Connecting the Dots on the Need for New Revenues
The things that make Massachusetts a great place to live - good schools, clean water, safe streets - are only possible due to our shared, ongoing support. Unfortunately, a decade of tax cuts and nine subsequent years of declining revenue have left Massachusetts with a multi-billion dollar structural deficit – forcing our elected officials to make difficult decisions in order to balance our budget. The wellbeing of our communities depends on us. It is time to decide whether we want more cuts or more revenue!
In order to make conversations about our budget and our state's revenue options a little easier, ONE Massachusetts has created a set of Talking Points on Our Revenue Options [PDF] that you can use to speak with elected officials - and your friends in neighbors. Together, we can urge our legislators to take a balanced approach to filling the budget gap by drawing on federal stimulus funds, wise use of the rainy day fund, judicious cuts and closing costly tax loopholes!
Not sure how to get that meeting with your legislators lined up? Download this handy guide to Organizing Legislative Meetings [PDF] from the Massachusetts Community Action Network!
The following stories came from our News Roundup. For additional stories on communities and programs that need our support, visit Boston Globe's Budget Blues.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PCA Services provide careful screening and provide services to allow basic living needs for people at very serious medical risk. Day Habilitation Programs serve people who rely on the care and protection of MassHealth services.
Governor Patrick on Friday, Nov. 13, made the decision to cut $100 million from the MassHealth (Medicaid) budget, and, in effect, he ended up cutting more than $25 million from day habilitation services for individuals with disabilities. He also eliminated some personal care aides for individuals with disabilities needing less than 14 hours of assistance per week. [Nov. 13, 2009 - Providers' Council]
Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling is a private, non-profit public health agency dedicated to providing leadership to reduce the social, financial, and emotional costs of problem gambling and to promote a continuum of prevention and intervention strategies including: information and public awareness, community education and professional training, advocacy, and helpline / referral services for problem gamblers, their loved ones and the greater community.
"As state policymakers ramp up the push for casinos and slot machines here, the non-profit agency that treats problem gamblers is facing extinction after a 62-percent cut in funding." [Nov 9, 2009 - SHNS]
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner [SANE] is a rape crisis partnership of medical professionals working with rape crisis centers and other agencies to reach out to victims, more than 1,700 within the past year.
"Now SANE, championed by advocates as the most sensitive and effective way to treat victims of rape and sexual abuse, is taking a 40 percent hit from the state budget ax, one of a series of cuts Governor Deval Patrick announced last week to close a $600 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year that ends June 30." [Nov. 5, 2009 - Boston Globe]
The Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness is leading a 5-year strategic plan to end homelessness in the Commonwealth by 2013, a major initiative of the Patrick-Murray Administration.
The program - having recorded "a reduction in the numbers of unaccompanied homeless adults around the Commonwealth - was called into peril by the Governor's reckless decision to drastically cut the Homeless Individuals Assistance line item (7004-0102) by $2,700,000 (approximately 7.4 percent)." [Oct. 30, 2009 - MHSA]
EDUCATION
Massachusetts libraries strive to provide every resident of the Commonwealth with full and equal access to library information resources regardless of geographic location, social or economic status, age, level of physical or intellectual ability, or cultural background.
State libraries "provide 278 programs for children and adults, 148,000 items are circulated and 13,900 reference questions are answered. In addition... libraries see 83,484 visitors each day, with 23,666 using public Internet computers.
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners' budget for the next fiscal year has been cut by 16 percent. Library advocates fear there will be more cuts down the road." [Nov. 5, 2009 - MetroWest Daily News]
The Regional School Transportation Account funds the mandate that regional school districts must provide student transportation. "When the state pushed for school consolidation, transportation costs were a source of local resistance, so the legislation creating regional school districts required bus transportation be provided, prohibited districts from charging transportation fees and committed the state to fully fund regional school transportation." [Mansfield News Editorial]
"We write to respectfully request that you reconsider your nearly 50% cut to Regional School Transportation Reimbursement as part of your plan to close the $600 million gap in the Fiscal Year 2010 budget." [Oct. 30, 2009 - Legislative Letter to Gov. Patrick]
COURTS
The Concord Probate and Family Court has served northern Middlesex County, an area with almost no public transportation, delivering "timely justice to the public by providing equal access to a fair, equitable and efficient forum to resolve family and probate legal matters and to assist and protect all individuals, families and children in an impartial and respectful manner."
