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CLT UPDATE
Friday, February 24, 2017
Proven again: Too much
spending, not lack of revenue problem
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The controversial pay raises lawmakers
passed last month have proven to benefit far more than the
lawmakers themselves.
Given their positions throughout the
judiciary, those including the father and uncle of sitting
senators, the wife of another senator and the partner of the
attorney general all scored pay hikes.
You can add another to the list: State Sen.
Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat who supported the pay
hikes, disclosed in an ethics filing that his “yes” vote
also helped ensure his brother-in-law — a clerk-magistrate
by trade — also got a boost to his paycheck.
Under state ethics law, such a situation
doesn’t preclude lawmakers from casting a vote on general
legislation that could substantially benefit their immediate
and extended family. All they’re required to do is
acknowledge it.
The Boston Herald
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Pols & Politics / Pay raise, part 4,567
There was no room in the state budget for a
sales tax holiday last summer but plenty, apparently, for
the legislative leadership to grant itself a big raise this
winter.
Now, with spring approaching, the thoughts
of members of the Great and General Court naturally turn to
taxes.
“I think that all of us, including the (Ways
and Means) committee, wants to get a better sense of where
we are fiscally,” House Speaker Robert DeLeo told reporters
recently. “For next year’s budget, I’m not ruling out the
possibility of any increase in taxes.”
While DeLeo later clarified that he
personally is not in favor of new taxes, with Democrats
firmly entrenched at the Statehouse and feeling more
empowered than ever, “revenue enhancement” may be back on
the table. And you can be sure special interests ranging
from the public employee unions to environmental advocates
will want their share of the pie.
Fortunately, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker
has thus far maintained his resistance to any broad-based
tax increase. He remains the taxpayer’s best friend on
Beacon Hill....
Marblehead’s Chip Ford, executive
director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, calls it
“chutzpah,” defined as “the state or quality of being
impudent or arrogantly self-confident. Shameless audacity;
impudence. Behavior that is extremely confident and often
rude, with no respect for the opinions or abilities of
anyone else.”
There’s already a vote on a tax increase
scheduled for next year’s ballot, albeit one that would only
apply to the highest earners. While most polls show the
so-called “millionaire’s tax” passing by a comfortable
margin right now, things could change should state and
municipal officials embark on a spending spree.
Ford’s warning Baker that he needs to stay
strong on the tax issue, informing his members that the
governor “has little going for him but his anti-tax
position. That is pretty much the only thing that separates
him from the Democrats.”
The Swampscott Republican will have no
shortage of opponents when he seeks re-election in 2018. So
too should members of the Democratic Legislature — many of
whom enjoyed free rides last fall — should they seek to
burden constituents with new and higher taxes.
A Salem News editorial
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Tax battle looms on Beacon Hill
Hundreds of state workers who retired early
under Gov. Charlie Baker’s savings program were eventually
put back on the state payroll — some in six-figure part-time
jobs — costing taxpayers nearly $9 million, a Herald
analysis found.
In all, 300 of the 2,497 employees — or 1 of
every 8 — who bit on Baker’s early retirement incentive
program in 2015 returned in part-time roles in the weeks and
months afterward, according to data supplied by the state’s
comptroller’s office....
But critics say the return of highly paid
employees show the program was an inefficient way to trim
staff, and ultimately, a poor cost-cutter.
“I think it shows overall that these ERIP
programs really aren’t the best way of saving money,” said
Eileen McAnneny, president of the Mass. Taxpayers
Foundation. “It’s probably one of the last options the state
should rely on.”
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Some of Gov. Charlie Baker's early retirees haul in six
figures as part-timers
Nearly $9M paid to ‘retired’ rehires
Lawmakers weighing spending demands against
available revenues got another morsel of news this week to
inform their decisions.
Total tax collections midway through
February were $604 million, up $40 million or 7 percent
versus the same period last year, Revenue Commissioner
Michael Heffernan wrote in a Feb. 21 letter to lawmakers.
Fiscal year-to-date, total tax collections
through Feb. 15 were $15.265 billion, which is $424 million
or 2.9 percent higher than the same period last year....
Over the objections of Baker and Republican
lawmakers, the Legislature in January pushed through an $18
million pay raise package for senior public officials,
including themselves.
State House News Service
Friday, February 24, 2017
DOR tax $$$ up 7 percent midway through February
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
We're not alone in our rational suspicion that taxpayers are not safe and secure
from potential tax hikes in the days ahead — that
tax increases are not truly "off the table" but instead are simply not being
discussed out in the open. With this Legislature, what's new? Look
at how quickly House Speaker DeLeo backtracked on his first slip-of-the-tongue
statement that tax increases were in play this year. Don't doubt that a
tax hike could flash through the never-satisfied Legislature as quickly as their
recent obscene pay grab. The recent Salem News editorial put a shot
over the Legislature's bow of any even thinking about hiking taxes.
