to
their districts in an election year....
Last year, lawmakers raised gas and tobacco taxes
to help pay for transportation system investments after a lengthy,
contentious public debate between the branches and the Patrick
administration. On Wednesday, the House settled for a much quieter
discussion about what to include in the five-year borrowing bill....
The big amendment, sponsored by House Ways and
Means Chairman Brian Dempsey, ran seven single-spaced pages. It
includes more than 100 spending directives for projects ranging from
bicycle paths and rail trails to multi-million dollar bridge and
parking garage projects....
One of the few issues that generated any floor
discussion while lawmakers worked on the bill was a proposal by
Republican Rep. Shaunna O’Connell to require MBTA Pension Fund
managers to provide outside auditors with management discussion and
analysis notes. O’Connell (R-Taunton) said auditors have been asking
for years for analysis notes and discussions so they have more
complete information to conduct financial audits. Pension fund
managers have omitted vital information, she said....
[Transportation Committee Co-Chairman Williams
Straus, D-Mattapoisett] opposed the idea because he said it was
unclear what would be required, and what constitutes analysis notes
and management discussion.
“Management discussion is not a document,” he
said. “The amendment requires, quite frankly, I’m not sure what.”
O’Connell responded that management discussion and analysis notes
are terms used by outside auditors. The amendment was rejected 29 to
125.
State House News Service
Thursday, January 30, 2014
House slapped more than $300 Mil in local projects onto bond bill
The auditor’s note appears in the MBTA
Retirement Fund’s annual report year after year: Pension managers
have omitted information considered “an essential part of financial
reporting’’ and which is required to be disclosed under governmental
accounting standards.
That lack of disclosure, or transparency in the
finance world, is endemic at the MBTA pension board, which for
more than two years has failed to disclose a $25 million investment
loss in a hedge fund that has now been accused of fraud.
A more complete audit could have shed light on
the troubled investment sooner, say specialists in accounting and
people who have reviewed the T fund’s audits.
“These are precisely the kinds of things you
cannot catch when you don’t have these reports,’’ said Iliya
Atanasov, a senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute, a Boston think
tank, who authored a recent report critical of the T’s pension
management.
The omitted information is called
“management’s discussion and analysis,’’ and it’s meant to
provide important context to the basic numbers pension funds and
other entities provide to their auditors. The MBTA pension fund
would not say why it fails to provide this information.
“With a loss of this size, and especially if foul
play is involved, if there was management discussion, this should
have been included,’’ Atanasov said.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Auditor’s warning to MBTA ignored year after year
The state will shell out a whopping
$1 million
on police details for the three-month Callahan Tunnel rehab,
including nearly $2,000 a day for two cop cars parked at the
entrance and exit of the shut-down tube — an eyebrow-raising expense
taxpayer watchdog groups say is unnecessary.
“It’s absurd. But it’s an ongoing absurdity,”
said Barbara Anderson, head of Citizens for Limited
Taxation. “This doubles down on it. First of all, you don’t need
these police details in general and you especially don’t need them
at this site because it’s permanently closed.” ...
“If the drivers are barred from entering the
tunnel, then why do we need another detail at the exiting lanes? It
seems like a waste of money,” said former state Inspector General
Gregory Sullivan, now research director at the Pioneer Institute.
“The state police are making the decision on where to put these
highly paid flagmen. They very often put them where they are not
necessary.”
The Boston Herald
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Cops’ Callahan Tunnel tab $1M
Some 410 turnpike toll workers set to lose their
jobs in 2016 will get raises worth $24 million to sweeten their
departure, under an agreement reached Friday night between their
union and the state.
The toll workers, who will lose their jobs when
the state moves to all-electronic tolling, will receive a 3 percent
raise, retroactive to 2013, followed by raises of 2.5 percent this
year and 2 percent next year. The agreement caps two years of
intense negotiations between union leaders and Patrick
administration officials.
It will also allow the workers to retire with
higher pensions, adding $11 million in costs to the state’s pension
system, officials said.
The pay sweeteners were needed, state officials
said, to persuade the toll collectors’ union to agree to the
elimination of the jobs. The raises also will help preserve labor
peace as the deadline to cut the jobs approaches.
All will receive the same percentage increases.
Richard A. Davey, the state secretary of
transportation, said the cost of the raises will be more than offset
by the $50 million in savings the state will realize when it moves
to electronic tolling.
The Boston Globe
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Turnpike toll workers, set to lose jobs, to get pay increases
A Massachusetts lawmaker charged with making tax
policy recommendations wants to eliminate the state’s flat income
tax.
“I don’t think you can really have a fair tax
system in Massachusetts with a flat income tax rate,” said Rep. Jay
Kaufman (D-Lexington), who chairs the Massachusetts Tax Fairness
Commission.
The state Legislature has made five attempts over
the past 40 years to change the constitution and replace the state’s
flat income tax with a graduated income tax. Kaufman is in favor of
making a sixth attempt....
The Tax Fairness Commission was created last year
as a part of a major transportation funding bill. They’re tasked
with releasing tax policy recommendations by March 1st.
WWLP - TV25
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Lawmaker proposes to nix flat MA income tax
The $36.4 billion overall budget proposes tax
increases on candy and soda that lawmakers have rejected in the
past. It reflects Patrick’s acceptance that lawmakers, who snubbed
his call for $1.9 billion in new taxes last year in favor of their
own $500 million tax hike, have no interest in asking taxpayers for
much more in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Patrick called the budget good and sensible, but
ruefully acknowledged that his drive for significant tax increases
to fund education and transportation programs is over, with less
than a year left in office and just over six months remaining before
the Legislature concludes major business in July.
“The people of the Commonwealth, whether it’s the
next governor or the governor after that, are going to have to come
back to this subject one day, if we want to have the kind of
Commonwealth that really assures that everyone has a chance to
succeed,” Patrick said....
Local officials said they were upset that Patrick
included no additional local aid, which helps cities and towns pay
for police officers, firefighters, and other municipal services.
Since 2008, that critical account has fallen by about $400 million,
say outside budget analysts.
