Thought of the Day - 02/01/2010

Have you heard the news?

Powerball is here in the Bay State.

That’s right. Because of a recent deal state Treasurer Tim Cahill entered with other states, Massachusetts is now one of 33 states that offer the Powerball lottery game to residents.

Many people here will be excited to be able to play. Because of the game’s size, jackpots are typically very large, making it very tempting to play. And tickets cost just $1. According to the Boston Globe, participating merchants had sold 85,000 by 2:30 p.m. yesterday, the first day Powerball tickets were available in Massachusetts.

But the real winners here are Massachusetts cities and towns, who will be the primary beneficiaries of the $25 million annual deal. Most of the money goes to local aid, and with the problems municipalities are facing these days, any money we can put toward local aid is welcome news.

Are you happy to have Powerball here in the Bay State? Do you think you’ll buy a ticket? Please let me know by posting a comment.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY - 01/28/2010

Yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick announced his budget plan for Fiscal Year 2011. Here’s how I think the Governor’s Budget adds up:

Patrick’s recommendation for an overall three percent increase in spending, based on a risky bet that state tax collections in this poor economy will actually increase by about the same amount;

PLUS, Patrick’s plan to base long-term spending commitments on $800 million of one-time federal economic stimulus payments that have been promised to our state this year;

PLUS, Patrick’s proposal to base spending on the uncertain receipt of another $600 million of federal economic stimulus funds that have not even been committed by Congress yet;

PLUS, Patrick’s withdrawal of another $175 million from our state’s already-depleted Rainy Day Fund to cover spending;

PLUS, Patrick’s request for new tax hikes on tobacco, candy, and soft drinks;

PLUS, Patrick’s empty promise not to cut local aid, which does not account for local aid cuts last year, and which overlooks his request for additional “9C powers” that would allow him to cut local aid after the budget is passed;

PLUS, Patrick’s blueprint for state government that includes 66,575 full-time equivalent positions, up from about 62,000 workers needed to run state government just five years ago;

PLUS, Patrick’s plan to cut spending on some vulnerable populations as a way to cover spending increases in other areas;

EQUALS, a spending plan that is: not fiscally responsible; unsustainable; contrary to the best interests of Massachusetts residents; and, something I can’t support.

What’s your calculus? How do you think the Governor’s budget adds up? I’d love to hear from you. Please let me know your thoughts.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY – 01/21/2010

Now that the US Senate race is over, some political attention is shifting back to Beacon Hill.

People are asking how Massachusetts political leaders intend to address some of the biggest problems facing our state.

Tonight, we might get a glimpse into some of those proposals when Governor Deval Patrick delivers his annual State of the Commonwealth Address.

I will be listening intently to what the Governor says in his remarks, and specifically what he envisions for the upcoming year. And, I’ll be looking for him to make specific proposals to move our state forward in several ways, including:

• FIXING THE ECONOMY – In order to be successful tonight, I think Governor Patrick needs to prove that he has a plan to fix our state’s economy. He needs to demonstrate that he can bring jobs back to Massachusetts and trigger investment here.
 
• FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY – I want Governor Patrick to show me that he will balance the budget this year and control state spending, while holding the line on new taxes and fees.
 
• GOOD GOVERNMENT – I will be watching to see if Governor Patrick has any new ideas to make government less costly, more efficient, increasingly transparent, and completely accountable to those it serves.
 
• RIGHT PRIORITIES – In addition to the above, I hope Governor Patrick will convince me that he is getting back to basics and putting emphasis on the right priorities this year, things like supporting cities and towns with local aid, improving our schools and making our streets safer.
 
• LEADERSHIP – Most of all, I think Governor Patrick needs to lay out a vision for how to make Massachusetts a better place and how he intends to take the lead in making that vision a reality.

It sounds like a tall order, but that’s what I think our state needs in order to succeed. Interestingly, it looks like the editors over at The Boston Globe will be looking for more or less the same thing. There’s an editorial in today’s Globe that calls on the Governor to show “what else he will do to promote government that is both responsive and frugal.”

