Here we go! Hang on tight folks!

House budget would avoid raising taxes,
 but cut local aid

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April 14, 2010 03:36 PM
Noah Bierman
Boston Globe Staff
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Massachusetts House leaders today unveiled a budget for the new fiscal year that would likely leave fewer teachers in classrooms across the state and allow for fewer services for mentally ill residents, but would avoid raising taxes or dipping into the state’s dwindling rainy day fund.

The $27.8 billion proposal for the year beginning July 1 is an attempt to reconcile the state's needs with tough fiscal realities in an election year that has many Legislators fearful for their jobs.


The cuts to local aid and school spending in the proposal would be as much as 4 percent, though some cities and towns, depending on a state formula, would take a smaller hit.
Governor Deval Patrick submitted a spending plan in January that would protect local aid and school spending, setting up a conflict on Beacon Hill.


Patrick’s plan would also raise taxes on tobacco, candy, and sodas, something the House did not include in their proposal. The House was also more conservative than Patrick in protecting the state’s rainy day fund, which has been shrinking during the recession and may need to be called upon next year.


Representative Charles A. Murphy, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, took pride in balancing the budget without raising taxes or tapping reserves, but he conceded that the impact on residents, state workers, and local governments would be considerable and, in some cases, drastic.
“You’re going to be talking to a lot of people who aren’t going to be very happy with me,” he told reporters during a news conference in a State House hearing room.


Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez said the House budget would be "a step back" in efforts to provide a world-class education for students and would reduce state aid to cities and towns when they can least afford it.


"It fails to adopt our public safety reforms and underfunds critical public safety programs. Finally, it excludes many of the Governor’s important proposals to streamline state government and improve its efficiency for those it serves," he said in a statement.


The House budget is the second step in the budget dance that began with the governor's budget. The Senate will unveil its proposal next. After the two chambers pass their budgets, a House-Senate conference committee will hammer out a compromise version that will then be sent to the governor's desk.

As if things didn't look bleak enough for Fall River in FY11. Well, kids, this is a whole new ball game. The budget proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee is not etched in stone yet, and I'm sure we'll be hoping for a few more put-backs by the Senate, but the dirty work has been done. Because the House has decided to have as a starting point for legislative discussion a budget which cuts deep in a time of revenue, and taxpayer, non support, it appears that an easy out exists for the Senate to sit on their collective hands and pass the budget proposal as is, and let the House take the blame, or glory,  come election time.

The reductions to local aid will most likely present danger for our public safety area. It is possible that we will simply not have funds sufficient to hire back more officers on a full time basis. Grant funds, both from the state and the federal government will dry up starting next year with federal office elections held in November. There is simply too much pressure for a jobless and underemployed populace to cut back federal and state spending as everyone except the wealthy is continually being squeezed.

All the tricks in budet passing will be for naught. The revenue line has finally crossed below the expence line with it's predicted vengeance and there will be hell to pay. There is no more waste and abuse to collect out of the drained government mop. It doesn't exist, and has not for a few years now. And please spare me the anecdotes about how you saw two "maintenance guys standing around doing nothing". It means nothing because you don't know the real circumstancesbehind what appears to be laziness.  There simply are not sufficient resources to provide old levels of service in Fall River.

To provide the FY 08 level of services to the City, particularly with regard to fire, police and dpw will mean the cutting of entire operations not required by law, and more positions on top of that to enable Fall River to meet unemployment insurance responsibilities. Where do we start to cut? The Schools? I don't think so, because they already do not have enough teaching and counseling staff. Maybe some of the cadre of MMB's hand picked "administrators"can be deleted, but that really won't come close to what the Schools will need to maintain teaching and counseling staff. And again, spare me the ignoramus talk about not needing counseling services, because every idiot that will come to sites like this and spew that " we never went to counselors in my day and we turned out just fine" are kidding themselves. Just talke a look at the broken families lost in the haze of drug addiction for generations in Fall River and you can plainly see that counseling for the kids of these families, and the families as well, should have been going on for the last 40 years. Drug addiction and screwed up, multi-generational problem families are the only boom industry in Fall River now, and saying "ship them out" or "shoot 'em, then they'll learn a lesson" is an idiot's response. And if that's not enough to hear for all you holier than thou's out there, just remember one thing - if you have a child in the Fall River School System, they are probably in classes with many, many of these "drug ravaged-broken family" kids everyday! Not everyone can afford to send their kids to private school!

So...tell me what you'd cut to balance a budget for FY11 that is already in the hole by about $1 million due to necessary current and projected police overtime expenses? I'd love to know. Do you want to privatize some dpw services, like trash collection? I'm open to any and all suggestions and I will gladly put them on these pages to start a community discussion. Because I will tell you one thing right now.....there is no more "blue smoke and mirrors" solution to this budget problem. It is here now, and will only get worse each year into the future. Cry all you want about your taxes. Property taxes in Fall River are one of the smallest burdens faced by homeowners in Massachusetts. Cry about your fees for water and sewer services, because the CSO was the result of YOU letting previous politicians lie to you and allow favors to be done for large business and property owners to turn a blind eye to the water pollution problem. So naive yet so dumbfounded  at the same time. That's a deadly combination.

Do I think Mayor Flanagan can produce a workable FY11 budget for the City? Yes, I have no doubt. But he's got to tell you the truth and let you know that sacrifices have to be made. If he comes out talking about how great things will be next year, do not believe him. It's time for those running this City, and it's taxpayers, to open our eyes wide. Every dollar of revenue that is below current costs is going to mean somePERSON, in some department, is going to be laid off.

Think about that before you respond....but please do add your recommendations of what budgets to cut or change.

Thank you!