According to today's AP report, "Total spending in the 2001 fiscal year was $22.2 billion."
Boston Globe reporter Rick Klein yesterday recognized, "Even if all the other pieces are put in play, state leaders will still be forced to cut at least $400 million and perhaps as much as $800 million from the proposed $22.9 billion budget, which is $800 million more than what was spent last fiscal year."
If our "full-time professional" legislators don't get off their collective butts and finally do the job we pay them over $55,000 a year to do -- even if it's five months too late -- Governor Swift intends to cut their proposed FY 2002
budget by $700 million.
The budget will not be cut beneath last year's level:
Only the Legislature's usual budget
growth will be eliminated.
This is the "fiscal crisis" our over-worked legislators are using to
hopefully rationalize "freezing" -- repealing -- our tax rollback!
Too many in this irresponsible Legislature are only over-worked scheming to kill the rollback by any means that might possibly succeed.
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|
Chip Ford |
The Boston
Herald
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Forum
Temporary tax insanity:
Pols should keep mitts off voters' rollback
by Wayne Woodlief
OK, folks, you've done it before, let's do it
again.
Shout it out, so loud that Senate President Thomas
F. Birmingham, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and anybody else out
to thwart our will can finally hear: Stop messing with our tax cut!
They aim to undo what we did just a year ago, in
November 2000, when an overwhelming majority of Massachusetts voters
approved a rollback of a "temporary" income tax increase,
back in the Dukakis administration, that lasted a decade instead.
By law, the state income tax rate is now due to
fall from 5.6 percent to 5.3 percent in January on the way to 5
percent in January 2003, where it was before the "temporary"
increase. That's an estimated savings of $175 a year for a family of
four with a $70,000 annual income.
Not a fortune, but enough to bring home a load of
groceries, surprise Sarah with a new bike or buy a suit off the rack
-- and thus pump some needed stimulus back into a slowing economy.
But no, says Birmingham. He is now supporting a
freeze on the tax cut, "temporarily," just for a year mind
you (we've heard that before), until the current fiscal crisis passes.
And Finneran -- playing cute as he did when he made
the voter-approved Clean Elections Law just disappear -- is leaning
toward tying an economic "trigger" to the tax cut. It would
force the tax rate to stay the same as long as the economy is dipping.
Hey, Mr. Speak-uh, if it quacks like a duck, it's got webbed feet.
So we have to let them know again that we're sick
and tired of that decade-old "temporary" tax increase.
Write, phone, e-mail, pay a personal call on your local rep or
senator, do whatever it takes to get their attention.
And deliver this message: We voted that increase
out. We can do the same to you.
The message might work. Rank-and-file legislators
are already nervous about defying the voters on this one. And our
target threshold is lower than it was in the referendum.
Thanks to acting Gov. Jane Swift's vow to veto any
repeal of the tax rollback, we don't need to persuade a majority of
legislators to do the right thing. It takes just one-third plus one,
in either house, to sustain her veto.
Birmingham said he won't even bring the tax-cut
freeze up for a vote unless he knows the two-thirds needed to override
a veto is there in both houses.
That's because he's running for governor in 2002
and a lot of his members are either up for re-election or gunning for
higher office. And none of them is a kamikaze.
"I'm not going to put the membership through
the crucible of a very perilous vote unless we know we have the
numbers to actually achieve some savings," Birmingham said in an
interview. "This is not some Parisian salon," engaged in
debate for the sheer joy of it. (Funny, I never would have confused
the Massachusetts Senate with a Parisian salon.)
Does he have the numbers now to override?
"We're close, but we're not there," the
Senate president said. The same is said to be true in the House:
Close, but no cigar.
It's up to us to keep it that way, to remind them,
as Barbara Anderson and her Citizens for Limited Taxation are doing,
that there are consequences, even for Finneran's ploy.
According to Anderson, a "moratorium for one
year" or the "Finneran Trigger Plan" would say:
"Dear Voter, you took a whole lot of dumb pills if you really
believe that this is not the first step of a permanent repeal. Just
look at our track record, dummy."