We’ll see what happens when the speech starts at 7 p.m. tonight. I’ll be sure to let you know what I think. Until then, I’d love it if you’d let me know what you think. What should Governor Patrick talk about tonight? Please post a comment below and let me know.

Thought of the Day - 01/13/2010

According to the Boston Globe, cities and towns across Massachusetts are growing increasingly concerned about the state’s bleak financial picture and what it will mean for local aid, fearing deep cuts in school assistance from the state later this year.

I don’t need a newspaper to tell me how important local aid is to cities and towns, and how debilitating a further cut in local aid would be this year, particularly when it comes to supporting our schools.

Cities and towns should not be made to suffer for the state’s poor fiscal management and unwillingness to make tough decisions to balance our budget. We should not be talking about laying off teachers when we have waste in our state budget, like millions of dollars of unnecessary legislative expenses, and when our state transportation agency is still bloated with administrative positions. Teachers are on the front line of helping kids in our state, and we should make it our priority to fund them before we pay for wasteful state programs.

Governor Patrick has been restoring money to several important programs lately because of better-than-expected revenue numbers. I’m hoping that local aid will continue to be a priority. I’m also hoping that local aid will be a priority when Governor Patrick files his budget in a few weeks. I’ll be checking his budget closely for state aid numbers, and I will be looking for ways to make sure cities and towns have the support they need if it’s not already in the budget.

Thought of the Day - 01/07/2010

Last night, Massachusetts took steps to improve under-performing school districts by bolstering our support for charter schools. I support giving parents additional education options through the cultivation of charter schools, but I believe those opportunities should not come at the expense of students who remain within the traditional public school system.

I proposed an amendment to the education reform bill that would have helped to resolve this problem by creating a funding formula that would more fairly reimburse school districts when students who live there attend charter schools. It would have helped to level the playing field between public school districts and charter schools, which I believe is an important priority for our cities and towns. The amendment also had the support of the Massachusetts Superintendents Association, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, and Stand For Children.

I am disappointed that this amendment was not adopted as a way to improve upon the changes being made in the education reform package. Instead, the amendment was recommended for further study, as members refused to even discuss a way to ease the plight facing cities and towns. Unfortunately, last night, members preferred procedural tactics and politics to good policy.

The debate over the bill lasted late into the night, with a flurry of changes being made at the last minute, decisions happening behind closed doors, and numerous amendments being consolidated together into one. In the end, it was impossible to tell what was actually in the final legislation and because of this, I could not vote in favor of the bill.

Going forward, I will continue to try to find ways to improve our education system here in Massachusetts while holding cities and towns harmless for any changes.

TEXT OF THE AMENDMENT

AMENDMENT #49  Ms. Polito of Shrewsbury, Mr. Kaufman of Lexington, Ms. Garry of Dracut, Ms. Ehrlich of Marblehead, Ms. Benson of Lunenberg, Mr. Guyer of Dalton, Ms. Peake of Provincetown, Mr. DiNatale of Fitchburg, Ms. Callahan of Sutton, Ms. Provost of Somerville, Mr. Stanley of Waltham, and Mr. Miceli of Wilmington move that House Bill 4410 be amended by striking lines 909 to 915 of subsection gg of Section 2 and adding in the following new section:-


(gg). In a year during which a sending district‘s total district-sponsored charter school tuition amount is greater than the sending district‘s total district-sponsored charter tuition amount for the previous year, the sending district shall be reimbursed by the Commonwealth in accordance with this paragraph and subject to appropriation; provided, however, that no funds for the reimbursements shall be deducted from funds distributed under Chapter 70. The reimbursement amount shall be equal to 100 per cent of the increase in the year in which the increase occurs, 60 per cent in the second year, 40 per cent in the third year, and 35 per cent in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years following.

Thought of the Day - 12/29/2009

For a change, there is actually good news to report from Beacon Hill regarding local aid.

Governor Patrick has reversed course and restored plans to cut $18 million in regional school transportation reimbursement as a way to balance the budget.

