.jpg)
Mass. tax revenues in August
below expectations
September 3, 2010
Boston Herald
BOSTON—Massachusetts has collected $89 million more in taxes during August compared with the same month last year, but that still fell $70 Million below the estimate for the month.
Revenue Commissioner Navjeet Bal said preliminary collections for the month totaled about $1.38 billion, up about 6.9 percent from last August.
But that wasn't enough to match the monthly estimate the state needs for its current budget.
Since August is typically not a large month for tax collections, and because the state beat its July estimate by about $78 million, the state is still about $8 million ahead of its estimate for the year.
Bal said sales tax collections for August don't reflect the impact of the sales tax holiday on Aug. 14 and 15. That will be reflected in the September numbers.
The Fall River FY 2011 Revenue Death Watch has officially begun. I say this because Fall River is absolutely dependant upon state aid revenue to fund roughly 70% of it's annual operating budget. Any negative revenue trends will spell absolute devastation to overall budgets for the City.
What I find most ominous is that the September numbers will be far lower than expected because of the sales tax holiday. As we go into the Fall months , if tax revenues continue to fail to reach established revenue targets we could easily see yet another round of mid year reductions in Local Aid, all indications of Massachusetts economic growth to the contrary.
The situation of actual state tax revenues versus established projections will once again become the most important factor to follow when considering the state of Fall River's fiscal condition for FY's 2011 and 2012.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Fall River Redevelopment Authority, Sept. 1, 2010, 9:15 AM from MondoLizzie on Vimeo.
For your dancing and dining pleasure, please note the last meeting of the Fall River Redevelopment Authority and the award of a bid for management assistance. Two (2) bids were received. Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
"Your Honor, The Music Made Me Do It !!"
Bigelow: Pending charges would
not have affected job performance.
Fall River City Councilor Brian Bigelow
-----------------------------------------
By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Aug 31, 2010 @ 08:38 PM
FALL RIVER — City Councilor Brian Bigelow said he “respects” Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s decision to fire him from his county auditing job “but I really disagree with his finding.”
The Bristol County sheriff said he took that recommendation by the hearing officer Friday because Bigelow’s arrest on a charge of soliciting a prostitute early last month “makes it almost impossible for him to perform his duties.”
Hodgson said Bigelow, an 11-year employee, audited and helped ensure the 560 workers followed department rules and regulations.
“I never told people how to do their jobs. I helped people do their jobs. I feel people respect me. I don’t think there would be a problem,” Bigelow said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Bigelow said he became a policy auditor four or five years ago implementing the department’s strategic accountability management system. Before that he was coordinator of volunteers for six years at the department.
“I really liked what I was doing. You can really work with people,” said Bigelow, who is now searching for new employment.
Bigelow said the sheriff department’s hearing officer, attorney Robert Novak, listened to what he and his lawyer, Michael Sousa, presented at what Hodgson described as a “disciplinary termination hearing.”
“I can’t tell if they had it predetermined. I hope they didn’t,” said Bigelow.
He faces misdemeanor criminal charges from his arrest that will next be heard on Oct. 22.
Both Bigelow and Sousa said they had an opportunity to present their case during a hearing that lasted about a half hour.
Bigelow said he worked with one other auditor in his role and did not have a job with union protection.
Bigelow, who “emphatically” stated his innocence to the single charge, said he had an explanation for what he was doing in the early morning of Aug. 7 when he was arrested about 1:15 a.m. on Morgan Street near South Main Street.
“Ever since I was younger — I’ve played music my whole life — I’ve had trouble sleeping, and that’s when I’d go out and drive around the whole city,” said Bigelow, a drummer.
He said he often “can’t sleep after playing gigs,” and played that Friday night with his pop trio until about 11 p.m. at one of the area country clubs.
“Yes, I was driving around that night,” he said of the night he and 22 others were arrested in a prostitution sting set by Mayor Will Flanagan and police Chief Daniel Racine.
Bigelow, 49, declined to give particulars of what happened that night except to say it would be typical for him to take an hour or so after completing the night’s music to pack up and leave the venue.
Does the lifelong city resident think people will believe that explanation?
“People are going to believe what they’re going to believe,” he said.
“I’m taking it a day at a time. I feel that I’m innocent. I really believe I’m innocent on this,” Bigelow said.
But when asked why, he cited the pending criminal case against him and said, “I really can’t say anything because I can’t jeopardize anything.”
A married father of two young children, 7 and 9, and two stepchildren, one married and the other whom he drove to begin college on Friday, Bigelow said he is “relying on friends and family to guide and help me and my family through all of this.”
Of his wife, he said, “We’re working on things together. We’re talking with each other.” He said the family is “trying to heal.”
He acknowledged the difficulty of addressing the arrest personally because of several political hats he’s worn. In addition to his 1½ years serving on the City Council, he’s an appointed member of the Diman Regional School Committee and a former 10-year member of the city School Committee, including a tenure as its vice chairman.
“Because of being in politics it keeps coming up,” Bigelow said of the publicity.
While Corporation Counsel Steven Torres has not rendered an opinion on whether he believes Flanagan can and should remove him from the appointed Diman board, Bigelow said he believes he should continue in that leadership role.
“I’ve always been in education. I love education,” he said.
Asked about his credibility to serve, he said, “It’s two different things. I didn’t take money from anybody. I didn’t hurt anyone. What is happening to me is family oriented.”