They're thinking about it alright, and whether they can get away with pulling it
off, as they hope to with their obscene pay grab.
"Fiscal year-to-date, total tax collections through Feb. 15 were
$15.265 billion, which is $424 million or 2.9 percent higher than the same
period last year," the state Department of Revenue
reported on Tuesday.
Again it is proven that the state doesn't have a revenue problem
— just too many legislators consumed by
insatiable spending.
$424 million more than last year has overflowed the state's coffers so
far this fiscal year, with four months remaining in it. Why would
legislators even consider hiking taxes on anyone? The answer
apparently is, because they can, and More Is Never Enough (MINE) and never will
be until they have it all. Extracting more of our money is what too many
legislators like to do most, so they can spread it around to benefit themselves.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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The Salem News
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
A Salem News editorial
Tax battle looms on Beacon Hill
There was no room in the state budget for a
sales tax holiday last summer but plenty,
apparently, for the legislative leadership to
grant itself a big raise this winter.
Now, with spring approaching, the thoughts of
members of the Great and General Court naturally
turn to taxes.
“I think that all of us, including the (Ways and
Means) committee, wants to get a better sense of
where we are fiscally,” House Speaker Robert
DeLeo told reporters recently. “For next year’s
budget, I’m not ruling out the possibility of
any increase in taxes.”
While DeLeo later clarified that he personally
is not in favor of new taxes, with Democrats
firmly entrenched at the Statehouse and feeling
more empowered than ever, “revenue enhancement”
may be back on the table. And you can be sure
special interests ranging from the public
employee unions to environmental advocates will
want their share of the pie.
Fortunately, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has
thus far maintained his resistance to any
broad-based tax increase. He remains the
taxpayer’s best friend on Beacon Hill.
As was pointed out in the Boston Herald last
week, while DeLeo has often reaffirmed his
anti-tax stance in his annual address to House
lawmakers, “he chose not to deliver a speech
this year. That’s raised questions of whether he
would shift the balance of power in the budget
debate and more closely align with the more
progressive state Senate, where there’s always
an appetite to seek out new revenue.”
Certainly Democratic legislators in both
chambers were not shy about defending the latest
pay raise despite its estimated cost of between
$12 million and $18 million — money the
leadership says is included in the current
budget. That’s about the same amount a
one-weekend sales-tax holiday — deemed
unaffordable by those same leaders — would have
cost the state.
With the Bay State economy in high gear, those
in public service are reaping large piles of
cash. One Boston policeman made almost $400,000
last year between his regular salary and
overtime pay. Meanwhile in Peabody, Mayor Ted
Bettencourt is proposing a substantial boost in
the wages of non-union employees, while members
of the municipal light commission are back
seeking a 25 percent bump in their annual
stipend. (The amount was deemed excessive by the
City Council the last time they asked.)
Such seems to be the inevitable result here in
the commonwealth when times are good and people
have more money in their pockets. Some in
government just can’t seem to resist the impulse
to grab some of it for themselves.
Marblehead’s Chip Ford, executive
director of Citizens for Limited Taxation,
calls it “chutzpah,” defined as “the state or
quality of being impudent or arrogantly
self-confident. Shameless audacity; impudence.
Behavior that is extremely confident and often
rude, with no respect for the opinions or
abilities of anyone else.”
There’s already a vote on a tax increase
scheduled for next year’s ballot, albeit one
that would only apply to the highest earners.
While most polls show the so-called
“millionaire’s tax” passing by a comfortable
margin right now, things could change should
state and municipal officials embark on a
spending spree.
Ford’s warning Baker that he needs to stay
strong on the tax issue, informing his members
that the governor “has little going for him but
his anti-tax position. That is pretty much the
only thing that separates him from the
Democrats.”
The Swampscott Republican will have no shortage
of opponents when he seeks re-election in 2018.
So too should members of the Democratic
Legislature — many of whom enjoyed free rides
last fall — should they seek to burden
constituents with new and higher taxes.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Some of Gov. Charlie Baker's early retirees haul
in six figures as part-timers
Nearly $9M paid to ‘retired’ rehires
By Matt Stout
Hundreds of state workers who retired early
under Gov. Charlie Baker’s savings program were
eventually put back on the state payroll — some
in six-figure part-time jobs — costing taxpayers
nearly $9 million, a Herald analysis found.
In all, 300 of the 2,497 employees — or 1 of
every 8 — who bit on Baker’s early retirement
incentive program in 2015 returned in part-time
roles in the weeks and months afterward,
according to data supplied by the state’s
comptroller’s office.