According to the Worcester Telegram, the reversal is the result of evidence that the decrease in funding would have an adverse impact on student learning in districts that would be unable to make mid-year adjustments to account for the cuts.

I give credit to the Patrick administration for restoring these funds, which are especially important to many school districts across the state.

But, of course, not every town is served by a regional school, so many communities will have to wait to see additional relief from the state.

With that in mind, I hope that the Patrick administration will be equally cognizant of the importance of local aid (especially Chapter 70 aid) when the governor releases his FY2011 budget plan next month. And I still hope that my colleagues in the legislature will take up proposals for municipal cost savings and reform when formal sessions resume in January. I’ve filed several proposals for municipal relief, and there are other bills that address the issue as well. They all deserve prompt consideration to save cities and towns money.

Do you have any ideas for municipal relief? I’d like to know what they are. Please post a comment below to get a discussion started.

Thought of the Day - 12/04/09

The other night I had the opportunity to speak at the Shrewsbury School Committee meeting and to talk about municipal budget issues.

My purpose at the meeting was to present local officials with information about local aid, and to encourage them to work with me and other like-minded individuals to advocate for change.

Specifically, I encouraged them to consider four action items:

• For Fiscal Year 2010, oppose granting Governor Patrick additional authority to cut school and local aid in Fiscal Year 2010.

• For Fiscal Year 2011, oppose cuts to school and local aid. Allowing school and local aid to be “on the table” for reduction will remove the incentive to reform and streamline government to achieve needed state-level cost savings.

• Relative to Education Reform to be debated in House of Representatives, push for a fair funding formula for Charter School Reimbursement to suburban school districts like Shrewsbury.

• Support an Early School and Local Aid Resolution which will disclose the minimum state aid to cities and towns in order for municipalities to approve local budgets with a degree of certainty.

I think that, together, these action items would help us improve our ability to provide a quality education to Shrewsbury residents. You can view a copy of a letter I sent to local officials on these topics by clicking here.

What do you think of these action items? Please post a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts and how you think we can advocate for each of these items.

Thought of the Day - 12/02/09

City and town officials received bad news from the state earlier this week.

It seems that Governor Patrick unilaterally cut Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (“PILOT”) distributions by about 40 percent as a way to trim the state budget.

PILOT payments are the state’s way of compensating cities and towns for the tax revenue they miss out on because they can’t tax property owned by the state. State officials look at everything from state parks right down to salt sheds, and they apportion a designated pot of money to municipalities based on the amount of tax-exempt state-owned property in each community. The payments do not necessarily make up for the whole amount the municipality could collect in taxes if the property were owned privately, but they’re certainly better than nothing.

More to the point, cities and towns have come to depend on PILOT money as an important component of local aid. That’s why the Governor’s $10 million cut to this account is so painful. It’s made even worse by the fact that it’s coming mid-fiscal year, at a time when municipal budgets already have been long since approved.

In my district, Shrewsbury received about $45,000 less PILOT money than it was expecting, and Westborough’s cut was about $55,000. It’s important to remember that these communities, like many others across the state, already have been trimming their municipal budgets to the core (or beyond) to deal with challenging fiscal times. This deeper reduction in state aid will have real consequences for municipal services, whether it means eliminating an important position or scaling back a program that helps people. And it’s also worth noting that this cut comes on the heels of other local aid reductions earlier this year that forced municipal officials to come up with new ways of dealing with challenging fiscal issues on their own.

I think the Patrick Administration is doing a great disservice to people across the Bay State by cutting local aid. Citizens depend on municipal government to provide some of the most important public services that government delivers, including education, public safety, road maintenance, health safety, environmental conservation and libraries. Even if those services are supplemented by other levels of government, municipal government often delivers them more directly and efficiently, thereby improving quality of service and reducing taxpayer cost. Cutting local aid that cities and towns depend on to deliver these services is simply the wrong approach to dealing with our state’s fiscal problems, especially when our state has failed to enact cost-saving reforms and efficiencies within its own administrative operations.

I hope the Legislature will find a way to supplement these payments when we return to legislative sessions in January. Cities and towns are depending upon us to do so.