Unless lawmakers pump money into the fund, cities
and towns could be forced to raise property taxes or cut services,
said Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts
Municipal Association, which represents local officials.
“This is actually a very difficult and painful
budget for cities and towns,” Beckwith said. “It’s disappointing.”
Raising property taxes would be a bitter coda for
the governor, who swept into office in 2006 promising to cut that
tax. His promise was felled, in part, by the recession that marked
the second half of Patrick’s first term. He has sought to help local
officials raise revenues by empowering them to increase local taxes
on meals and hotels and by giving them greater power to cut health
care costs. But those resources, Beckwith said, have run their
course.
“Communities have used those tools already, to
absorb all those cuts,” he said....
The budget would increase state spending by 4.9
percent, or about $1.7 billion. Most of that increase, $1.14
billion, comes from anticipated growth in state tax collections.
Patrick’s plan is also propped up by $97 million
in taxes. It would expand the nickel deposit on soda to
noncarbonated juice drinks and water, make four targeted changes in
the business tax code, and apply the sales tax to candy and soda,
which are currently exempt....
Noah Berger — president of the
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a left-leaning budget
research group — applauded Patrick’s focus on education and transit,
but said the impact of his spending plan will be limited.
“The governor called it a sensible budget, which
I think is somewhat accurate,” Berger said. “But without
significant new tax revenue, you really can’t make the kind of
investments that would strengthen our economy in the long-term,
substantially, so we see pretty modest investments in things like
education.”
The Boston Globe
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Patrick’s $36.4b budget boosts DCF funding
Greetings activists and supporters:
When reading about all the transportation
department boondoggles over the past month, I wondered how the
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) was going to pay for all the giveaways.
Now we know: through the
state's cash-cow slush fund, the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Last year's major state transportation bill swept
$51 million in surplus fee revenues from the state's motor vehicle
inspection "trust fund" through MassDOT over to the MBTA to help
bail-out its budget crisis. "The
Registry collected $550 million in revenue in 2013, including
$134 million in motor vehicle inspection fees, according to the
State House News Service. Now the MassDOT wants to hike
the vehicle inspection fee
― an arbitrary
decision
which it now apparently controls
― to rake in
even
more.
Along with the MBTA,
Turnpike Authority, etc., the RMV has been consolidated within the
Massachusetts
Department of Transportation ―
obviously now, as a healthy funding source.
According to a Boston Globe report, Alan G.
Macdonald, a member of the MassDOT board of directors, observed:
“We’ve heard from the public that they don’t like gas tax increases
— loud and clear.” All I can reply to such a statement of the
obvious is, "You think?"
In the same report, the Boston Globe quotes Dana Levenson, MassDOT's
chief financial officer: ". . . the RMV might be due for fee
hikes: Many of the fees incurred most often by customers
have not increased since 2008. The price of vehicle
inspections has not changed in 15 years."
First, this is not accurate. Registry of
Motor Vehicles fees were last increased in 2009. On March 10, 2010
the Boston Herald reported: "Bay State drivers were whacked with more than
20 different fee hikes at the Registry of Motor Vehicles last year,
taking another $75 million from drivers as part of Gov. Deval
Patrick’s plan to balance the budget." If I can find this
information so easily, why couldn't Dana Levenson, MassDOT's CFO
― the guy who makes the big bucks
($140K/year)?
Second, increasing the fee for vehicle
inspections from $29 to $35 was proposed in 2009 by a "Special
Commission on Municipal Relief." This hike would have brought in an
additional $27 million a year. House leadership struck it from the
municipal relief bill in early-2010. As with the recent
automatic gas tax increases, that was when our elected legislators
had a vote in hiking fees ― before the
RMV cash-cow was absorbed by the MassDOT.
With a $51 million surplus stashed away in
a vehicle inspection "trust fund" until grabbed and spent for other
uses, "the cost of providing the service" is demonstrably more than
sufficient. (See:
Emerson v. City of Boston, 1984)
Whatever happened to
Article XXIII of our state Constitution? It
clearly states: "No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or
duties, ought to be established, fixed, laid, or levied,
under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the
people, or their representatives in the legislature."
We've got a busy few months ahead, folks.
More proposed fee increases (again), another Gov. Patrick state
budget with more tax hikes, and the Massachusetts Tax
Fairness Commission set to issue its tax code overhaul
recommendations next month. It's time to roll up our sleeves and be
prepared.
|
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
When reading about all the transportation
department boondoggles over the past month, I wondered how the
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) was going to pay for all the giveaways.
Now we know: through the
state's cash-cow slush fund, the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Last year's major state transportation bill swept
$51 million in surplus fee revenues from the state's motor vehicle
inspection "trust fund" through MassDOT over to the MBTA to help
bail-out its budget crisis. "The
Registry collected $550 million in revenue in 2013, including
$134 million in motor vehicle inspection fees, according to the
State House News Service. Now the MassDOT wants to hike
the vehicle inspection fee
― an arbitrary
decision
which it now apparently controls
― to rake in even
more.
Along with the MBTA,
the Turnpike Authority, etc., the RMV has been consolidated within the
Massachusetts
Department of Transportation ―
obviously now, as an opportune funding source to plunder.
According to a Boston Globe report, Alan G.
Macdonald, a member of the MassDOT board of directors, observed:
“We’ve heard from the public that they don’t like gas tax increases
— loud and clear.” All I can reply to such a statement of the
obvious is, "You think?"
In the same report, the Boston Globe quotes Dana Levenson, MassDOT's
chief financial officer: ". . . the RMV might be due for fee
hikes: Many of the fees incurred most often by customers
have not increased since 2008. The price of vehicle
inspections has not changed in 15 years."
First, this is not accurate. Registry of
Motor Vehicles fees were last increased in 2009. On March 10, 2010
the Boston Herald reported: "Bay State drivers were whacked with more than
20 different fee hikes at the Registry of Motor Vehicles last year,
taking another $75 million from drivers as part of Gov. Deval
Patrick’s plan to balance the budget." If I can find this
information so easily, why couldn't Dana Levenson, MassDOT's CFO
― the guy who makes the big bucks
($140K/year)?
