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ROMNEY CUTS STATE BUDGET BY $435 MILLION, LAWMAKERS FUME
By Priscilla Yeon
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 10, 2006…..Saying it was his constitutional duty to balance the budget, Gov. Mitt Romney today slashed state spending by $435 million, using his executive powers to settle a dispute with the Legislature over alleged overspending and the use of rainy day funds.
Legislative leaders responded with statements of displeasure, but didn't say how they'd react to Romney's move.
The cuts announced today amount to 1.7 percent of overall state spending. Romney said the following areas were exempted from cuts: local aid, debt service, constitutional officers and the judiciary, veterans programs and DSS social workers.
Highlights of the spending reductions include:
-- Millions of dollars in legislative earmarks for pet projects and government service providers;
-- Funds for decking over portions of the Big Dig slated for private development;
-- Funds to curb the size of water and sewer rate increases;
-- Rate increases for private sector vendors with state government contracts;
-- Funds to pay for retroactive pay increases at public higher education institutions;
-- A 1 percent cut in payroll and administrative expenses across many state agencies;
The move addresses a budget gap Governor-elect Deval Patrick was poised to inherit in January. Patrick has not offered specific budget accounts he planned to cut, or areas to raise revenues or generate funds to plug the gap.
While tax revenues are pouring in at record levels, the state budget just over four months into the fiscal year is out of balance because the Legislature has opted not to override a $450 million rainy day fund transfer. Romney says the state doesn't need to spend its reserves, while lawmakers say the money is needed to fuel state spending.
"Now I do want to note that the governor-elect can undo anything I do here with a simple stroke of a pen," said Romney. "So it's not a heavy burden for him, in some respects I think I'm taking heat which otherwise might be on his shoulders if he had to take these actions." He said the Patrick staff was briefed today about the cuts.
The Patrick campaign could not be reached for comment.
Romney cut about $388 million from budget line items that he had previously vetoed. Those vetoes were overridden by the Legislature over many days this summer, with lawmakers defending both the spending and the state's ability to pay for it and Romney countering that the Legislature was overspending.
The state's rainy day reserve fund has a balance of about $2.1 billion, Romney said.
"The problem here is not revenues, the problem is over-spending," said Romney, adding the state budget grew at 7.2 percent clip last year. "Wages don't grow at 7.2 percent. State revenues don't grow at 7.2 percent."
The so-called 9C cuts, referencing the section of the laws giving the governor the power to make unilateral cuts, include a 1 percent cut across government in payroll and administrative expense, with some exemptions, to save the state $37 million. The personnel funding cut means a "significant" number of projected new hires won't occur, he said.
"Many agencies received increases to their budget this year and planned to hire additional personnel. I must admit that I was dismayed at the number of additional personnel which were financed by the very large growth in spending that the Legislature passed," said Romney.
Legislative leaders have given no indication that they plan to hold a lame-duck session to consider the rainy day fund veto override. Branch leaders in August agreed they should return for a special session to pass a bond bill and replenish empty information technology accounts, but a disagreement between House and Senate leaders over the agenda for that session has put that whole plan on hold.
A joint statement from Rep. Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) and Sen. Therese Murray (D-Plymouth), chairmen of the House and Senate Ways and Means committees, issued by DeLeo's chief of staff Jim Eisenberg, said the Romney's cuts were an attempt "to play presidential politics with the lives of Massachusetts residents."
"Maybe if he spent a little more time in Massachusetts governing and less time on the campaign trail, he would understand how our budget works rather than unnecessarily cutting funding. By taking this unnecessary action he is increasing water and sewer bills dramatically for thousands and taking money from the pockets of those who make next-to-nothing caring for the most needy. Mitt Romney either doesn't understand the needs of working families, or doesn't care," the statement said.
Asked if the Legislature planned to override the rainy day fund transfer veto, Eisenberg said the chairmen's statement would be the only comment for today.
Lawmakers are next due to convene on Beacon Hill January 2, when they will resume the Constitutional Convention they recessed yesterday. The House plans to return later this month or in early December, but not for official business. The purpose of the sessions is to give departing lawmakers a chance to publicly say goodbye to lawmakers who will be returning next year. Legislative rules call for formal sessions to end during election years on July 31 and while the Legislature routinely suspends its rules, it hasn't suspended that one.
Kyle Sullivan, spokesman for Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, released the following statement in response to Romney's actions. "The Governor has once again shown that he is more concerned with political gestures and sound bites aimed at voters in other states than actually governing on behalf of the citizens of Massachusetts. He unbalanced this budget through his own actions and now is covering his political hide at the expense of families and communities across the state. In the end these cuts may be restored, but his legacy as Governor will not be. His term in office will be remembered, if at all, as four years when personal ambition ruled over the common good."
Noting that many of the cuts Romney made came from accounts he'd already vetoed, House Minority Leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) said, "I think he's taken this action so that he can leave Gov.- Elect Patrick a structurally balanced budget."
URBAN HOUSING AUTHORITIES SUE STATE OVER FUNDING
By Jim O'Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 20, 2006….Three public housing authorities are suing the state, alleging its top agency has failed to meet contractual and statutory funding requirements, forcing units to be taken offline.
The Boston, Cambridge and Brookline housing authorities claim the state hasn't allowed them and other agencies across the state to maintain and operate adequately units that are home to 50,000 low-income, elderly and disabled families.
Filed in Suffolk Superior Court, the complaint seeks to force the state to alter its budget process and cough up funding "owed from the past based on legislative authorizations," said Steve Young, the Holland and Knight attorney representing the local authorities.
A spokesman for the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) said the agency was looking over the suit.
"We've been working with the three authorities and their counsel" since October, said Steve Carvalho, noting DHCD two months ago approved a 7 percent increase in non-utility funding for the current year.
Asked why DHCD hadn't tailored the budget process to address the authorities' pleas, Caravalho said that, because of the pending litigation, "That's a little difficult to answer at this point."
During budget hearings last year, critics of administration policies questioned why $25 million in state funds had been quickly allocated for Hurricane Katrina victims while, they said, low-income Commonwealth residents were being shortchanged.
Public housing advocates say the state has allowed existing public housing buildings to decline into disrepair, while for too long pursuing short-sighted policies for aiding residents most at risk of becoming homeless.
The administration has touted an increase in private sector housing production in recent years. Last December, Gov. Mitt Romney's administration said annual housing starts had risen from approximately 17,000 in 2002, when he took office, to 23,000.
Because of current budget submission regulations, alleges the suit, "[T]he housing authorities have been unable to communicate their true expenses to the Governor and the Legislature, resulting in lower funding than the housing authorities require to maintain and operate the Commonwealth's public housing units in a safe and sanitary manner. The result of this under funding has been that the housing authorities are powerless to stop a rapid deterioration of their housing stock, which has required and will continue require units to be taken off the market and people to be left without a place to live."
"The cost of curing this crisis will be far greater than the cost of preventing it would be," said Young, declining to offer an estimate.
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