Besides, if the tax rollback is suspended, its
demise would mark a double thwarting of the voters' will in the new
budget.
That's because Finneran succeeded in torpedoing any
effective funding for the Clean Elections Law in the House, though it
was approved 2-1 in a 1998 referendum. And though Birmingham steered
adequate funding for Clean Elections through the Senate, he hasn't
busted his hump for it in conference committee.
"I don't know" if there'll be funding for
Clean Elections in the new budget, Birmingham said on Friday. "My
focus now is on balancing this budget."
Now, I can sympathize with our leaders in the
Legislature. We are in hard times, revenues are in free fall and our
reps do face some very large cuts in the budget, enough to enrage
another set of voters.
"It's a difficult decision," Birmingham
said last week. He said he opposed the tax cut ballot question, even
debated on it (against former Gov. Paul Cellucci). But he had accepted
the will of the voters. Until now.
Revenues dropped $30 million in July, $30 million
in August and then an astounding $230 million in September, the Senate
president said. "So we are now facing a shortfall of $1.3 billion
to $1.4 billion for the year. And we have to take measured,
disciplined steps."
They include whacking hundreds of millions of
dollars out of a budget that slipped into a House-Senate conference
committee months ago. The budget has yet to emerge to allow individual
members to join the tight little band of conferees (plus Birmingham
and Finneran) in deciding which whacks are sound and which are not.
And, said Birmingham, another $400 million could be
taken from the state's main "rainy day fund" of $1.7 billion
(another $579 million is available in a separate fund) -- money set
aside in good times for use in crises like this one.
Yet, he said, he is convinced that to avoid deeper
cuts in programs (citing some of the more popular ones such as local
aid, youth jobs and the like), the tax cut should be suspended for a
year, with a total saving for state government of $200 million.
"Look, I'm not naive," Birmingham said.
"I'm running for governor. I know this could be perilous for me.
But what's the point of being in a position of leadership in a time of
crisis if you can't do the right thing, at least present something for
consideration?"
Yet it's a hot potato he's handing his members.
State Sen. Susan C. Tucker (D-Andover) was in the
House in 1990 when the last fiscal crunch arose. She voted for tax
increases over deep spending cuts and lost her seat. She finally got
back in office, winning a Senate seat in 1998. Now she's polling her
constituents by mail on what they'd like her to do.
Then there are the Tolman brothers -- former state
Sen. Warren Tolman, who is one of Birmingham's rivals for governor,
and Sen. Steven Tolman (D-Brighton) -- who keep goading Birmingham.
"I don't think it's in our best interest as elected officials to
continue to thwart the will of the voters," said Steven Tolman.
And Warren added, "We should look first more to the rainy day
fund and the tobacco suit settlement."
Birmingham, who said he isn't trying to muscle
fellow senators on this issue, sighed, "There are no white hats,
no black hats" in this drama. Maybe not. But there were an awful
lot of voters who thought they had used the ballot box in 2000 finally
to rid themselves of an onerous tax increase. If they see that dream
dashed, they may well decide who are the villains in the mix.
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Associated
Press
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Swift threatens cuts if no new
budget soon
By Ken Maguire
BOSTON (AP) Acting Gov. Jane Swift on Saturday
challenged legislative leadership to produce a budget by the end of
next week or she'll make unilateral cuts to close $1.2 billion in
deficits.
Swift would cut up to $800 million from state
government, including up to $300 million in aid to cities and towns,
and request legislative appropriation of $500 million from free cash
and tobacco settlement money, the administration's financial experts
said.
Other proposed cuts are $100 million in reduced
payments to the state's pension fund; $96 million from Health and
Human Services; up to $66 million from Public Health; $34 million from
the Education Department; and $20 million from higher education.
Swift says she has the legal power to make cuts
when the latest interim budget expires Friday. A top aide said the
administration can't wait any longer for the Legislature to pass a
2002 fiscal year budget, which is five months late.