Bigelow, who did not ask one question or render one opinion at his first City Council meeting a few days after the arrest, explained why he stayed mum during the lengthy discussion over the raise for School Committee legal counsel Bruce Assad.
“I just felt at that time this was a school issue. The people who are in charge of giving him that raise are the School Committee,” he said. “I didn’t say anything because that’s the School Committee’s job.”
He did not speak on other topics either.
Bigelow said he has not had any city councilor suggest he should resign from his elected seat. “They’ve been very supportive of my family and myself,” he said, adding, “They might not agree with everything.”
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.Michael
Yet another chapter of the Bigelow as selfish schmuck of the year is being reported by the Herald News (HN). And the villain in this dead story is the perp himself, Brian Bigelow, male gigolo.
Jesus, man, just shut up and slink away, will you! The more this story is presented in the HN, the worse you are making things for yourself. Talk about beating a dead horse! You will NEVER recover your reputation. N-E-V-E-R!. It wasn't all that great to begin with. You were not a particularly smart or talented man, everyone knows this. (Hey, we're talking truth right now....forget the social niceties, this guy has to face reality!) Your role on the City Council was that of supreme "YES-MAN", the original "Vote in my back Pocket" with shoes for the last two Mayors. Leader? Where the hell did THAT expectoration come from?
No, Bri (I hope you don't mind me calling you Bri?), you are not leader material, or a power of example, or even, now it seems, very dependable. You are an over exposed (excuse the pun) bad politician (and please excuse the oxymoron), who had a patronage job with the local county sheriff who has a tough reelection campaign staring him in the face. The very last thing he needs right now is a disposable hack employee who got himself arrested for a sex crime. As soon as your name came up on the police blotter, you were gone, and you knew it. If you didn't, you must have been, and by all I can gather from your statements to the HN, still are, in shock from the events of that post-gig episode.
Now it makes all the sense in the world for Mayor "Bag-Boy Deluxe" Sylvanagan, he of the utter failure everyday in office so far, to pound on your rotting political carcass because It will make him look like he's trying to clean up the City's reputation by bringing about your quick exit from the Diman School Committee. Yes, I know, how unfair! But YOU set yourself up for being a punching bag for the wavering political fortunes of the great hypocrite Sylvanagan. It couldn't possible get any uglier, could it?
But hold on a minute....I think it might!
Wait until you run your mouth in public again about "having a reason" why you are not guilty of soliciting an undercover police officer for SEX! Aside from the fact that you are minimizing what you did more than a serial killer could, I don't think that stress from playing in a gig with your trio is going to get very far with the Bristol County Probation Department. It will go ever less far with the judge who hears your case. Go before a jury of six and I promise you they'll hang you - FAST! Once you tell everyone under oath that you typically drive around these bad areas all the time late at night after your gigs, they'll probably try to ask other prostitutes in the area if they've, ahem, had similar discussions with you as did the undercover officer. Maybe they might try to tie you to unsolved crimes. Whatever the case may be, it's going to do nothing but place an increasingly large BULLS EYE on your backside. You'll have a wonderful time trying to explain to your wife why there's a police cruiser following your car every time it drives through Fall River after dark! Great, really great! Just keep talking to the HN and you'll see where all your stupid statements get you!
Look Bri, it's just the way it's going to be. There is no coming back from this one. You aren't Marion Barry with a history of accomplishment prior to legal entanglements, this isn't Washington D.C with a predominantly Afro-American population, and unless there's a real surprise coming that would rock Fall River and make me go by ambulance to the ER from laughter, you are not an African American! But nothing would surprise me about political goings on in Fall River these days. Nothing!
Just say the music made you do it Bri....blame the power of music. It's about as good an excuse as you can muster at the moment. Just rat-a-tat a bit on your snare, maybe a drum roll or two, or SWAK the tom-toms ala Ginger Baker and claim you had an acid flashback while playing "White Room" that night.
After all, after your family.....what have you got to loose!
Get out of politics and heal yourself and your family....NOW!
-----------------------------------------------
Post Script:
While reading the comments attached to the original article on the pages of the HN, I found this rather curious entry....I say curious because it has the familiar tortured syntax of a certain "legend in his own mind" media "moe-ghoul"....one where you can almost smell the crayons used to write the comments on construction paper before being typed by a young woman wearing two casts on her legs...hmmmmmm.....And if anyone can understand this gibberish on a first read....condolences!
HilltopperCEO 1 hour agoReport Abuse
Report Abuse
You must be logged in to report abuse.
----------------------------------------------------------
WELL MOST HERE HAVE NOT RUN A FOWL OF THE LAW AND NO NOT THE LIES AND SCANDALS OF THE CHOSEN ELITE WHEN THEY MAKE A MISTAKE. BE THEM TITLES OF RICHES AND HISTORY OF ELECTED OFFICE.
CERTAINLY MR BIGALOW MAKE A MISTAKE BY TALKING TO THE LADY BUT WHO IN THE FIGHTING CITY OF FALL RIVER MASSACHUSETTS HAVE NEVER DONE THAT?
WE ARE PROUD. WE NEED TWO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE OF NEW JOB CREATION AND ECONOMY SITES THEN THIS STUFF.
CERTAINLY THIS IS TRUE BUT WHO WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE.
ONLY QUESTTON I AM GONNA ASK MR BIGALOW IS WHY IF HE WAS COMING HOME DID HE WHERE LADIES PANTIES? IF HE IS INTO IT OK, CERTAINLY NOT MY PERSUATION BUT NOT A CRIME BUT IT DOES NOT LOOK GOOD.