"It is with deep regret that we must temporarily close the Concord session of the Probate and Family Court due to the budget crisis and the shortage of staff to run the sessions in Concord. We will continue running the Marlboro and Lowell sessions at this time. We carefully listened to the valid concerns expressed by the bar, however, our current circumstances make it extraordinarily difficult to continue to deliver justice in one location let alone four locations in Middlesex county." [Nov. 9, 2009 - BMG]
MORE ARTICLES
March, 20120. MBTA Budget Shortfall. Nearly a year after lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick agreed to a major sales tax increase to support the cash-strapped MBTA, the public transit agency expects to face a $73 million shortfall in the next fiscal year. Agency officials, who expect consolidation of state transportation functions to help save taxpayer and commuter dollars, said Wednesday that fare hikes and service cuts would not be used to address the gap. [Daily News Transcript]
March 2010. HEALTH CARE: Cost Relief Plan. Over 20 mayors and municipal officials from across the state are plotting an end-run around Beacon Hill, taking to voters a bid to relieve local budgets by wresting control of employee health plans from labor unions. An ad hoc meeting Friday turned into a strategy session for placing on the 2012 state ballot a referendum granting local governments more authority to structure health care benefits for their workers - a process known as "plan design," often discussed by state policymakers but fiercely opposed by unions who argue that it interferes with collective bargaining. [SHNS]
March 2010. Rainy Day Fund. The Patrick administration plans to reduce rainy day fund spending this fiscal year by $80 million and cut its request for spending from the fund next year by $29 million, citing a recent federal government announcement that it will reimburse Massachusetts for certain payments associated with prescription drug coverage. [SHNS]
Mass Taxpayers Foundation - No Reserves to Count On. According to a new bulletin from the non-partisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF), the state budget gap for fiscal 2012, would be $5 billion if a pair of ballot questions cutting the sales tax pass in November. MTF President Michael Widmer said the two tax cuts would remove $2.5 billion a year from the tax base and the sales tax cut would lead to "massive cuts" in local aid and an "utter disaster" on the budget front.
The foundation predicts that next year "there will be virtually no reserves to count on" and "no possibility that the economic recovery will produce sufficient revenues" to close the state's persistent structural budget gap - a chasm measured in billions rather than millions in recent years. [Bulletin] [SHNS]
February, 2010. Health Costs for Local Employees. A six-month review by the Globe found that municipal health plans, which cover employees, retirees, and elected officials, provide benefit levels largely unheard of in the private sector. The cost of municipal health care more than doubled from fiscal 2001 to 2008, adding more than $1 billion in all to city and town budgets, according to state Department of Revenue data. [Report]
February, 2010. Boston Budget Shortfall. Despite new taxes, an improving economy, and staffing cuts, Boston is still facing a $42 million shortfall in the next budget year that could require more pink slips at City Hall, city officials said yesterday. The city's financial picture has improved, though, thanks in part to new revenue from an increase in local meals and hotel taxes. [Full Article]
February, 2010. Other States. Tax revenues in states across the country have fallen for four straight quarters, and state houses face more than $100 billion in budget gaps over the next two-and-a-half years, National Governors Association chair Jim Douglas said Saturday. A survey of 45 states showed $87 billion in fiscal 2010 budget gaps have been closed so far, with roughly $19 billion still open. [SHNS]
February, 2010. Historic Tax Credit. Citing job creation benefits, Secretary of State William Galvin urged lawmakers to extend beyond 2011 a $50 million tax credit to rehabilitate historic properties in Massachusetts. The program, set to expire in December 2011, offers developers a credit worth up to 20 percent of their costs, and combined with federal tax credits, can spur developments that would otherwise not be undertaken, he said. [SHNS]
February, 2010. Lottery. State Treasurer Tim Cahill told lawmakers Tuesday that the state lottery will exceed its profit estimates by $55 million, bringing in $869 million that will be distributed as aids to cities and towns. Calling it "the most efficient lottery in the country," Cahill said he expects more than $4.41 billion in total lottery sales. [SHNS]
February 17, 2010. Facing budget gap, Boston ponders closing branches, cutting staff, services. Eight to 10 neighborhood libraries could close as part of a drastic overhaul of the Boston Public Library proposed today in an effort to bridge a $3.6 million budget gap, due in large part to a steep drop in state funding. [Full Article]
February, 2010. Financial Aid: Cities and Towns. Gov. Deval L. Patrick is pushing new bills to help the finances of cities and towns, including measures to authorize early retirements and extend payments for future pensions. Municipal leaders welcome the bills, but say Patrick should also back a proposal to clear communities to cut health-insurance costs by increasing co-pays and deductibles for employees without union approval. [Full Article]
February, 2010. Federal Funds: Unemployment Benefits. Massachusetts has asked the federal government for a loan so that the state can continue to pay unemployment insurance to the more than 300,000 Massachusetts residents currently receiving benefits. The request is for a line of credit to borrow up to $250 million. The funds would cover the state's cost of unemployment benefits for February. Just as the state asks to borrow money, Gov. Deval Patrick says he will not raise unemployment insurance taxes to make up for the shortfall. [Full Article]
February, 2010. Budget Cuts: Mental Health. Senate President Therese Murray issued a flat rejection Tuesday of Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed cuts to Department of Mental Health in-patient facilities, telling a group of mental health activists that she would lead a restoration of the funds. "I can assure you that no matter how difficult what we're fighting will be, I won't do those cuts," Murray said. [SHNS].