"They don't give a good God damn,"
Administration and Finance Secretary Stephen Crosby said of the
Legislature. "Where the hell are they?"
The overall budget shortfall is $1.35 billion, but
the administration said it's already dealt with a $250 million deficit
announced in September.
Swift ordered Crosby and his staff to produce a
menu of cuts from which she'll make decisions. They worked at it late
Friday and all day Saturday.
Crosby said Swift will examine the plan Monday,
Veteran's Day, in her office. He said House Speaker Thomas Finneran
and Senate President Thomas Birmingham are invited.
But unless they produce a budget or agree to a
budget summit with her, she'll go ahead with her own plans, Crosby
said.
Birmingham is not interested in a summit.
"When the Speaker and I met on Friday with the
House and Senate chairs of Ways and Means the issue of Governor
Swift's involvement arose and we agreed we did not need her direct
involvement at this time," he said.
Birmingham said he spoke to Swift earlier Saturday
and told her that "we were making progress and would likely have
a final proposal soon."
Finneran was contacted and said he'd meet
"anywhere, anytime," according to Crosby.
In addition to the proposed cuts, Swift is calling
for spending of $300 million from the state's Rainy Day Fund and $200
million from annual tobacco settlement money.
Unlike the cuts, however, only the Legislature can
appropriate funds, which will be difficult.
Swift floated the tobacco idea last month and
Finneran called it "troubling." He prefers spending just
$100 million annually and putting the rest in a trust fund for future
health care needs. His spokesman said Finneran had no comment
Saturday.
Massachusetts is the only state in the country that
has yet to pass a budget for this 2002 fiscal year. The administration
said this is the latest the state has gone without a budget since
1965.
Total spending in the 2001 fiscal year was $22.2
billion.
Crosby said they'll present Swift with up to $300
million in cuts in local aid, with the hope of keeping it to $100
million. He cited water and sewer subsidies as one area to reduce.
Specific proposed cuts include: $30 million form
state employee health insurance; $16 million from welfare; $10 million
from Medicaid benefits packages; $8 million from Housing and Community
Development; $5 million from transportation and construction; $2
million from police details; and $2 million from the Registry.
Crosby said the proposed $20 million cut from
higher education would be split between the University of
Massachusetts system and the state's community colleges.
The administration's figures, he added, incorporate
an expected reduction of 5,000 state employees by the first quarter of
fiscal 2003, which begins next July. He said it would be accomplished
through early retirement incentives. The state has 73,000 employees.
Program cuts are politically unpopular, but Crosby
said they were forced to do so.
"It's coming from us because the Legislature
didn't do it," he said. "We're going to put numbers on the
table."
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The Boston Globe
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Governor eyes trim of 5,000 state
jobs
Swift proposes $700m budget cut
By Rick Klein
Globe Staff
Frustrated by legislative inaction, the Swift
administration yesterday proposed $700 million in budget cuts,
including the elimination of 5,000 state jobs, to help close a
swelling $1.4 billion deficit.
The administration's plan would slash $100 million
in aid to cities and towns and $96 million from human services,
including welfare funds, programs for the mentally ill, and public
health awareness campaigns, according to the state budget chief,
Stephen P. Crosby.
Acting Governor Jane M. Swift will also call for a
7 percent reduction in the state work force, but Crosby said she hopes
most of the jobs can be eliminated through a new early retirement
program.
"This is sober stuff we're talking
about," Crosby said. "What we're telling you now is the
toughest stuff in this business."
Swift's plan is the first offered for large-scale
cuts, as state leaders struggle to cope with the shrinking economy and
plummeting revenues.
The proposal will require legislative approval, and
Crosby warned that if the Legislature lets its session end Nov. 21
without a budget, even steeper cuts will be needed.
Massachusetts is the only state in the nation that
has yet to pass a budget for the current fiscal year. The Legislature
is now 134 days late in sending a spending plan to Swift -- the
longest such delay since the 1960s.