GIVE HIM A BREAK.
TO THE SHERIF HODGESTON HAS HE EVER GIVEN BIGALOW A POLITICAL FAVOR OF A JOB? CERTAINLY IS A INTERESTING QUESTION IS IT NOT SHERIFF???
not have affected job performance.
Fall River City Councilor Brian Bigelow
-----------------------------------------
By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Aug 31, 2010 @ 08:38 PM
FALL RIVER — City Councilor Brian Bigelow said he “respects” Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s decision to fire him from his county auditing job “but I really disagree with his finding.”
The Bristol County sheriff said he took that recommendation by the hearing officer Friday because Bigelow’s arrest on a charge of soliciting a prostitute early last month “makes it almost impossible for him to perform his duties.”
Hodgson said Bigelow, an 11-year employee, audited and helped ensure the 560 workers followed department rules and regulations.
“I never told people how to do their jobs. I helped people do their jobs. I feel people respect me. I don’t think there would be a problem,” Bigelow said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Bigelow said he became a policy auditor four or five years ago implementing the department’s strategic accountability management system. Before that he was coordinator of volunteers for six years at the department.
“I really liked what I was doing. You can really work with people,” said Bigelow, who is now searching for new employment.
Bigelow said the sheriff department’s hearing officer, attorney Robert Novak, listened to what he and his lawyer, Michael Sousa, presented at what Hodgson described as a “disciplinary termination hearing.”
“I can’t tell if they had it predetermined. I hope they didn’t,” said Bigelow.
He faces misdemeanor criminal charges from his arrest that will next be heard on Oct. 22.
Both Bigelow and Sousa said they had an opportunity to present their case during a hearing that lasted about a half hour.
Bigelow said he worked with one other auditor in his role and did not have a job with union protection.
Bigelow, who “emphatically” stated his innocence to the single charge, said he had an explanation for what he was doing in the early morning of Aug. 7 when he was arrested about 1:15 a.m. on Morgan Street near South Main Street.
“Ever since I was younger — I’ve played music my whole life — I’ve had trouble sleeping, and that’s when I’d go out and drive around the whole city,” said Bigelow, a drummer.
He said he often “can’t sleep after playing gigs,” and played that Friday night with his pop trio until about 11 p.m. at one of the area country clubs.
“Yes, I was driving around that night,” he said of the night he and 22 others were arrested in a prostitution sting set by Mayor Will Flanagan and police Chief Daniel Racine.
Bigelow, 49, declined to give particulars of what happened that night except to say it would be typical for him to take an hour or so after completing the night’s music to pack up and leave the venue.
Does the lifelong city resident think people will believe that explanation?
“People are going to believe what they’re going to believe,” he said.
“I’m taking it a day at a time. I feel that I’m innocent. I really believe I’m innocent on this,” Bigelow said.
But when asked why, he cited the pending criminal case against him and said, “I really can’t say anything because I can’t jeopardize anything.”
A married father of two young children, 7 and 9, and two stepchildren, one married and the other whom he drove to begin college on Friday, Bigelow said he is “relying on friends and family to guide and help me and my family through all of this.”
Of his wife, he said, “We’re working on things together. We’re talking with each other.” He said the family is “trying to heal.”
He acknowledged the difficulty of addressing the arrest personally because of several political hats he’s worn. In addition to his 1½ years serving on the City Council, he’s an appointed member of the Diman Regional School Committee and a former 10-year member of the city School Committee, including a tenure as its vice chairman.
“Because of being in politics it keeps coming up,” Bigelow said of the publicity.
While Corporation Counsel Steven Torres has not rendered an opinion on whether he believes Flanagan can and should remove him from the appointed Diman board, Bigelow said he believes he should continue in that leadership role.
“I’ve always been in education. I love education,” he said.
Asked about his credibility to serve, he said, “It’s two different things. I didn’t take money from anybody. I didn’t hurt anyone. What is happening to me is family oriented.”
Bigelow, who did not ask one question or render one opinion at his first City Council meeting a few days after the arrest, explained why he stayed mum during the lengthy discussion over the raise for School Committee legal counsel Bruce Assad.
“I just felt at that time this was a school issue. The people who are in charge of giving him that raise are the School Committee,” he said. “I didn’t say anything because that’s the School Committee’s job.”
He did not speak on other topics either.
Bigelow said he has not had any city councilor suggest he should resign from his elected seat. “They’ve been very supportive of my family and myself,” he said, adding, “They might not agree with everything.”
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.Michael
Yet another chapter of the Bigelow as selfish schmuck of the year is being reported by the Herald News (HN). And the villain in this dead story is the perp himself, Brian Bigelow, male gigolo.
No, Bri (I hope you don't mind me calling you Bri?), you are not leader material, or a power of example, or even, now it seems, very dependable. You are an over exposed (excuse the pun) bad politician (and please excuse the oxymoron), who had a patronage job with the local county sheriff who has a tough reelection campaign staring him in the face. The very last thing he needs right now is a disposable hack employee who got himself arrested for a sex crime. As soon as your name came up on the police blotter, you were gone, and you knew it. If you didn't, you must have been, and by all I can gather from your statements to the HN, still are, in shock from the events of that post-gig episode.