Second, increasing the fee for vehicle
inspections from $29 to $35 was proposed in 2009 by a "Special
Commission on Municipal Relief." This hike would have brought in an
additional $27 million a year. House leadership struck it from the
municipal relief bill in early-2010. As with the recent
automatic gas tax increases, that was when our elected legislators
had a vote in hiking fees ― before the
RMV cash-cow was absorbed by the MassDOT.
With a $51 million surplus stashed away in
a vehicle inspection "trust fund" until grabbed and spent for other
uses, "the cost of providing the service" is
demonstrably more than
sufficient. (See:
Emerson v. City of Boston, 1984)
Whatever happened to
(Part the First) Article XXIII of our
state Constitution? It
clearly states: "No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or
duties, ought to be established, fixed, laid, or levied,
under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the
people, or their representatives in the legislature."
We've got a busy few months ahead, folks.
More proposed fee increases (again), another Gov. Patrick state
budget with more tax hikes, and the Massachusetts Tax
Fairness Commission set to issue its tax code overhaul
recommendations next month. It's time to roll up our sleeves and be
prepared.
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Chip Ford |
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State House News Service
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Higher RMV fees eyed to go along with summer fare hikes
By Matt Murphy
Massachusetts drivers this summer could face higher fees for vehicle
inspections or license renewals as part of the Massachusetts
Department of Transportation’s plan to close a projected $55 million
budget gap for fiscal 2015. Despite an influx of $135 million in new
revenue from last year’s package of tax hikes to finance
transportation.
At a board meeting, MassDOT officials on Wednesday identified
Registry of Motor Vehicle fees as “the only viable revenue source”
to close the budget hole for fiscal 2015, perhaps by accelerating
planned increases to fees not projected to increase until fiscal
2016.
The registry fee hikes will come on top of 5 percent increases to
MBTA fares and highway and bridge tolls, which were envisioned in
the Legislature’s long-term financing plan. While raising taxes,
authors of the the law also called for MassDOT to collect $114
million from unspecified new revenue sources, about $47 million more
than originally planned for in the administration’s financing
proposal. Some deferred toll revenues and gaming revenues are also
not expected to materialize completely for fiscal 2015, increasing
the budget gap to $55 million.
MassDOT did not propose which fees to raise or by how much, and
officials said more details would be presented in the coming weeks.
The Registry collected $550 million in revenue in 2013, including
$134 million in motor vehicle inspection fees. Registration fees,
title certificates and driver’s license fees are other top revenue
generators at the RMV.
MassDOT said the new revenue from the transportation financing bill
will help fund operating and debt service costs, while also allowing
the department to transition 60 percent of MassDOT personnel off the
capital budget and onto the operating budget. The first 20 percent
were moved in 2014 and final 20 percent are scheduled to be
transitioned in fiscal 2016.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, January 30, 2014
RMV fees may rise 10 percent
By Martine Powers
State officials will seek to raise Registry of Motor Vehicles fees
by 10 percent on July 1 to fill a $53 million gap in the state
Department of Transportation’s operating budget next year.
Even with new funding alloted for transportation needs in a law
passed last summer, MassDOT must still come up with additional money
to pay for one of the stipulations outlined in that law — that the
agency stop paying employee salaries on credit and instead start
including the pay in the department’s yearly operating budget.
It’s a more fiscally responsible practice in the long run, explained
Dana Levenson, MassDOT’s chief financial officer, at the
department’s board of directors meeting Wednesday. But in the short
run, MassDOT officials must figure out how to find the money for the
new yearly expense.
“We are limited in what we have available,” Levenson said. RMV fee
increases, he continued, “is the only place we have to go to close
the gap.”
The T already plans to raise fares by 5 percent this summer — the
maximum increase allowed under the new law — and some argue that the
state’s rising transportation costs have been unfairly borne by
users of public transportation. Increases in highway tolls would not
fill the gap because the money collected from tolls must be used for
road maintenance.
And the RMV might be due for fee hikes: Many of the fees incurred
most often by customers have not increased since 2008. The price of
vehicle inspections has not changed in 15 years, Levenson said.
And if there’s one thing MassDOT officials learned last year, it’s
that they shouldn’t expect an increase in the gas tax index this
year.
“We’ve heard from the public that they don’t like gas tax increases
— loud and clear,” said Alan G. Macdonald, a member of the MassDOT
board of directors.
The Registry of Motor Vehicles brings in about $550 million per
year. If that figure can grow by 10 percent, MassDOT officials say,
they can close the budget gap. Levenson said staff are still
assessing their options on how to increase fees, but it probably
will not be a 10 percent increase across the board for the dozens of
services offered by the RMV. Instead, they are looking to rely
heavily on more dramatic fee increases on the biggest revenue
generators: vehicle registration, vehicle inspections, certificates
of title, and driver’s licenses.
Officials will announce details of the RMV fee increases in March —
the same time that the T plans to make public its fare hike
proposal.
“It will be done with the idea that [the increases] are going to be
fair,” Levenson said. “They’re not going to be egregious in any
sense.”
Dominic Blue, a member of the board of directors, said he wondered
whether RMV staff could find ways to close the budget with cuts in
expenses, rather than increasing costs for customers.
Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey said that would not be
possible without dramatically affecting RMV service.
“Keeping in mind that wait times are extremely important, the
ability to keep those low is dependent on the amount of personnel we
have,” Davey said. “It’s very difficult to cut any further.”
At Wednesday’s meeting, MassDOT officials also discussed details of
the agency’s capital investment plan, a proposal that was released
this month outlining long-term investments for coming years. That
proposal, MBTA chief financial officer Jonathan R. Davis
acknowledged, underfunds investments in the T’s aging fleet of buses
— a shortcoming that was criticized by a slew of transportation
activists at a MassDOT community meeting later in the evening.
Before the capital plan is approved by the board of directors, Davis
is looking to find at least $300 million more to pay for new buses,
either through shaving off funds currently dedicated to other T
projects, or by seeking federal funds and grants.
Currently, 6 percent of the T’s $6 billion capital spending plan for
2015 to 2019 is dedicated to bus investments. Twenty-seven percent
is alloted to the T’s Green Line and 12 percent to the Orange Line.