"It's staggering irresponsibility on the part
of the Legislature," Crosby said. "She wants people to know
what we're talking about."
Crosby said that Swift will finalize her list of
proposed cuts tomorrow and will present them to House Speaker Thomas
M. Finneran and Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham.
Several of the administration's ideas -- including
a $100 million reduction in contributions to a state employees pension
fund, spending $200 million more from a tobacco lawsuit settlement,
and forcing state employees to pay $30 million more for their health
insurance -- have been rejected by lawmakers before and will
undoubtedly receive cool receptions from House and Senate leaders.
But others are new proposals to trim spending, and
with no other suggestions in the public realm, they could shape the
ensuing debate over what programs to cut. Crosby said Swift felt
strongly about offering a broad plan of cuts -- including politically
unattractive ones -- to force the Legislature to face a new economic
reality.
Although it is the most detailed plan provided so
far, Crosby was still unable to answer many questions about the plan,
including which employees would likely lose their jobs, what
incentives would be offered to encourage them to retire, and how much
it could cost.
House and Senate leaders conducted budget talks by
telephone over the weekend, but no one on either side is predicting an
imminent breakthrough. Finneran and Birmingham are reportedly still
far apart on the proper mix of spending cuts and reserve funds.
Crosby said the $700 million in cuts need to be
combined with $300 million from state reserve accounts and the $200
million in tobacco money to close the budget gap. The administration
has already moved to trim about $250 million from spending in its
executive agencies.
Crosby said Swift wanted, as much as possible, to
avoid cuts that directly affect state services, particularly to
families and children. That's why, for instance, the $66 million
proposed cut at the Department of Public Health trims screening and
research programs and public-health advertising campaigns rather than
aid to hospitals, he said.
"They're easier to cut because they don't
involve [state] employees," Crosby said.
The proposed cuts in local aid -- which could
affect everything from school spending to roadway maintenance -- are
expected to be controversial. Even before they were announced,
representatives of cities and towns had planned a meeting at the State
House Tuesday to ask that municipalities be protected.
Swift is also likely to call for cuts to water and
sewer subsidies and a $34 million cut in K-12 education aid. Also eyed
are $20 million in aid to the University of Massachusetts system and
community colleges; a $10 million cut in environmental spending that
could spell the end of a proposed network of bicycle paths; and a $7.5
million cut in public-safety spending that could mean less of a State
Police presence near summer vacation and holiday shopping areas.
Though any cuts are likely to be politically
difficult, Swift's reductions do not represent deep percentage
decreases over current spending, which is about $23 billion annually.
Her proposed local aid decrease is about 2 percent, as is the
reduction in higher education. The social services budget would fall 1
percent under her plan.
Crosby said Swift has already invited Finneran and
Birmingham to a special budget summit to deal with the state's fiscal
problems. Finneran was open to the idea, but Birmingham said her input
would not be necessary at this point, Crosby said.
Swift will send her proposal for dealing with the
fiscal crisis directly to the Legislature by the end of the week if
budget talks between the two leaders continue to be fruitless. If they
don't come up with their own agreement and don't act on Swift's
proposal, Crosby said drastic cuts will have to be made.
The state Constitution gives the governor special
powers to curb state spending if administration officials determine
that the state will be unable to pay its bills. But Swift cannot
unilaterally access reserve funds, meaning more cuts would have to be
made if the Legislature stays on the sidelines.
Finneran could not immediately be reached for
comment after Crosby's announcement late yesterday afternoon, and a
spokeswoman for Birmingham said he could not respond without seeing
the plan.
The announcement seemed timed for maximum media
exposure and to present an administration focused on the seriousness
of the fiscal crunch. A Crosby aide even led reporters and
photographers through State House offices yesterday where eager
administration budget analysts worked with spreadsheets and
calculators.
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The Boston Herald
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Swift eyes $700M cuts in budget
showdown
by Jules Crittenden
In a bid to force the Legislature to act on the
state's long-delayed budget, Acting Gov. Jane Swift will lay out her
own proposal tomorrow for $700 million in cuts to resolve a $1.2
billion deficit crisis.