The setup, which legally allows retirees to work
up to 120 days a calendar year, paid out roughly
$30,000 to the average post-retiree. But some
made far more:
● A former
senior deputy at the Department of Revenue made
$159,316 in post-retirement work. Combined with
a $98,039 annual pension, the staffer made
$306,000 in the last 18 months.
●
Another ex-DOR deputy made $133,054 to
supplement a $50,450-a-year pension, totaling
nearly $209,000 since retirement.
●
The former finance director of state police —
once making $156,000 a year — has pulled in
nearly $92,000 in part-time pay on top of a
$106,845-a-year pension.
●
A Department of Mental Health retiree, who
worked as a $127,000-a-year administrator, has
been paid $100,873 while earning a $59,970
annual pension.
●
And a former Environmental Affairs analyst has
made $89,800 working part time while earning a
$37,963-a-year pension.
“Those are certainly troubling examples,” said
state Sen. William N. Brownsberger, a critic of
the program. “It goes to the issue of the damage
that the early retirement program inflicted on a
number of agencies. You had to lose people of
enormous value that you ultimately had to buy
back.”
Through December, the post-retirees combined to
make nearly $8.9 million off the extra work, the
Herald found by analyzing 72 weeks of paychecks
cut to the individual retirees and tabulated by
Comptroller Thomas Shack’s staff. The figure
does not include millions in retirement-related
vacation and sick-time buyouts the state paid on
two dates, in some cases adding tens of
thousands to a retiree’s windfall.
The rehires’ salaries add to a state pension
system that already has $37 billion in unfunded
liability, warned Greg Sullivan, the former
state inspector general.
“The taxpayers have been propping it up,” he
said. “If early retirement incentive plans
aren’t tightly administered, they can exacerbate
the problem in the long-term.”
The state Department of Transportation has
rehired the most early retirees — at least 50
ex-workers, paid $1.3 million, including 29
alone in the highway division, according to
officials. They account for about 12 percent of
the 417 MassDOT workers who took the
incentive-laden retirements, which, too, led all
agencies.
“The premise the program was built on was that
we were living at 10 percent excess (of
employees) across our agencies. But I don’t see
that,” said state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a
critic of the program who questioned whether
some of the “sustained” part-timers could
further undermine the promised savings. “Are we
getting more money as taxpayers, or was this a
sham?”
The MassDOT retirees’ stints vary widely but as
of mid-December, 132 of them were on the
payroll, meaning the state was cutting them
checks 18 months after retirement.
The early retirement program was a central part
of Baker’s efforts to trim costs and balance the
state’s budget in 2015, and his administration
has said it was expected to net $125 million in
annual savings.
Dominick Ianno, a spokesman for Baker’s budget
office, defended the program, noting the
administration accounted for buyouts and
back-filling positions, including with retirees,
when estimating the savings. He said since
launching the program, the administration has
trimmed 2,800 employees overall from the
executive branch payroll.
“We responsibly accounted for costs associated
with ERIP,” Ianno said, adding that it included
the retirees “to allow for knowledge transfer,
training and project completion.”
David Procopio, a state police spokesman said,
the department’s former finance director has “a
wealth of knowledge” the department needs,
especially now that his replacement recently
left for another job. “His contributions
post-retirement were already vital to us,”
Procopio said.
But critics say the return of highly paid
employees show the program was an inefficient
way to trim staff, and ultimately, a poor
cost-cutter.
“I think it shows overall that these ERIP
programs really aren’t the best way of saving
money,” said Eileen McAnneny, president of the
Mass. Taxpayers Foundation. “It’s probably one
of the last options the state should rely on.”
State House News Service
Friday, February 24, 2017
DOR tax $$$ up 7 percent midway through February
By Michael P. Norton
Lawmakers weighing spending demands against
available revenues got another morsel of news
this week to inform their decisions.
Total tax collections midway through February
were $604 million, up $40 million or 7 percent
versus the same period last year, Revenue
Commissioner Michael Heffernan wrote in a Feb.
21 letter to lawmakers.
Fiscal year-to-date, total tax collections
through Feb. 15 were $15.265 billion, which is
$424 million or 2.9 percent higher than the same
period last year.
On the spending side, Gov. Charlie Baker warned
lawmakers last summer that they shouldn't
override his budget vetoes because their annual
budget failed to adequately fund some major
spending needs.
Lawmakers went ahead and reversed $231 million
in spending vetoes and Baker last Friday went
back to the General Court with a bill outlining
the damage associated with underfunded accounts:
about $259 million. Baker in December came under
fire from legislative leaders for unilaterally
cutting $98 million from the $39.5 billion
budget.
Legislative leaders said those cuts were made
prematurely and suggested they may restore
spending but so far have not revisited Baker's
"9C" cuts.
Over the objections of Baker and Republican
lawmakers, the Legislature in January pushed
through an $18 million pay raise package for
senior public officials, including themselves. |
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ 508-915-3665
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