The commuter rail is slated to receive 22 percent of the funds.
Some board members expressed concerns that buses, a vital mode of
transportation in urban areas, are getting short shrift.
“It seems like we make a lot more investment in commuter rail,
relative to riders, than in other modes,” said board member John R.
Jenkins said. “It seems significantly disproportionate.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Drivers hit with 20 RMV fee hikes
By Hillary Chabot
Bay State drivers were whacked with more than 20 different fee hikes
at the Registry of Motor Vehicles last year, taking another $75
million from drivers as part of Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan to balance
the budget.
A quietly imposed $5 RMV fee rescinded by Patrick this week was just
the latest in a long list of license, registration and title fees
that critics say are hitting people when they’re down.
“People are tired of being nickel and dimed to death,” said House
minority leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading). “They’re unemployed
and scraping to get by and they’re getting hit from every corner.”
The price of a driver’s license is up 25 percent, from $40 to $50.
The charge for a registration renewal increased from $41 to $50, and
the cost of a new registration went from $36 to $50.
Patrick also approved a $7 million increase in court fees and a
roughly $8 million increase in licensing fees last year.
“The state faces a tough dilemma. With the collapse of state
revenues they need to raise fees to preserve some services, yet with
the financial pressures families are facing, it’s the worst possible
time,” said Michael Widmer, president of Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation.
Only one day after the Herald uncovered it, a $5 RMV fee was halted
by Patrick. Aimed at increasing Internet traffic, it was charged to
customers who did RMV business with an employee if they could have
done it online, through the mail or using the automated phone
system.
Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan apologized for the fee
yesterday during a Massachusetts Department of Transportation
meeting.
“The timing and imposition of the fee was poor, and our
communication could have been better,” Mullan said yesterday.
Drivers and lawmakers said they felt the hike had been sprung on the
public. The registry held public hearings on many of the fee hikes
in April and September, but they had little notice.
Taxpayers were pummeled with several hits to their wallets approved
by Patrick in last year’s budget - higher Registry fees, a 25
percent sales tax hike and a tax increase on alcohol.
Raising Bay State fees during a fiscal crisis isn’t new. Former Gov.
Mitt Romney raised millions in fees in 2003 on everything from golf
courses to ID cards for the blind.
The Springfield Republican
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Registry of Motor Vehicles customers upset by proposed fee increases
By Shira Schoenberg
BOSTON — The Registry of Motor Vehicles is considering raising its
fees on July 1, a year ahead of schedule, in order to fill a $55
million gap in its budget.
The potential 10 percent fee increase, which was discussed at a
Department of Transportation board meeting on Wednesday, raised the
hackles of a number of RMV patrons interviewed Thursday in Boston.
"It's absurd," said David Erf, a graduate student from Cambridge,
who recently moved to Massachusetts and was registering his car and
changing his license. "It's been a stressful day at the RMV and a
lot of money. It shouldn't be more."
Sheila Walsh, who is self-employed and lives in Charlestown, called
the proposed fee hike "awful." "People will jump up and down and
kick, but we have no control over it, other than people being more
careful who they vote in," Walsh said.
A Department of Transportation PowerPoint presentation, which was
discussed at the board meeting and later provided to The Republican
/ MassLive.com, provided the department's rationale for the
increase. According to the DOT, there is a $47 million gap between
the amount of revenue that the department planned to raise, in a
plan it put forward in January 2013, and the amount of revenue that
the legislature asked it to raise, in the transportation funding
bill that was ultimately passed last summer. In addition, some money
that the department expected to get in fiscal year 2015 from
expanded gambling and tolls is being delayed.
The transportation bill that the legislature passed gave the
Department of Transportation an additional $500 million a year this
fiscal year and about $800 million a year by 2018 by increasing the
gas tax, the cigarette tax and the tax on cigars and smokeless
tobacco and imposing the state sales tax on certain software
services. (The software tax was later repealed and replaced with
money from budget surpluses.)
In addition to funding new projects, the department has been using
the additional money to address an operating deficit at the MBTA and
to move employees off the capital budget, which is paid for by
borrowing money, and onto the general operating budget.
The presentation said the MBTA is already planning a 5 percent fee
increase, the maximum allowed by law; toll money can be used only
for specific capital projects; and the Department of Transportation
cannot directly control gaming revenue.
"The only viable revenue source for closing this gap is accelerating
the planned registry fee increase from SFY 2016 to SFY 2015, which
will raise approximately $55 million," the presentation says.
In 2013, the Registry of Motor Vehicles collected $550 million in
revenue. Most of the money comes from car registrations, car
inspections, title certificates and drivers licenses. Today,
Massachusetts drivers pay $50 every two years to register their car;
$29 a year to inspect their car; and $50 every five years to renew
their license. A one-time fee for a certificate of title costs $75.
The discussion of the fee increase, which was first reported by the
Boston Globe, came on the same day that House Speaker Robert DeLeo,
a Democrat, promised that the House would not pass a budget for
fiscal year 2015 that includes additional taxes or fees. DeLeo's
spokesman declined to comment on the proposed fee increases, since
they are administrative, not legislative, business.
The proposal does not need additional legislative action, since the
department already has the authority to raise revenue. The proposal
does have to be approved by the Department of Transportation board
and submitted to the Secretary of State. Assuming the board goes
forward with its plan, there will be public hearings in May.
Board members could get an earful from the public. Jalal Lofti, a
valet and limousine driver from Revere, said his livelihood depends
on driving, and he does not think the RMV should raise its fees. "If
they raise fees, they should raise salaries," he said, referring to
a proposal currently pending before the state legislature to
increase the minimum wage.
Robert Bryer, a plumber from Boston, said he thinks if the RMV
raises fees, "it should be more productive." "I understand (fee
increases) if they can put it to good use," Bryer said. "But they're
not going to."
However, Ilya Yanovsky, a real estate remodeler from Boston, said he
will not be too upset if the RMV fees increase. "Everything is going
up," Yanovsky said. "I don't see anything hostile. It's not going to
their pockets. They have to keep their doors open like everyone
else."