January, 2010. Local Aid: Boston. Total local aid to the City of Boston from state government will drop by almost 1 percent under the budget bill offered Wednesday by Gov. Deval Patrick, according to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau a business-backed group that monitors city finances
October 27, 2009. Feds blast Deval Patrick on cuts to disabled. A top federal official rapped Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday for a belt-tightening move that could worsen a Social Security backlog, leaving tens of thousands of disabled citizens desperately waiting for benefits. "We’ve got a rapidly increasing number of (disability) applicants. It tends to go up in bad economic times," said Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue. Astrue called Patrick’s plans to furlough workers and possibly cap staffing at the Massachusetts Disability Determination Services offices "inappropriate and counter-productive."
"The irony is it actually aggravates the fiscal crisis," he said. "This is just not helping people. It just makes no sense. This is ultimately an indefensible policy." [Full Article]
October 26, 2009. Layoffs hit legislative staff. The State House documents room, a four-person office that is home to countless legislative files and was a thriving hub of activity before the email era, was closed Monday as the wave of layoffs hitting state government began striking the Legislature. [SHNS]
October 26, 2009. Advocates plan protest over possible cuts in mental health. Advocates for the mentally ill are planning a large protest at the State House tomorrow amid fears of deep state budget cuts to the Department of Mental Health, which could threaten the lifeline of many of the state’s neediest, they said. Workers in the mental health field say they fear the governor will make cuts to the state’s clubhouse programs, which house job training, housing placement and education services for the mentally ill. “This would be a terrible mistake,” said Reva Stein, executive director of the Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition. [Full Article]
October 25, 2009. Sharon. Budget cuts, enrollment woes cloud Alternative School future. The Sharon School Committee will decide this week whether to close the nearly 40-year-old Sharon Alternative School next fall, an issue resulting from district budget cuts and enrollment problems that some say makes the school no longer sustainable. With cuts to the budget, many classes districtwide, especially in grades 4 and5, have swelled, while classes at the Alternative School have remained relatively low. That has been a point of contention in the town: Supporters of the Alternative School argue the importance of having a “choice’’ school, while opponents are concerned that the school, which has about 75 students, is unfairly taking resources away from others in the district. [Full Article]
October 22, 2009. Budget cuts expected to hit disease prevention programs. Valerie Bassett, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, said today she has been told that the state Department of Public Health will likely lose $32 million, or 9 percent of its non-hospital budget, to 9C budget cuts, named for the section of state law granting budget-cutting authority to the governor. DPH spokeswoman Jennifer Manley said none of the 9c cuts has been finalized.
Among the programs expected to lose support are the state's highly successful smoking cessation effort, as well as programs to prevent teen pregnancy, youth violence, and suicide, Bassett said. Infection control would be cut by about half and the Center for Primary Care Recruitment, which helped doctors pay some of their medical school debt if they worked for community health centers, would lose all its state funding. [Full Article]
October 22, 2009. 2 sheriff’s unions OK furloughs. As the Middlesex sheriff’s office struggles to absorb a $7 million budget cut this fiscal year, two of its unions have agreed to accept 10 furlough days as an alternative to layoffs, while its third and largest union is considering the plan. The 80-member Middlesex Sheriff’s Superior Officers Association, along with Local 122 of the Teamsters Union, which represents about 14 security officers, both agreed to the furloughs. The department’s 140 nonunionized administrative employees, including Sheriff James V. DiPaola, are also taking the furloughs through a management directive. [Full Article]
October 22, 2009. Clinging to an unraveling safty net.The Bay State’s most vulnerable citizens - those with physical disabilities, intellectual challenges, and autism - are sitting vigil right outside the governor’s office.Their message: please don’t cut our funding. One more thread snipped from their safety net, and life as they know it, starts to unravel.What happens next will reveal how many people outside their world believe them - and care.Governor Deval Patrick met several times with the rotating band of advocates camped out in front of his office over the past two weeks. When he is unavailable, a surrogate does the honors. On Monday, about two dozen supplicants lined up in the hallway, as requested by Andrew London, a Patrick aide. As they pleaded their case, a lobbyist and a lawmaker or two stepped around them. [Full article]
October 22, 2009. Chief justice warns cuts put courts at risk. With another round of state budget cuts looming, Margaret H. Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, warned yesterday that financial troubles are clogging the courts, pulling probate officers from Boston schools, and decimating the ranks of court-appointed guardians. Problems could range from long delays for hearings to get protective orders in family court to less court oversight of troubled youth to routine business taking months rather than weeks as courthouses are forced to eliminate. “In my judgment, justice is in jeopardy in Massachusetts,’’ she said at her annual address to the legal community in downtown Boston. “These are strong words, and I use them with care. [Full article]
October 18, 2009. Officials say city services could suffer deep cuts.[Full Article] Fitchburg -- Fire Chief Kevin Roy knows what will happen if his department loses more firefighters because of mid-year budget cuts. "If we cut anymore, we'll be closing two fire stations," said Roy. If that happens, residents in the Cleghorn neighborhood and South Fitchburg will have to wait longer for firefighters to respond to emergencies, Roy said.
