|
|
Greetings!
With just days to spare, the conference committee budget has been released!
In addition to our ongoing structural deficit - created by over a decade of revenue cuts - the committee faced a possible federal cut of nearly $700 million when crafting its budget solution. Their solution was based almost exclusively on cuts, including items that were once off the table - like local aid.
 This puts even more pressure on our cities and towns, forcing them to make cuts of their own or push for higher property taxes in a time when more and more towns are already looking to overrides. Just a quick glance at our News Roundup shows the budget issues faced across our state.
 It is time to take a more thorough look at what we need in our state - what it takes for everyone in Massachusetts to build healthy, safe, productive lives - everything from clean water and emergency services to summer theater programs for kids - and how we are going to pay for those things.
How would you build a stable, balanced, and adequate revenue and budget structure?
If you are interested in becoming more active in these or other efforts, or in hosting a free training in your organization or neighborhood, please feel free to contact me today!
Sincerely,
Yawu Miller
Project Manager, ONE Massachusetts
yawu@realclout.org | 617-275-2918
|
|
REVENUE
By 2013, a fair, adequate, and stable tax system will be implemented.
It will raise sufficient revenue so that state and local governments
can fund the array of services needed. |
|
FY 2011 Budget
Immigration Crackdown Softened in Budget Deal.
Senate and House negotiators reached a budget compromise Wednesday that patches a $687 million gap created by absent federal aid with deeper cuts than their original drafts and a raid on savings, curtails the Senate's crackdown on illegal immigration, and shelves a union-opposed proposal to grant local officials authority over public employees' health care plans...
The budget factors the loss in federal aid into its spending plan by making "targeted cuts," House budget chair Charles Murphy said, allowing for a long-promised 4 percent cut to local aid and level-funding other accounts providing dollars to cities and towns, including a special education circuit-breaker account and regional school transportation program. [Full Article: State House News Service via Martha's Vineyard Times]
|
|
Payments In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT)
Brookline close to annual PILOT deal with Boston University.
After of years of talks with Boston University, the town is close to an annual payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal with the school that could net the town at least $380,000 in the next fiscal year. [Full Article: Brookline Tab]
|
|
Casinos
Casinos now seen as source of quick cash in many states.
Massachusetts is not the only state to look to slot machines and Blackjack tables to help solve its revenue woes. Since the national economy started its nosedive in the summer of 2008, governors and state lawmakers across the country have been pushing new and expanded gambling measures to boost revenues. [Full Article: Raynham Call]
State senators opened debate yesterday on a bill to license three casinos in Massachusetts, exposing deep divisions over the economic benefits and social costs of gambling.
Over three hours of debate, senators voiced divergent opinions about the plan, and the fissures did not fall along simple ideological lines. The back-and-forth underscored how difficult it could be for the House, Senate, and governor to come to agreement as the end of this year's legislative session nears. [Full Article: Boston Globe]
|
|
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
By 2013, the voice and input of the state's multi-racial, multi-ethnic communities will create a counterweight to the currently dominant voice and will be tangibly reflected in the public decision making process. |
|
Youth Jobs
Boston budget saves 200 jobs for summer.
An increase in permit fees and parking fines helped give enough wiggle room in next year's budget to avert the planned layoff of 42 school custodians and give 200 more teens summer jobs, the Menino administration said yesterday. [Full Article: Boston Globe]
|
|
GOVERNMENT REFORM
By 2013, a transparent, accessible and accountable state and local
policy-making process will be in place. |
|
Ethics Reform
Gifts Ban Repeal, Targeted Tax Breaks on the Move in House.
A two-year-old ban on gifts in the medical and pharmaceutical industries would be repealed under an omnibus economic development bill the House budget committee began polling Thursday. The bill would grant targeted tax breaks to businesses and establish a central marketing agency, while differing from Senate-approved legislation over how to restructure the state's economic development bureaucracy. [State House News Service]
|
|
 Want more information on ONE Massachusetts and how you can get involved? Check out our: |
|
|
