Greetings!    

If you read last week's newsletter, you heard about just some of the groups that were at our State House, fighting to keep their funding in the FY2011 budget. Unfortunately, our multi-billion dollar structural deficit means that many of those programs - along with others across the state have found their budgets on our state's chopping block.

The same goes for cities and towns across our state. Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center's Noah Berger explained in a recent WBUR interview that although the economy is beginning to perk up, it will be years - if ever - before those increased revenues will be enough to naturally bridge our budgetary gap. This puts once-safe line items like local aid at risk, forcing cities and towns to make cuts of their own or turn to property tax hikes to bridge their gaps:

• Lay-off notices go out at Groton-Dunstable school district after override fails
  
  
• Library trustee fears impact of cuts
  
  
• Norton officials present grim school budget forecast to local legislators

As all of our cities and towns reexamine what is important in our communities, it is important that we all work together to determine what we want and need from our state, and how we can most effectively and fairly fund all of the public structures that keep us safe and provide us with opportunities to build healthy, productive lives.

For more information on how you can help our state build a more balanced, adequate, and stable revenue package - or to host a free training in your organization or neighborhood, please feel free to contact me today!

In the meantime, find more examples of our state and cities and towns rebuilding their budgets on our ONE Massachusetts News Roundup and at the Boston Globe's Budget Blues blog.

Yawu Miller
Project Director, ONE Massachusetts

yawu@realclout.org | 617-275-2918