State House News Service
Thursday, January 30, 2014
House slapped more than $300 Mil in local projects onto bond bill
By Colleen Quinn
House lawmakers raised the bottom-line on a five-year transportation
borrowing plan from $12.4 billion to more than $12.7 billion,
quietly packing the bill Wednesday night with sidewalk, bike path
and road projects for lawmakers to take home to their districts in
an election year.
After spending the day adding and subtracting projects from the bill
without much public debate, lawmakers adopted a large “consolidated”
amendment late Wednesday and then unanimously approved the
legislation.
There were 262 amendments filed to the bill, which includes $2.2
billion for the South Coast Rail project, $1.3 billion for the Green
Line Extension, scores of local projects, and renames South Station
in Boston as the “Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center
at South Station.”
Last year, lawmakers raised gas and tobacco taxes to help pay for
transportation system investments after a lengthy, contentious
public debate between the branches and the Patrick administration.
On Wednesday, the House settled for a much quieter discussion about
what to include in the five-year borrowing bill.
Transportation Committee Co-Chairman Williams Straus
(D-Mattapoisett) told the News Service Thursday he asked members to
scale back requests, prioritize projects, or wait until initial
design for a project was complete before requesting construction
funds. At the start of the day, project requests from House members
totaled around $700 million. The spending authorizations added to
the bill totaled more than $300 million, according to Straus.
The big amendment, sponsored by House Ways and Means Chairman Brian
Dempsey, ran seven single-spaced pages. It includes more than 100
spending directives for projects ranging from bicycle paths and rail
trails to multi-million dollar bridge and parking garage projects.
Hundreds of projects around the state were approved, including $5.2
million for reconstruction of Atlantic Avenue from Nantasket Avenue
in Hull to the Cohasset town line; $985,000 for pedestrian-oriented
street layouts, bicycle pathways, lighting and sidewalk improvements
on Main Street in Wakefield; $1.5 million for a rail trail project
in Newburyport; $7.5 million for construction of a parking garage in
Medford Square; $4.1 million for improvements to the Route 27 and
Route 9 intersection in Natick; $1 million to reconstruct Route 31
in Spencer; and $75,000 for the initial design and permit scoping
for a commuter rail station in Wareham and for a Buzzards Bay train
station ADA compliance study in Bourne.
Straus said House leadership worked their way through dozens of
amendments and fed information to House Ways and Means Committee
staff to work out language as part of one big package.
“The members understood it was all going to come back in one
document. It was a little bit of a different process, but it did
seem to work in the end,” he said.
The bill includes $300 million in Chapter 90 funding for cities and
towns for local road and bridge projects in fiscal year 2015. This
is the earliest the House has approved road funding for
municipalities, Straus said.
Despite the Legislature approving $300 million for local road
projects in the current fiscal year, Gov. Deval Patrick held back
some of the money, authorizing only $200 million. Straus said
lawmakers hope the governor will fully implement the increased
funding next year. “That really is important,” he said.
Lawmakers hope to force the hand of state transportation officials
and the next governor’s administration to complete projects included
in the bond bill. The bill uses the word “shall” in directing
MassDOT to move on projects. Straus said lawmakers were
acknowledging the fact that in 11 months there will be a new
governor.
“I think there was a sense that if members were promoting projects,
anything they could do to make their project more of a certainty
with the next administration they should try to do that,” Straus
said.
The idea to rename South Station in honor of Dukakis originated
largely from former Gov. William Weld, according to Straus. Weld
communicated the idea to lawmakers, Straus said. Lawmakers agreed it
was an appropriate way to recognize Dukakis given “his passionate
advocacy on rail transportation.”
Straus said he is unsure if the Dukakis is aware South Station could
bear his name.
One of the few issues that generated any floor discussion while
lawmakers worked on the bill was a proposal by Republican Rep.
Shaunna O’Connell to require MBTA Pension Fund managers to provide
outside auditors with management discussion and analysis notes.
O’Connell (R-Taunton) said auditors have been asking for years for
analysis notes and discussions so they have more complete
information to conduct financial audits. Pension fund managers have
omitted vital information, she said.
The MBTA Pension Fund recently lost a $25 million investment placed
with Fletcher Asset Management, which is now bankrupt and reportedly
under investigation by the FBI and federal securities regulators.
O’Connell contends if analysis notes had been provided to auditors,
the $25 million loss may have been discovered earlier or avoided.
“The pension fund should not be allowed to make their own rules,”
she said on the House floor.
Straus opposed the idea because he said it was unclear what would be
required, and what constitutes analysis notes and management
discussion.
“Management discussion is not a document,” he said. “The amendment
requires, quite frankly, I’m not sure what.” O’Connell responded
that management discussion and analysis notes are terms used by
outside auditors. The amendment was rejected 29 to 125.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Auditor’s warning to MBTA ignored year after year
By Beth Healy
The auditor’s note appears in the MBTA Retirement Fund’s annual report
year after year: Pension managers have omitted information considered
“an essential part of financial reporting’’ and which is required to be
disclosed under governmental accounting standards.
That lack of disclosure, or transparency in the finance world, is
endemic at the MBTA pension board, which for more than two years has
failed to disclose a $25 million investment loss in a hedge fund that
has now been accused of fraud.
A more complete audit could have shed light on the troubled investment
sooner, say specialists in accounting and people who have reviewed the T
fund’s audits.
“These are precisely the kinds of things you cannot catch when you don’t
have these reports,’’ said Iliya Atanasov, a senior fellow at the
Pioneer Institute, a Boston think tank, who authored a recent report
critical of the T’s pension management.
The omitted information is called “management’s discussion and
analysis,’’ and it’s meant to provide important context to the basic
numbers pension funds and other entities provide to their auditors. The
MBTA pension fund would not say why it fails to provide this
information.
“With a loss of this size, and especially if foul play is involved, if
there was management discussion, this should have been included,’’
Atanasov said.
A spokesman for the $1.6 billion pension fund, Stephen Crawford, said
fund officials believe the disclaimer is a common one and “does not
detract from the overall accuracy of the reported information.’’