"It's not supposed to come from us but it's
coming from us because they (legislators) don't want to do it,"
Administration and Finance Secretary Stephen Crosby said yesterday,
denouncing what he called the House and Senate's "staggering
irresponsibility."
Today marks the longest the state has gone into a
fiscal year without a budget in at least 25 years, Crosby said. In
1999, the budget was done on Nov. 10, although the state constitution
sets a deadline of the fiscal year's start on July 1.
In the middle of a weekend number-crunching
session, Crosby detailed "options" for cutting more than
$700 million and tapping $500 in reserves to balance a $22.6 billion
budget at a time when revenues are plummeting. Swift will make final
choices on cuts in a holiday work session tomorrow.
Crosby said Swift spoke with House Speaker Thomas
Finneran Friday and Senate Pres. Thomas Birmingham yesterday to demand
a budget summit to resolve the crisis. He said Finneran agreed to meet
"anywhere, any time."
Birmingham told the Associated Press he is not
interested in a summit.
"When the Speaker and I met on Friday ... the
issue of Governor Swift's involvement arose and we agreed we did not
need her direct involvement at this time," Birmingham said. He
said he told Swift yesterday that "we were making progress and
would likely have a final proposal soon."
Crosby said, "If there is not a budget summit
and there is not a (Legislative) budget submitted to her within five
working days, she will file her own recovery budget which will do for
the Legislature what they should have done."
The largest cuts in Swift's proposal include $100
million from the state's annual payment into the unfunded pension
liability fund, and $100 million from the state's $5.9 billion aid to
cities and towns.
Swift's plan calls for reducing the state's 73,000
workforce by 5,000 jobs by next August, but Swift hopes to avoid
layoffs with early retirement incentives.
The Executive Office of Human Services is slated
for $96 million cut in its $9.6 billion budget. That includes $10
million from Medicaid's $5.4 billion budget.
Other human service cuts include $16 million from
the Department of Transitional Assistance's $881 million budget,
through measures such as increasing the 20-hour work week requirement
for recipients up to 30 hours.
The Department of Public Health would lose $66
million of its $520 million budget, targeting items such as the AIDS
and HIV awareness campaign and prostate cancer research.
The Department of Education's $4.2 billion budget,
mostly aid to school districts, is slated for a $140 million cut in
grants, aid and reimbursements.
The Department of Higher Education, with a $1.72
billion budget, is due for a $20 million cut to be equally shared by
the University of Massachusetts and the state's community colleges.
The Executive Office of Environmental Affairs's
$250 million budget is slated for a $10 million cut, with $6 million
of that coming from the Department of Environmental Management's $50
million budget. The Department of Public Safety's $997 million budget
is facing a $7.5 million cut, with $2 million from the Registry of
Motor Vehicles' administrative budget - forcing cuts in hours or the
closing of branch offices - and a $2 million from State Police holiday
details.
"For the most part, this is what our budget
will look like," Crosby said, although he added that when Swift
sits down tomorrow to make the final choices, "there will be some
changes."
There is strong disagreement on how much to take
from the state's cash reverses. Swift is proposing $300 million from
the $2.3 billion "rainy day" fund and $200 million from the
state's tobacco-settlement fund. Finneran has resisted the idea of
using tobacco funds to balance the budget, while Birmingham reportedly
wants to tap more of the state's reserves.
Crosby said that if the Legislature fails to match
the cuts or fails to approve the spending of tobacco-settlement funds,
Swift will be forced to make "draconian" cuts.
Efforts to reach Finneran and Birmingham late
yesterday were unsuccessful.
Crosby said Swift's goal was to protect services to
families and children, security and mandated programs; and to avoid
cuts that jeopardize federal reimbursements.
"It's important people remember that there are
areas we are not cutting," Crosby said. The Massachusetts
Rehabilitation Commission and the departments of youth services,
mental retardation, mental health and social services are slated for
minor cuts or none at all.
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