Now it makes all the sense in the world for Mayor "Bag-Boy Deluxe" Sylvanagan, he of the utter failure everyday in office so far, to pound on your rotting political carcass because It will make him look like he's trying to clean up the City's reputation by bringing about your quick exit from the Diman School Committee. Yes, I know, how unfair! But YOU set yourself up for being a punching bag for the wavering political fortunes of the great hypocrite Sylvanagan. It couldn't possible get any uglier, could it?
But hold on a minute....I think it might!
Look Bri, it's just the way it's going to be. There is no coming back from this one. You aren't Marion Barry with a history of accomplishment prior to legal entanglements, this isn't Washington D.C with a predominantly Afro-American population, and unless there's a real surprise coming that would rock Fall River and make me go by ambulance to the ER from laughter, you are not an African American! But nothing would surprise me about political goings on in Fall River these days. Nothing!
Just say the music made you do it Bri....blame the power of music. It's about as good an excuse as you can muster at the moment. Just rat-a-tat a bit on your snare, maybe a drum roll or two, or SWAK the tom-toms ala Ginger Baker and claim you had an acid flashback while playing "White Room" that night.
After all, after your family.....what have you got to loose!
Get out of politics and heal yourself and your family....NOW!
-----------------------------------------------
Post Script:
While reading the comments attached to the original article on the pages of the HN, I found this rather curious entry....I say curious because it has the familiar tortured syntax of a certain "legend in his own mind" media "moe-ghoul"....one where you can almost smell the crayons used to write the comments on construction paper before being typed by a young woman wearing two casts on her legs...hmmmmmm.....And if anyone can understand this gibberish on a first read....condolences!
HilltopperCEO 1 hour agoReport Abuse
Report Abuse
You must be logged in to report abuse.
----------------------------------------------------------
WELL MOST HERE HAVE NOT RUN A FOWL OF THE LAW AND NO NOT THE LIES AND SCANDALS OF THE CHOSEN ELITE WHEN THEY MAKE A MISTAKE. BE THEM TITLES OF RICHES AND HISTORY OF ELECTED OFFICE.
CERTAINLY MR BIGALOW MAKE A MISTAKE BY TALKING TO THE LADY BUT WHO IN THE FIGHTING CITY OF FALL RIVER MASSACHUSETTS HAVE NEVER DONE THAT?
WE ARE PROUD. WE NEED TWO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE OF NEW JOB CREATION AND ECONOMY SITES THEN THIS STUFF.
CERTAINLY THIS IS TRUE BUT WHO WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE.
ONLY QUESTTON I AM GONNA ASK MR BIGALOW IS WHY IF HE WAS COMING HOME DID HE WHERE LADIES PANTIES? IF HE IS INTO IT OK, CERTAINLY NOT MY PERSUATION BUT NOT A CRIME BUT IT DOES NOT LOOK GOOD.
GIVE HIM A BREAK.
TO THE SHERIF HODGESTON HAS HE EVER GIVEN BIGALOW A POLITICAL FAVOR OF A JOB? CERTAINLY IS A INTERESTING QUESTION IS IT NOT SHERIFF???
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
There's bad news, and there's bad news!
From the "nothing but bad budget news " department, here's an early look at just how bad the current fiscal years budget deficit for Massachusetts might be. It also means that, given this is an election year, the information is being low-balled and does not reflect how the actual potential deficit will turn out to be in the end.
This is NOT good news for Fall River. Have a nice day Mayor Sylvanagan! How's that casino thingy workin' out for ya?!
BUDGET GAP ESTIMATES GROW
By Jim O’Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, AUG. 31, 2010…….The Senate’s top budget author has elevated high-end projections for the state’s budget deficit this fiscal year, pointing to executive agency estimates through early August that showed surging demands on already strained finances that could result in a gross $600 million deficit in Medicaid accounts.
Rising welfare and homeless shelter caseloads are further burdening the budget, even as the state has qualified for $250 million in kindergarten-through-high school federal aid and received $450 million, less than initially expected, in federal aid, said Senate Ways and Means chair Steven Panagiotakos.
House Ways and Means chair Charles Murphy agreed, saying, “Suffice it to say, there are deficiencies out there that were unanticipated.”
Lawmakers were reluctant to estimate an overall deficit in the current spending blueprint, less than two months old.
“It’s difficult to say what the total deficiency is,” Murphy said.
With federal reimbursements, the potentially $600 million hole in the roughly $10 billion Medicaid budget could net the state a loss of about $240 million, chewing up much of the $450 million in Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) assistance authorized in Washington earlier this month, Panagiotakos said.
Additionally, the state is looking to balance its books for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Panagiotakos said he hoped to address both fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011 shortfalls in one spending bill by Sept. 19.
“We’re trying to do both in one vehicle,” he said. Murphy agreed and said a second round of fiscal 2011 supplemental spending would likely emerge “in several months.”
New estimates show a $20 million gap in homeless shelter “emergency assistance” accounts and a $5 million shortfall for parks and beaches under the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Without that funding, Panagiotakos said, the state would have to close “iconic parks” and delay opening of pools and beaches next summer.
DCR officials said it was “too early to speculate” whether next summer’s services would be affected by the budget.
“Next’s year’s schedule of openings hasn’t been set yet,” DCR spokeswoman Catherine Williams emailed. “We are in the process now of finalizing our spending plans for the year. DCR is reviewing its existing and projected resources while exploring ways to continue to provide critical programs and services in this challenging fiscal environment.”