A spokeswoman for the T fund’s outside auditor, KPMG, declined to
comment, due to customer confidentiality.
The T board does disclose basic financial information it is obligated to
provide to its auditors. However, most pension operations and public
companies go beyond that to provide the management discussion, which
offers insights and explanations of the past year.
A spokesman for the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees the
Governmental Accounting Standards Board, said Massachusetts is one of 30
states that require most public entities to follow generally accepted
accounting principles.
The group encourages this because it “establishes good accountability.’’
KPMG would not say why it continues to review financials from a client
that does not provide required information, referring questions to the
American Institute of CPAs.
Mary Foelster, director of government auditing and accounting at the CPA
group, said it was “not the responsibility of the auditor to enforce the
inclusion” of missing information. She said it’s up to the T retirement
board “and perhaps those overseeing the entity as to whether the
required” information “is included.’’
Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation of the
fund, which has little public oversight.
The Boston Herald
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Cops’ Callahan Tunnel tab $1M
By Richard Weir
The state will shell out a whopping
$1 million on police details
for the three-month Callahan Tunnel rehab, including nearly $2,000 a
day for two cop cars parked at the entrance and exit of the
shut-down tube — an eyebrow-raising expense taxpayer watchdog groups
say is unnecessary.
“It’s absurd. But it’s an ongoing absurdity,” said Barbara Anderson,
head of Citizens for Limited Taxation. “This doubles down on it.
First of all, you don’t need these police details in general and you
especially don’t need them at this site because it’s permanently
closed.”
The state put an overall price tag of
$1 million on police details
for the Callahan project, the bulk of it for off-duty officers
stationed along detours — including one parked inside the Ted
Williams Tunnel during afternoon rush hours. That figure is based on
the $40 per-hour detail rate paid to state police troopers.
The two tunnel entrance and exit details alone will cost taxpayers
$161,280 if the 12-week, $35 million Callahan project finishes on
time in mid-March.
“There is not a state law. It’s more of a practice on work zones,”
State Highway Administrator Frank DePaola said of details for state
road construction projects. “As a general precaution, whenever we
have high speeds and high volumes we’ll have a uniformed officer at
the beginning of the works zones to alert drivers that they are
entering a work zone.”
But in the case of the Callahan, there are no cars whizzing by hard
hat-clad workers because the East Boston-bound tunnel has been
closed to traffic since Dec. 27, and will remain so until the
project is finished.
Concrete barriers permanently block motorists from entering the
Callahan Tunnel from its busier southbound Thomas P. O’Neill Jr.
Tunnel entrance on Interstate 93. However, at its other entrance
from North Street, near Haymarket in downtown Boston, a police car
is parked 24 hours a day at the mouth of the tunnel, usually well
beyond the barrels blocking the on-ramp.
There is also a police car idling at the other end of the Callahan,
in East Boston, where drivers exit the tunnel.
“If the drivers are barred from entering the tunnel, then why do we
need another detail at the exiting lanes? It seems like a waste of
money,” said former state Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, now
research director at the Pioneer Institute. “The state police are
making the decision on where to put these highly paid flagmen. They
very often put them where they are not necessary.”
But DePaola defended the details, saying they are needed to protect
workers in the tunnel in case a wayward drunken driver manages to
get past the barriers.
“We have deliveries and workers coming in and out throughout the day
because we are working 24 hours. ... We are actively working the
tunnel from both ends. There is a need to keep them open,” he said.
State troopers get first crack at the overtime details because it’s
a state project. Boston and other police fill in when necessary.
State House News Service
Thursday, January 30, 2014
House slapped more than $300 Mil in local projects onto bond bill
By Colleen Quinn
House lawmakers raised the bottom-line on a five-year transportation
borrowing plan from $12.4 billion to more than $12.7 billion,
quietly packing the bill Wednesday night with sidewalk, bike path
and road projects for lawmakers to take home to their districts in
an election year.
After spending the day adding and subtracting projects from the bill
without much public debate, lawmakers adopted a large “consolidated”
amendment late Wednesday and then unanimously approved the
legislation.
There were 262 amendments filed to the bill, which includes $2.2
billion for the South Coast Rail project, $1.3 billion for the Green
Line Extension, scores of local projects, and renames South Station
in Boston as the “Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center
at South Station.”
Last year, lawmakers raised gas and tobacco taxes to help pay for
transportation system investments after a lengthy, contentious
public debate between the branches and the Patrick administration.
On Wednesday, the House settled for a much quieter discussion about
what to include in the five-year borrowing bill.
Transportation Committee Co-Chairman Williams Straus
(D-Mattapoisett) told the News Service Thursday he asked members to
scale back requests, prioritize projects, or wait until initial
design for a project was complete before requesting construction
funds. At the start of the day, project requests from House members
totaled around $700 million. The spending authorizations added to
the bill totaled more than $300 million, according to Straus.
The big amendment, sponsored by House Ways and Means Chairman Brian
Dempsey, ran seven single-spaced pages. It includes more than 100
spending directives for projects ranging from bicycle paths and rail
trails to multi-million dollar bridge and parking garage projects.
Hundreds of projects around the state were approved, including $5.2
million for reconstruction of Atlantic Avenue from Nantasket Avenue
in Hull to the Cohasset town line; $985,000 for pedestrian-oriented
street layouts, bicycle pathways, lighting and sidewalk improvements
on Main Street in Wakefield; $1.5 million for a rail trail project
in Newburyport; $7.5 million for construction of a parking garage in
Medford Square; $4.1 million for improvements to the Route 27 and
Route 9 intersection in Natick; $1 million to reconstruct Route 31
in Spencer; and $75,000 for the initial design and permit scoping
for a commuter rail station in Wareham and for a Buzzards Bay train
station ADA compliance study in Bourne.
Straus said House leadership worked their way through dozens of
amendments and fed information to House Ways and Means Committee
staff to work out language as part of one big package.
“The members understood it was all going to come back in one
document. It was a little bit of a different process, but it did
seem to work in the end,” he said.