October 17, 2009. Budget misery grows for cities and towns. The state’s plummeting budget this fiscal year has already resulted in a loss of $724 million in local aid to cities and towns, a 12 percent drop from last fiscal year of what amounts to the lifeblood of many municipalities. Now, local budgets are likely to take another hit. Governor Deval Patrick announced this week that the state has experienced another big budget shortfall, and he wants the Legislature to grant him authority to make cuts beyond the executive branch agencies he oversees. [Full Article]
October 4, 2009. Drivers sick and tired of RMV backups. Frustrated Bay State drivers are waiting double and even triple the amount of time they were a year ago at some of the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicle branches as budget cuts have forced closures and staff reductions, leaving residents spinning their wheels. [Full Article]
October 4, 2009. Library's bake and book sale draws a crowd. LUNENBURG -- The bake and book sale held in support of Lunenburg Public Library on Saturday could not have come at a better time, as library officials are currently facing mid-year budget cuts. "We couldn't operate the way we do without this kind of support," said Library Director Amy Sadkin. "These efforts supplement every aspect of our budget."
Library officials are in the process of coming up with a plan to trim 5 percent of the budget for the current fiscal year at the request of Town Manager Kerry Speidel. The cuts are needed to help close an estimated $328,000 deficit in the town's budget. "The budget situation makes events like this as important as ever," Sadkin said. [Full Article]
October 3, 2009. State forest fire bureau bracing for cutback, layoffs. Steep budget cuts at the Department of Conservation and Recreation will reduce the state’s ability to fight forest fires, fire officials across the state said yesterday. Over the next week, the agency will issue layoff notices to as many as 55 employees to account for the $11 million in budget cuts required as a result of the state’s fiscal crisis. Those cuts are likely to reduce the staff of the agency’s Bureau of Forest Fire Control by at least half. [Full Article]
October 1, 2009. As funds dwindle, elders must wait for home care. Local agencies that serve seniors are warning that state budget cuts will leave many area elders unable to obtain needed home care services. The state’s 27 elder home care agencies on Sept. 8 initiated waiting lists for the state’s basic home service, according to Al Norman, executive director of Mass Home Care, an association of senior care agencies.
“We understand as providers that the state has a serious revenue issue,’’ Lanzikos president of Mass Home Care said. But he said the state “should not short-circuit’’ funding for home care. “We can keep a lot of frail folks in the community and avoid institutional care, which ends up being much more expensive and is not where people want to be.’’ [Full Article]
September 29, 2009. School for sale?---Supt. looking at all possibilities. ABINGTON. Abington School Superintendent Peter Schafer said he thinks the massive budget cuts to the town school system will ultimately lead to the high school losing its accreditation. A Town Meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 26 to address the town’s financial situation. Until then, Schafer will be brainstorming ways to address the financial hit the school department will be taking.
As far as the secondary schools are concerned, there will be the elimination of some high school activities, the loss of business education at the high school, the reduction of art education at the high school, the elimination of foreign language studies at the middle school, the loss of a middle school librarian, the elimination of music appreciation at the middle school and the elimination of technology/engineering courses at the high school. [Full Article]
September 29, 2009. Lunenburg officials must cut budgets to close $328,000 deficit. LUNENBURG -- Department heads are being asked to significantly reduce their budgets to help close a $328,000 deficit in the current fiscal year, according to Town Manager Kerry Speidel. Speidel has asked the heads of the Police, Fire and Public Works departments to come up with plans to reduce their budgets by 2.5 percent. General government departments and Lunenburg Public Library officials are being asked to reduce their budgets by 5 percent.
Tom Alonzo, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said all cuts to town departments moving forward are going to have a negative impact on services. "For the past several years we've been looking to cut waste and become more efficient in order to combat rising costs and reduced revenue," Alonzo said. "But it's gotten to the point where there is no longer any waste to cut. Any cuts we make now are going to affect services." [Full Article]