With the $250 million in Race to the Top funds the Bay State is slated to receive spread over two years for kindergarten-through-high school, Panagiotakos said the state should transfer other federal aid into higher education spending. The state had earlier allocated $76 million from the federal stimulus into K-12.
“With them getting this extra $250 million and a significant cut in higher ed, I think it’s prudent that we take a good portion of that $76 million and put it back into higher education,” Panagiotakos said.
Wary of a steep drop in recession-era federal help in fiscal 2012, when a $2 billion structural gap looms, budget writers have been publicly hopeful that the influx of aid from Washington over the last month would allow some replenishment of the Rainy Day Fund, once robustly above $2 billion but scheduled to sink to $556 million by the end of fiscal 2011.
Panagiotakos said the escalating demands on the stream of federal money made it unclear how much money could be diverted to savings. Some of the newly authorized cash will backfill spending programs that were cut earlier this year when prospects for the FMAP money appeared dim. Even then, budget writers were banking on close to $700 million, instead of the $450 million ultimately approved.
That pool of cash already faces an array of demands from other corners in state government. For instance, when the additional FMAP hung in doubt, Patrick cancelled parts of a legislative spending blueprint that conditionally used the federal aid to support $56,250 for radiological emergency response, $170,517 for a prison industries and farm program, and $64,600 for a foster care and adopted fee waiver.
“On top of that, we have these other newly projected shortfalls,” Panagiotakos said.
July’s state tax revenues grew 3 percent from the year before, which Patrick administration revenue officials said reflected economic growth. Growth trends in tax receipts could dilute some of the red ink, but will likely not offset the problems incurred by a still-sluggish economy. August tax figures are due by the end of this week.
Analysts said the caseload hikes essentially handcuffed Beacon Hill into choosing whether to make targeted spending restorations or banking the remainder for future shortfalls.
“The spending’s only going to get worse, not better, in terms of the underfunding,” said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “The caseloads, the pressure’s obviously only growing, not lessening.”
Patrick last week downplayed the problems posed by the mounting pressures on state coffers. He said, "Every year with the programs that depend on caseload - every year - there is uncertainty, and with the economy being what it is, there's been … even more pressure than usual on Medicaid and other services for people who are in need. But we have successfully managed those uncertainties for each of the last four years, and we will continue to do so."
Aides said the administration planned to file a supplemental budget soon
The fiscal 2011 budget is balanced $100 million in state Rainy Day Fund withdrawals, and $95 million in a suspended statutory carryover of General Fund cash. Prior to the authorization of the $450 million, the budget relied in $809 million in federal stimulus money.
--END--
08/31/2010
Serving the working press since 1910
http://www.statehousenews.com/
This is NOT good news for Fall River. Have a nice day Mayor Sylvanagan! How's that casino thingy workin' out for ya?!
BUDGET GAP ESTIMATES GROW
By Jim O’Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, AUG. 31, 2010…….The Senate’s top budget author has elevated high-end projections for the state’s budget deficit this fiscal year, pointing to executive agency estimates through early August that showed surging demands on already strained finances that could result in a gross $600 million deficit in Medicaid accounts.
Rising welfare and homeless shelter caseloads are further burdening the budget, even as the state has qualified for $250 million in kindergarten-through-high school federal aid and received $450 million, less than initially expected, in federal aid, said Senate Ways and Means chair Steven Panagiotakos.
House Ways and Means chair Charles Murphy agreed, saying, “Suffice it to say, there are deficiencies out there that were unanticipated.”
Lawmakers were reluctant to estimate an overall deficit in the current spending blueprint, less than two months old.
“It’s difficult to say what the total deficiency is,” Murphy said.
With federal reimbursements, the potentially $600 million hole in the roughly $10 billion Medicaid budget could net the state a loss of about $240 million, chewing up much of the $450 million in Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) assistance authorized in Washington earlier this month, Panagiotakos said.
Additionally, the state is looking to balance its books for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Panagiotakos said he hoped to address both fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011 shortfalls in one spending bill by Sept. 19.
“We’re trying to do both in one vehicle,” he said. Murphy agreed and said a second round of fiscal 2011 supplemental spending would likely emerge “in several months.”
New estimates show a $20 million gap in homeless shelter “emergency assistance” accounts and a $5 million shortfall for parks and beaches under the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Without that funding, Panagiotakos said, the state would have to close “iconic parks” and delay opening of pools and beaches next summer.
DCR officials said it was “too early to speculate” whether next summer’s services would be affected by the budget.
“Next’s year’s schedule of openings hasn’t been set yet,” DCR spokeswoman Catherine Williams emailed. “We are in the process now of finalizing our spending plans for the year. DCR is reviewing its existing and projected resources while exploring ways to continue to provide critical programs and services in this challenging fiscal environment.”
With the $250 million in Race to the Top funds the Bay State is slated to receive spread over two years for kindergarten-through-high school, Panagiotakos said the state should transfer other federal aid into higher education spending. The state had earlier allocated $76 million from the federal stimulus into K-12.
“With them getting this extra $250 million and a significant cut in higher ed, I think it’s prudent that we take a good portion of that $76 million and put it back into higher education,” Panagiotakos said.
Wary of a steep drop in recession-era federal help in fiscal 2012, when a $2 billion structural gap looms, budget writers have been publicly hopeful that the influx of aid from Washington over the last month would allow some replenishment of the Rainy Day Fund, once robustly above $2 billion but scheduled to sink to $556 million by the end of fiscal 2011.