The bill includes $300 million in Chapter 90 funding for cities and
towns for local road and bridge projects in fiscal year 2015. This
is the earliest the House has approved road funding for
municipalities, Straus said.
Despite the Legislature approving $300 million for local road
projects in the current fiscal year, Gov. Deval Patrick held back
some of the money, authorizing only $200 million. Straus said
lawmakers hope the governor will fully implement the increased
funding next year. “That really is important,” he said.
Lawmakers hope to force the hand of state transportation officials
and the next governor’s administration to complete projects included
in the bond bill. The bill uses the word “shall” in directing
MassDOT to move on projects. Straus said lawmakers were
acknowledging the fact that in 11 months there will be a new
governor.
“I think there was a sense that if members were promoting projects,
anything they could do to make their project more of a certainty
with the next administration they should try to do that,” Straus
said.
The idea to rename South Station in honor of Dukakis originated
largely from former Gov. William Weld, according to Straus. Weld
communicated the idea to lawmakers, Straus said. Lawmakers agreed it
was an appropriate way to recognize Dukakis given “his passionate
advocacy on rail transportation.”
Straus said he is unsure if the Dukakis is aware South Station could
bear his name.
One of the few issues that generated any floor discussion while
lawmakers worked on the bill was a proposal by Republican Rep.
Shaunna O’Connell to require MBTA Pension Fund managers to provide
outside auditors with management discussion and analysis notes.
O’Connell (R-Taunton) said auditors have been asking for years for
analysis notes and discussions so they have more complete
information to conduct financial audits. Pension fund managers have
omitted vital information, she said.
The MBTA Pension Fund recently lost a $25 million investment placed
with Fletcher Asset Management, which is now bankrupt and reportedly
under investigation by the FBI and federal securities regulators.
O’Connell contends if analysis notes had been provided to auditors,
the $25 million loss may have been discovered earlier or avoided.
“The pension fund should not be allowed to make their own rules,”
she said on the House floor.
Straus opposed the idea because he said it was unclear what would be
required, and what constitutes analysis notes and management
discussion.
“Management discussion is not a document,” he said. “The amendment
requires, quite frankly, I’m not sure what.” O’Connell responded
that management discussion and analysis notes are terms used by
outside auditors. The amendment was rejected 29 to 125.
WWLP - TV25
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Lawmaker proposes to nix flat MA income tax
R&D tax credits, education money up for discussion
By Christine Lee
Boston (WWLP) - A Massachusetts lawmaker charged with making tax
policy recommendations wants to eliminate the state’s flat income
tax.
“I don’t think you can really have a fair tax system in
Massachusetts with a flat income tax rate,” said Rep. Jay Kaufman
(D-Lexington), who chairs the Massachusetts Tax Fairness Commission.
The state Legislature has made five attempts over the past 40 years
to change the constitution and replace the state’s flat income tax
with a graduated income tax. Kaufman is in favor of making a sixth
attempt.
Other big policy changes are also up for discussion. Tax and
business experts who are members of the Tax Fairness Commission met
Tuesday to present conflicting ideas on how to improve the state's
tax code.
“The Massachusetts business taxes are unfair to Massachusetts
businesses in the national marketplace,” said Pioneer Institute
Research Director Gregory Sullivan.
The Pioneer Institute has made six recommendations to make tax
policy fairer – including introducing a research and development tax
credit, simplifying the Massachusetts corporate tax code and
lowering the rate and reforming the unemployment insurance system.
But the Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center cites studies that show
corporate taxes are low relative to the rest of the country.
“Overall, corporate taxes, business taxes in Massachusetts are below
the national average,” said Budget & Policy Center President Noah
Berger.
Instead of introducing more tax credits for businesses, Berger
suggests investing money in education and transportation to increase
the productivity of workers.
The Tax Fairness Commission was created last year as a part of a
major transportation funding bill. They’re tasked with releasing tax
policy recommendations by March 1st.
The Boston Globe
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Turnpike toll workers, set to lose jobs, to get pay increases
By Michael Levenson
Some 410 turnpike toll workers set to lose their jobs in 2016 will get
raises worth $24 million to sweeten their departure, under an agreement
reached Friday night between their union and the state.
The toll workers, who will lose their jobs when the state moves to
all-electronic tolling, will receive a 3 percent raise, retroactive to
2013, followed by raises of 2.5 percent this year and 2 percent next
year. The agreement caps two years of intense negotiations between union
leaders and Patrick administration officials.
It will also allow the workers to retire with higher pensions, adding
$11 million in costs to the state’s pension system, officials said.
The pay sweeteners were needed, state officials said, to persuade the
toll collectors’ union to agree to the elimination of the jobs. The
raises also will help preserve labor peace as the deadline to cut the
jobs approaches.
A number of other turnpike workers, including grass cutters, janitors
and tow truck drivers, will get the same pay increase at a cost of $4
million, but they will not lose their jobs.
The toll workers do not all earn the same salary.
About 300 of them who were employed by the Massachusetts Turnpike
Authority prior to its elimination in 2009 currently earn $55,000 on
average. The remaining 110, who were hired after the authority was
abolished in a cost-saving move, earn just under $40,000 on average,
officials said.
All will receive the same percentage increases.
Richard A. Davey, the state secretary of transportation, said the cost
of the raises will be more than offset by the $50 million in savings the
state will realize when it moves to electronic tolling.
“What we’ve essentially done is increase their pay over the next two
years in exchange for having no toll collectors left on the payroll,”
Davey said in an interview just before he and union officials signed the
contract on Friday night. “There isn’t a private-sector company on the
planet that wouldn’t take this deal.”
The contract must still be ratified by the toll collectors, said Robert
Cullinane, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 127, which represents
the workers. But Cullinane expressed confidence that his members would
embrace the deal, which he called “very fair to both sides.”
Cullinane pointed out that the contract requires the state to provide
job training for younger toll workers to help them find new employment
after they lose their jobs. “I think, on the whole, most of them will be
happy,” Cullinane said.
He also raised the specter of the state not meeting its June 2016
deadline to move to automated tolling, calling that “an approximate
date.”
Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation,
a business-backed budget watchdog group, called the deal “a classic
trade-off,” that helps the state move toward a more efficient tolling
system.
