Gov. Deval Patrick didn’t cut local aid or education funding in the $28.2 billion state budget proposal he filed the week before last, but Melrose Mayor Rob Dolan and the city’s two legislators expressed skepticism that those figures would remain unchanged between now and the start of the next fiscal year. Last Thursday, Dolan noted that Patrick similarly pledged the past two years not to cut Chapter 70 education funding, but Melrose has still lost $3.1 million from the state over that time frame. He added that last year, the difference in local aid between the governor’s budget and the final state budget amounted to a $1 million cut for the city.
Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown’s upset victory last month over Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley, fueled in part by voter unrest over high unemployment and an ongoing recession, has state legislators “… almost crippled with fear,” Dolan said, adding that Patrick’s budget proposal amounts to “political positioning” as the governor, up for re-election in November, positions himself against the state Legislature. “It’s disingenuous, really,” he said. “Politics is playing center stage right now on Beacon Hill. And it’s not Republican versus Democrat. It’s Democrat versus Democrat, throwing in a touch of [Republican gubernatorial candidate] Charlie Baker. Tim Cahill’s [the state treasurer running for governor as an independent], he’s another entity all to himself.”
Facing a $3 billion deficit, Patrick’s budget makes $800 million in cuts while removing sales tax exemptions on soft drinks, candy and tobacco products. It also scales back state tax credits for the film and life sciences industries. Does Dolan believe that Patrick filed a budget proposal that is not completely honest? “That’s what happened yesterday,” he said, referring to the day Patrick filed his proposal. “I support the governor, but the budget has expectations of revenues that simply are not going to happen. I do feel it puts the state in a worse position, because if these numbers aren’t met, then you’re going to be looking again at 9C [emergency mid-year] cuts, which are the worst type of cuts.” Dolan said he would prefer to see necessary budget cuts included earlier in the process, which would allow local communities to better plan for next year and allow the state to rebuild more quickly. He added that the unemployment rate — and the subsequent effect on income tax and sales tax revenues — adds to his skepticism that the governor’s budget can meet its projected 3.2 percent increase in revenues.
Tisei calls for privatization reform, hiring freeze Sen. Richard Tisei, R-Wakefield, who represents Melrose Wards 1-5 and is Baker’s running mate, said that Patrick’s budget proposal is “… kicking the problem down the road” and does not include the reform and restructuring of state government needed to solve the budget deficits faced each year. Budget analysts and Tisei’s Democratic colleagues in the state Senate do not view the governor’s budget proposal favorably, he added. “Usually the governor, at the beginning of the budget process, will put out a blueprint of his spending plan,” Tisei said. “In this case, most people recognize that it was more of a political document than a spending plan. It wasn’t anything that’s being taken seriously.” Asked which reforms he thinks should be included in the budget, Tisei cited repealing the 1993 Pacheco Law, which prevents the state from outsourcing services such as cleaning, highway landscaping and prison food service to private companies, which Tisei claimed prevents the state from saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
Other potential cost-saving reforms Tisei cited include merging the state’s Medicaid program and private non-profit HMOs into one system, as some other states do, and instituting a statewide hiring freeze. “Local governments like the city of Melrose, for the last three years, have been doing everything they can to cut costs and be more efficient,” he said. “The mayor [Dolan] has undertaken a lot of regionalization, merging positions and departments, putting out contracts that are reasonable … the state is still just coming along like nothing’s going on, passing its problems off to local communities and to the taxpayers by asking for more and taking money away from local aid.” Another sticking point for Tisei is Patrick’s budget proposal relying on more than $600 million in federal funding that has yet to pass Congress. Clark concerned with social services, tax credits Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, told the Free Press after attending a meeting at the state Administration and Finance Office that the governor’s budget includes $608 million in Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP), which is used to determine the amount of federal matching funds for state spending for assistance payments for certain social services, state medical costs and medical insurance costs. Clark said that the $608 million in FMAP funds has passed in the House of Representatives, and a favorable vote is expected in the Senate Finance Committee, adding that Patrick is committed to submitting a revised budget proposal if the funding is not approved in Washington. The still undetermined fate of that federal funding, combined with continued volatility in state tax revenues, has legislators proceeding cautiously, Clark said. “I think that it is clear that the Legislature’s top priority is preserving local aid and education funding, but we have to be very realistic about what we’re facing,” she said. “We are seeing a small uptick in revenues … until we really see the unemployment numbers come down, I think people are going to be cautious about it.” Outside of local aid and education funding, Clark said she’s most concerned with programs for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, saying that state programs that support those individuals and their families have a direct affect on those individuals’ caretakers and families ability to retain jobs. Clark also said she is pushing for critical examination of the state’s tax credits, beyond the cuts in the film and life science tax credits included in the governor’s budget proposal, saying that “… we can’t manage what we can’t measure” and that studies are needed to determine whether the tax credits are creating jobs and economic development. “They cover the gamut, including the film tax credit and life sciences, but there are also many existing ones that we just don’t know about,” she said. “Are they really working? Have they really brought and retained jobs to Massachusetts? Were they effective once and now they’re not? Are they, in some places, so effective we should put more in? … Until we get some transparency, we’re driving without a road map.”
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