Panagiotakos said the escalating demands on the stream of federal money made it unclear how much money could be diverted to savings. Some of the newly authorized cash will backfill spending programs that were cut earlier this year when prospects for the FMAP money appeared dim. Even then, budget writers were banking on close to $700 million, instead of the $450 million ultimately approved.
That pool of cash already faces an array of demands from other corners in state government. For instance, when the additional FMAP hung in doubt, Patrick cancelled parts of a legislative spending blueprint that conditionally used the federal aid to support $56,250 for radiological emergency response, $170,517 for a prison industries and farm program, and $64,600 for a foster care and adopted fee waiver.
“On top of that, we have these other newly projected shortfalls,” Panagiotakos said.
July’s state tax revenues grew 3 percent from the year before, which Patrick administration revenue officials said reflected economic growth. Growth trends in tax receipts could dilute some of the red ink, but will likely not offset the problems incurred by a still-sluggish economy. August tax figures are due by the end of this week.
Analysts said the caseload hikes essentially handcuffed Beacon Hill into choosing whether to make targeted spending restorations or banking the remainder for future shortfalls.
“The spending’s only going to get worse, not better, in terms of the underfunding,” said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “The caseloads, the pressure’s obviously only growing, not lessening.”
Patrick last week downplayed the problems posed by the mounting pressures on state coffers. He said, "Every year with the programs that depend on caseload - every year - there is uncertainty, and with the economy being what it is, there's been … even more pressure than usual on Medicaid and other services for people who are in need. But we have successfully managed those uncertainties for each of the last four years, and we will continue to do so."
Aides said the administration planned to file a supplemental budget soon
The fiscal 2011 budget is balanced $100 million in state Rainy Day Fund withdrawals, and $95 million in a suspended statutory carryover of General Fund cash. Prior to the authorization of the $450 million, the budget relied in $809 million in federal stimulus money.
--END--
08/31/2010
Serving the working press since 1910
http://www.statehousenews.com/
BREAKING NEWS - Additional Reporting
The following is the Boston Globe's more extensive coverage of the charges filed against an employee of the Winn Companies, developer of the Wampanoag Mills Low Income Apartment development, for funneling illegal campaign contributions to various elected officials.
File this under "If it happened there, it's probably happening here as well"
----------------------------------------------------
Feds charge Boston real estate executive
with illegal campaign contributions
August 31, 2010 05:25 PM
By Jonathan Saltzman and Casey Ross, Globe Staff
A top executive of the developer behind the failed $800 million Columbus Center project in Boston was charged today in federal court with orchestrating a scheme to funnel $12,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Massachusetts candidates running for Congress.
Martin Raffol, 54, executive vice president of the residential arm of WinnCompanies, also allegedly funneled more than $30,000 in illegal campaign contributions to candidates running for state and local offices to advance the business interests of the company, although he was not charged with a crime with those donations, according to US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz.
In a statement, Ortiz alleged that Winn executives sought campaign contributions from others "primarily to advance the business interests of the company, including to obtain support for public financing of a large-scale, mixed-used development project within the city of Boston.''
The allegations were contained in a charging document called an information. Prosecutors typically use that document when a plea agreement has been reached.
Raffol's attorney, Douglas S. Brooks, said in an e-mail, "As an employee, Marty was directed to raise large amounts of money for politicians. The pressure was intense and in his attempts to satisfy these directives, some of the contributions violated federal campaign laws and regulations. Marty never personally benefited from these efforts."
The charge is an outgrowth of the federal corruption case against former state Senator Dianne Wilkerson who has pleaded guilty to attempted extortion charges stemming from $23,500 in bribes that she took, according to prosecutors. She awaits sentencing.
WinnCompanies, a nationally known developer of affordable housing whose headquarters is in Faneuil Hall, issued a statement today saying it placed Raffol on administrative leave when it learned about a federal investigation late last year and fired him today.
The company did not address the government's assertion that Raffol was acting at the direction of his bosses. WinnCompanies said that ``immediately after learning of the allegations, the company took steps to ensure that our internal controls were strengthened and such behavior will not occur in the future.''
Former WinnCompanies chief executive Arthur Winn previously acknowledged to the Globe that he gave Wilkerson $10,000 in 2004 when he was trying to advance the Columbus Center development. He said the contribution was not meant to influence Wilkerson's public support of the project but was a gift to help a ``close friend'' with outstanding tax debts.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com
Here is the text of the statement from the U.S. Department of Justice:
A Boston based real estate executive was charged today in federal court with engaging in a scheme to conceal illegal campaign contributions made to federal campaign committees. He is also charged with witness tampering.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Office, announced today that MARTIN RAFFOL, 54, of Natick, was charged with one count of engaging in a scheme to conceal material information from the Federal Election Commission.
RAFFOL served as Executive Vice-President for a Boston company that provided management services to a portfolio of real estate holdings, including several publically subsidized housing communities in Dorchester and Roxbury. The Information alleges that as part of its business, executives from the company actively solicited campaign contributions from individuals for elected candidates for federal, state and local office throughout the years. These executives did so primarily to advance the business interests of the company, including to obtain support for public financing of a large-scale, mixed-use development project within the City of Boston. The Federal Election Campaign Act limits the amounts individuals can contribute to election campaigns and political campaign committees, prohibits corporations from making direct contributions to federal candidates, and requires the true identity of each contributor to be disclosed.