Widmer said he does not fault state officials for awarding raises that
he said are on par with the rate of inflation. Most other state workers
received a 3 percent pay increase last July.
Nevertheless, Widmer said, the deal reflects how late Massachusetts has
been to embrace automated tolling, which is common in New Jersey,
Florida, and other states.
“It’s just another example of Massachusetts being slower than many
states to introduce these kinds of efficiencies,” Widmer said. “So it’s
probably a necessary price, but this should have been done years ago, so
we didn’t have to pay the price.”
Electronic tolling allows drivers with E-Z Passes to have their fares
automatically deducted from their accounts, while those without
transponders have bills sent to the address associated with their
license plates.
The negotiations were sensitive, in part, because of a simmering divide
between veteran toll collectors who had been employed by the Turnpike
Authority before it was abolished and new toll workers hired after 2009.
The former Turnpike Authority workers had agreed back in 2009 to forgo
pay increases until the new workers — who earn about $15,000 less on
average — reached pay parity with them.
But Davey said it did not make sense to continue to move toward pay
parity for the two groups when all of them will lose their jobs in 2016.
He said the 2009 contract that the toll workers signed allows the state
to give them pay increases if a new contract is reached, as it was
Friday night.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Patrick’s $36.4b budget boosts DCF funding
By Michael Levenson and Jim O’Sullivan
Governor Deval Patrick proposed a $32.6 million increase for the
state’s beleaguered Department of Children and Families, part of an
annual spending blueprint that also seeks modest expansions in
transportation and education.
Officials said the 5 percent increase for DCF would help reduce
caseloads, which average about 18 per social worker, to about 15, in
accordance with a commitment made by the Patrick administration in
March 2013.
The money will allow DCF to hire about 150 additional social workers
and supervisors, said Susan R. Elsen, an attorney at the
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, which keeps a close eye on the
agency. She called it a “step in the right direction” but noted that
DCF still has less money than it had in 2009.
The $36.4 billion overall budget proposes tax increases on candy and
soda that lawmakers have rejected in the past. It reflects Patrick’s
acceptance that lawmakers, who snubbed his call for $1.9 billion in
new taxes last year in favor of their own $500 million tax hike,
have no interest in asking taxpayers for much more in the fiscal
year that begins July 1.
Patrick called the budget good and sensible, but ruefully
acknowledged that his drive for significant tax increases to fund
education and transportation programs is over, with less than a year
left in office and just over six months remaining before the
Legislature concludes major business in July.
“The people of the Commonwealth, whether it’s the next governor or
the governor after that, are going to have to come back to this
subject one day, if we want to have the kind of Commonwealth that
really assures that everyone has a chance to succeed,” Patrick said.
Local officials said they were upset that Patrick included no
additional local aid, which helps cities and towns pay for police
officers, firefighters, and other municipal services. Since 2008,
that critical account has fallen by about $400 million, say outside
budget analysts.
Unless lawmakers pump money into the fund, cities and towns could be
forced to raise property taxes or cut services, said Geoffrey
Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association, which represents local officials.
“This is actually a very difficult and painful budget for cities and
towns,” Beckwith said. “It’s disappointing.”
Raising property taxes would be a bitter coda for the governor, who
swept into office in 2006 promising to cut that tax. His promise was
felled, in part, by the recession that marked the second half of
Patrick’s first term. He has sought to help local officials raise
revenues by empowering them to increase local taxes on meals and
hotels and by giving them greater power to cut health care costs.
But those resources, Beckwith said, have run their course.
“Communities have used those tools already, to absorb all those
cuts,” he said.
The budget would increase state spending by 4.9 percent, or about
$1.7 billion. Most of that increase, $1.14 billion, comes from
anticipated growth in state tax collections.
Patrick’s plan is also propped up by $97 million in taxes. It would
expand the nickel deposit on soda to noncarbonated juice drinks and
water, make four targeted changes in the business tax code, and
apply the sales tax to candy and soda, which are currently exempt.
Another $334 million comes from one-time revenues. Those include
$175 million from the Rainy Day Fund, a reserve account intended for
fiscal emergencies but frequently used to balance the budget. At the
end of the upcoming fiscal year, the fund would be left with $1.2
billion, which is considered a healthy balance.
Another $53.5 million in one-time money would come from the sale of
gambling licenses, $32 million from one-time federal funds, and $13
million by tinkering with the payment schedule for the state
Medicaid program.
In all, budget analysts said, the proposal’s reliance on one-time
revenues has been roughly halved from the current budget.
Reaction from lawmakers was muted, reflecting a stark political
reality: Patrick’s budget carries little weight in the House and
Senate, which will offer their own competing plans in the coming
months.
“We will have our lick at it, as the House and Senate are supposed
to do,” said Stephen Brewer, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means
Committee. He said lawmakers may increase funding for special
education, regional school bus service, and several programs to
combat homelessness, which he said Patrick did not provide enough
money for.
The governor said he was proud his budget would boost spending on
transportation by $141 million, allowing the state to continue
chipping away at a long list of road and rail projects. Funding for
kindergarten through high school would be increased by $100 million.
Spending on higher education would jump by $68 million and on early
education by about $15 million, to provide preschool for 1,700
additional children from poor families.
About $17 million in new spending would be funneled into programs
for older residents, particularly those designed to keep seniors in
their homes. Advocates for seniors, who have long lobbied for
funding to eliminate waiting lists for those programs, were
thrilled.
“We will not be turning elders away,” said Al Norman, executive
director of Mass Home Care, a network of nonprofit agencies that
care for patients in their homes. “It’s a smart investment because
an elder who stays out of a nursing home today saves money today.”
Noah Berger — president of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy
Center, a left-leaning budget research group — applauded Patrick’s
focus on education and transit, but said the impact of his spending
plan will be limited.
“The governor called it a sensible budget, which I think is somewhat
accurate,” Berger said. “But without significant new tax revenue,
you really can’t make the kind of investments that would strengthen
our economy in the long-term, substantially, so we see pretty modest
investments in things like education.”
Kay Lazar of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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