It is alleged that, as part of an effort to increase the amount of campaign contributions to candidates who supported the company’s projects or who might support these projects in the future, executives and senior management directed RAFFOL to solicit campaign contributions from vendors who regularly did work for the company.
RAFFOL in turn allegedly engaged in an ongoing scheme whereby he reimbursed the vendors for thousands of dollars of campaign contributions he solicited from them. This included vendors who provided general contracting services, energy services, and security services. According to the Information, as a result of RAFFOL’s scheme, the true source of these vendor’s campaign contributions were disguised from the FEC, similar state authorities, campaign committees and ultimately, the public.
U.S. Attorney Ortiz said, “Transparency is the cornerstone of federal campaign financing.
The public has a right to know the true source of financial support for its elected officials.”
In total, RAFFOL allegedly caused over $12,000 in illegal campaign contributions to candidates running for federal office, specifically candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. It is further alleged that he also caused over $30,000 in illegal contributions to candidates running for state and local office, including candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Senate, House of Representatives, District Attorney, Mayor of the City of Boston and Boston City Council. This scheme caused numerous reports, which falsely indicated the source of these contributions to be unwittingly filed by the relevant political committees with the FEC and similar authorities. There is no evidence that the federal campaign committees listed in the Information had knowledge of RAFFOL’s reimbursement scheme.
The Information further alleges that RAFFOL engaged in witness tampering to conceal the illegal campaign contribution scheme and to prevent law enforcement from learning of the scheme. In particular, RAFFOL instructed a cooperating witness to lie to authorities if authorities questioned him about the campaign contribution scheme.
If convicted on these charges, RAFFOL faces up to five years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for the false statement charge, and 20 years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for the witness tampering charge.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Dowden of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Senior Litigation Counsel William M. Welch II of the Criminal Division.
The details contained in the Information are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
And here is the statement from WinnCompanies:
Late last year, WinnCompanies was informed that Martin Raffol, Executive Vice President of WinnResidential, was the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston. Immediately upon learning this, Mr. Raffol was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Based on today’s court filing, which charges Mr. Raffol with violations of federal law, we have terminated his employment. We appreciate Mr. Raffol’s many years of service to our clients and the residents of our properties. In addition, immediately after learning of the allegations, the company took steps to ensure that our internal controls were strengthened and such behavior will not occur in the future.
Over its forty year history, WinnCompanies and its 2,500 employees have provided affordable, safe and quality housing in over 300 communities across the country. At Winn we understand that the relationships we have with our clients and residents are the core of our business, and that it is our obligation to maintain the highest standards so that we can continue to make positive contributions to the communities we serve.
File this under "If it happened there, it's probably happening here as well"
----------------------------------------------------
Feds charge Boston real estate executive
with illegal campaign contributions
August 31, 2010 05:25 PM
By Jonathan Saltzman and Casey Ross, Globe Staff
A top executive of the developer behind the failed $800 million Columbus Center project in Boston was charged today in federal court with orchestrating a scheme to funnel $12,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Massachusetts candidates running for Congress.
Martin Raffol, 54, executive vice president of the residential arm of WinnCompanies, also allegedly funneled more than $30,000 in illegal campaign contributions to candidates running for state and local offices to advance the business interests of the company, although he was not charged with a crime with those donations, according to US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz.
In a statement, Ortiz alleged that Winn executives sought campaign contributions from others "primarily to advance the business interests of the company, including to obtain support for public financing of a large-scale, mixed-used development project within the city of Boston.''
The allegations were contained in a charging document called an information. Prosecutors typically use that document when a plea agreement has been reached.
Raffol's attorney, Douglas S. Brooks, said in an e-mail, "As an employee, Marty was directed to raise large amounts of money for politicians. The pressure was intense and in his attempts to satisfy these directives, some of the contributions violated federal campaign laws and regulations. Marty never personally benefited from these efforts."
The charge is an outgrowth of the federal corruption case against former state Senator Dianne Wilkerson who has pleaded guilty to attempted extortion charges stemming from $23,500 in bribes that she took, according to prosecutors. She awaits sentencing.
WinnCompanies, a nationally known developer of affordable housing whose headquarters is in Faneuil Hall, issued a statement today saying it placed Raffol on administrative leave when it learned about a federal investigation late last year and fired him today.
The company did not address the government's assertion that Raffol was acting at the direction of his bosses. WinnCompanies said that ``immediately after learning of the allegations, the company took steps to ensure that our internal controls were strengthened and such behavior will not occur in the future.''
Former WinnCompanies chief executive Arthur Winn previously acknowledged to the Globe that he gave Wilkerson $10,000 in 2004 when he was trying to advance the Columbus Center development. He said the contribution was not meant to influence Wilkerson's public support of the project but was a gift to help a ``close friend'' with outstanding tax debts.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com
Here is the text of the statement from the U.S. Department of Justice:
A Boston based real estate executive was charged today in federal court with engaging in a scheme to conceal illegal campaign contributions made to federal campaign committees. He is also charged with witness tampering.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Office, announced today that MARTIN RAFFOL, 54, of Natick, was charged with one count of engaging in a scheme to conceal material information from the Federal Election Commission.
RAFFOL served as Executive Vice-President for a Boston company that provided management services to a portfolio of real estate holdings, including several publically subsidized housing communities in Dorchester and Roxbury. The Information alleges that as part of its business, executives from the company actively solicited campaign contributions from individuals for elected candidates for federal, state and local office throughout the years. These executives did so primarily to advance the business interests of the company, including to obtain support for public financing of a large-scale, mixed-use development project within the City of Boston. The Federal Election Campaign Act limits the amounts individuals can contribute to election campaigns and political campaign committees, prohibits corporations from making direct contributions to federal candidates, and requires the true identity of each contributor to be disclosed.
It is alleged that, as part of an effort to increase the amount of campaign contributions to candidates who supported the company’s projects or who might support these projects in the future, executives and senior management directed RAFFOL to solicit campaign contributions from vendors who regularly did work for the company.
RAFFOL in turn allegedly engaged in an ongoing scheme whereby he reimbursed the vendors for thousands of dollars of campaign contributions he solicited from them. This included vendors who provided general contracting services, energy services, and security services. According to the Information, as a result of RAFFOL’s scheme, the true source of these vendor’s campaign contributions were disguised from the FEC, similar state authorities, campaign committees and ultimately, the public.
U.S. Attorney Ortiz said, “Transparency is the cornerstone of federal campaign financing.
The public has a right to know the true source of financial support for its elected officials.”
In total, RAFFOL allegedly caused over $12,000 in illegal campaign contributions to candidates running for federal office, specifically candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. It is further alleged that he also caused over $30,000 in illegal contributions to candidates running for state and local office, including candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Senate, House of Representatives, District Attorney, Mayor of the City of Boston and Boston City Council. This scheme caused numerous reports, which falsely indicated the source of these contributions to be unwittingly filed by the relevant political committees with the FEC and similar authorities. There is no evidence that the federal campaign committees listed in the Information had knowledge of RAFFOL’s reimbursement scheme.
The Information further alleges that RAFFOL engaged in witness tampering to conceal the illegal campaign contribution scheme and to prevent law enforcement from learning of the scheme. In particular, RAFFOL instructed a cooperating witness to lie to authorities if authorities questioned him about the campaign contribution scheme.
If convicted on these charges, RAFFOL faces up to five years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for the false statement charge, and 20 years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for the witness tampering charge.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Dowden of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Senior Litigation Counsel William M. Welch II of the Criminal Division.
The details contained in the Information are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
And here is the statement from WinnCompanies:
Late last year, WinnCompanies was informed that Martin Raffol, Executive Vice President of WinnResidential, was the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston. Immediately upon learning this, Mr. Raffol was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Based on today’s court filing, which charges Mr. Raffol with violations of federal law, we have terminated his employment. We appreciate Mr. Raffol’s many years of service to our clients and the residents of our properties. In addition, immediately after learning of the allegations, the company took steps to ensure that our internal controls were strengthened and such behavior will not occur in the future.
Over its forty year history, WinnCompanies and its 2,500 employees have provided affordable, safe and quality housing in over 300 communities across the country. At Winn we understand that the relationships we have with our clients and residents are the core of our business, and that it is our obligation to maintain the highest standards so that we can continue to make positive contributions to the communities we serve.
BREAKING NEWS!!!!! Winn Official in Federal Indictment!
Feds charge real estate exec with paying off pols
Boston Herald
By Jerry Kronenberg
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - Updated 5 minutes ago
A federal investigation originally targeting former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson expanded today, with authorities charging businessman Martin Raffol with illegally steering campaign contributions to a who’s who of Massachusetts politicians.
The U.S. Justice Department charged Raffol, an executive with the Winn Companies, with leaning on business associates to donate to candidates - and then secretly and illegally reimbursing the donors.
Authorities claim the scheme aimed to get around campaign-finance laws that limit how much an individual can give a particular candidate.
Politicians who received money from the alleged scheme include U.S. Reps. Stephen Lynch, Barney Frank, Michael Capuano and others, as well as candidates for Massachusetts governor and Boston mayor.
Why might this be critical to Fall River? Because the Winn Companies are the primary developers of the low income housing project being built at the old Wamponoag Mills complex. The involvement of the Winn Companies in this project has been pointed out for over a year on this very blog to have the potential to implicate various elected officials and decision makers giving support to this low income housing project in just such a scheme. One has to wonder just how deep any such connection might be!
This is not the first time that Winn has been suspected of payoffs to local officials where the firm wanted to do business. In fact, the entire Winn empire has been built (no pun intended) on a well oiled machine that encompasses heavy lobbying and a pipeline of federal housing subsidy monies, property construction and renovation and property management departments in an powerful example of business vertical and horizontal integration. It's a veritable "one stop shop" for low and mixed income property development, and takes maximum advantage of leveraging federal funds for private profit.
Also interesting is Mayor Sylvanagan's stance against the "Y" project, with it's paltry few proposed low income apartments , while strongly backing the Wampanoag Mills low income apartment development! I guess the "Y" doesn't make as many campaign contributions as the friends and family of the Winn Companies.
Things that make you go " MMMMMMMMMMMMM?"
We'll be watching future developments on this story VERY carefully to see if illegalities reach the virgin souls of Fall River politicians.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Sorry this is a bit late folks!
Citizens for the Common Good meeting to be held in Fall River
FALL RIVER — The next Citizens for the Common Good meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 30, at Calvary Temple, 4321 N. Main St.
The meeting will be a forum to discuss the impacts of casinos on the local business community.
THANK YOU!
Citizens for the Common Good meeting to be held in Fall River
FALL RIVER — The next Citizens for the Common Good meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 30, at Calvary Temple, 4321 N. Main St.
The meeting will be a forum to discuss the impacts of casinos on the local business community.
THANK YOU!
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