ONE Massachusetts Weekly Newsletter

What would your family do if you were faced with lost income? Tighten your budget? Look for new income?

Cities and towns across our state are constantly trying to find a balanced answer to those very questions - how should they fund the things they need to build safe, healthy communities with their budgets increasingly stretched after local aid falls short?

Westport Highway Surveyor Harold "Jack" Sisson told selectmen his department needs new equipment, but...

"Town Administrator Michael Coughlin pointed out that the town was already facing a deficit of approximately $100,000, making such equipment purchases unfeasible for the near future. For now, he said, any purchases would have to come out of the Highway Department's existing funds. In his report to the selectmen Monday night, he also mentioned the possibility of a second Proposition 2½ override request; a proposed override failed overwhelmingly this spring." [Full Article: SouthCoast Today]

As in our family budgets, communities deal with difficult decisions on setting priorities for their residents and their budgets...

Elementary Musicians [Clarion Music News]

Despite a [$4.3 million deficit] that resulted in dozens of school layoffs, the Leominster School Department's music and arts programs will continue this coming school year, Superintendent of Schools Nadine Binkley said Monday. And though district officials considered every part of the school budget, class sizes will go up slightly, and supply budgets were cut, they tried to minimize the impact of the budget on students, and Binkley said she didn't think any music program would be lost...

Leominster High School Music Director Barry Hudson said keeping music stable in Leominster is good news and said he's glad the district recognizes the importance of keeping the classes going in elementary and middle schools. "Any cuts to those programs would be a loss, because that's the age when you get kids interested in music," he said. [Full Article: Sentinel and Enterprise]

Isn't it possible to find a better solution than finding temporary stop-gaps each and every year?

One goal of the ONE Massachusetts network is to find a way to support all of our communities with a more stable, balanced, and adequate revenue package. For more information on revenue reform and how you can get involved, contact ONE Massachusetts today!

Sincerely,

Harmony Blakeway
Director of Operations, ONE Massachusetts
harmony@realclout.org | 617-999-8469

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.

State Budget

State managing $1B problem in new budget

Patrick administration officials are crafting plans, due in 10 days, to manage more than $1 billion in spending reductions and exposures in the state's brand new $27.6 billion budget.

The plans will inform Gov. Deval Patrick's decisions about state government program and service changes, and decisions about layoffs and alterations in state regulations or laws needed to allow departments to operate at reduced funding levels, according to new financial disclosure documents reviewed by the News Service. [State House News Service]

State Revenue

Mass. revenues up in June; for year, up $279M

Massachusetts collected $2.03 billion in tax revenues in June, up $240 million, or 13 percent, from June of last year. Overall, tax collections were $279 million, or 1.5 percent, above projections for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Revenue Commissioner Navjeet Bal said the increase in tax collections shows economic conditions have approved in the state, especially after substantial declines in revenue last year... The increase in the state sales tax last August from 5 to 6.25 percent helped the state generate $739 million in additional revenues... [Full Article: Boston Globe]

Judicial Budget

State proposes closing courts.

The Southeast Housing Court in New Bedford is among the courthouses the state is considering closing to erase a $21 million Trial Court budget deficit. The possible closing of Wareham District Court and the relocation of its functions, possibly to Plymouth District Court, was announced last week. Word that New Bedford's Housing Court is also a target came Tuesday.

"The relocations are one component of major, ongoing cost reduction efforts under way in the Trial Court to reduce the number of layoffs" necessitated by the $21 million shortfall, she said. She said other cost-saving measures include a hiring freeze, a five-day furlough for judges, clerks and court managers, incentives for retirement, voluntary layoffs and work-hour reductions. The Court Relocation Committee said the budget crisis requires that relocation efforts "move forward more quickly than originally planned.".. [Full Article: SouthCoast Today]

Casinos

House's latest offer has 2 slot parlors, 3 casinos.

House and Senate negotiators are working through the most recent overture toward a gambling bill compromise, offered by Speaker Robert DeLeo: two "racino" licenses divided among four racetracks and three resort casinos unbound by geographic parameters. DeLeo's proposal, the fourth overture since conferees began negotiating earlier this month, calls for the state's four racetracks to compete for two slot parlor licenses, barring outside aspirants, an approach that has drawn criticism and charges of "no-bid" deals. The Senate's lead conferee said the proposal was "under consideration." A senior House Democrat, speaking on condition of anonymity, described it as denied.

Pressure has been building for agreement on some form of expanded gambling, as the July 31 end of formal sessions approaches... A lobbyist working on the bill, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "The fierce rhetoric over the last week has been about the perceived no-bid contract of the House bill, and that has been cured by this alleged compromise. So the governor should be happy with this. You're not going to come out with one bill that is going to make him perfectly content with the slots issue, but if there's going to be a bona fide compromise here, those two slot licenses to public bid have got to stay." [State House News Service via Canton Journal]

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 Engagement

Group pushes for voting pre-registration
Shaughnessy C., a MassVOTE Young Civic Leader wrote this week that,

Cartoon: Your Vote is Your Voice [Ben Sargent via sodahead.com]

"As a 17 year old high-school student, I can't vote yet. But I still want to "pre-register" now so I'll be all set and registered to vote on the day I turn 18. Why?

The answer is simple: So youth like me can have a say in the policies affecting our everyday lives. If elected officials know that I am pre-registered to vote and plan on voting when I turn 18, they will pay more attention to what matters to me and my friends - school budgets, global warming, and public transportation.

Pre-registration (State House Bill 683) would let 16 ½ and 17 year-olds pre-register to vote. This would mean fewer 18 year-olds registering at the last minute or missing the deadline and ending up unable to vote."

For more information on how you can help with this effort, including participating in a simple sign-on letter, please contact MassVOTE.

GOVERNMENT REFORM

By 2013, a transparent, accessible and accountable state and local policy-making process will be in place.

Election Reform.

Rep. Lewis fights for accountability in Mass. elections

State Rep. Jason Lewis submitted testimony last week, actively advocating for the passage of legislation that will create stronger disclosure requirements and increased transparency for corporations that fund political advertisements, as now allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court in January in the controversial decision Citizens United vs. FEC.

The opponents of this Supreme Court decision maintain that the U.S. Constitution is designed to protect the rights of individuals and not corporations, particularly with regards to first amendment free speech rights. Therefore, in response, the Massachusetts Corporate Political Accountability Act calls for stronger regulations and oversight on corporate political activities. "This legislation is vital to protecting the integrity of Massachusetts elections," said Lewis. "The Constitution is designed to protect the rights of individuals not corporations, and this legislation would help to restore the appropriate balance in campaigns and political advertising." [Full Article: Stoneham Sun]

Municipal Transparency.

Open meeting law irks many

Intent on bringing greater transparency to local government, the Legislature strengthened a law last year that was supposed to make it easier for people to keep track of what local officials are doing at town and city halls... So far, the new regulations seem to please no one.

"It's a solution in search of a problem,'' said Mayor Mark P. Hawke of Gardner, referring to new requirements that town and city officials post meeting agendas earlier, more widely, and in greater detail.

But Robert J. Ambrogi, executive director of the newspaper publishers group said 90 percent of states fine individual officials found to have violated open meeting laws. In Massachusetts, however, no board or committee member can be fined for such violations, no matter how flagrant. Instead, the board or committee takes the financial hit, meaning it comes from municipal funds. "It's the taxpayer who pays the fine,'' Ambrogi said. "When public officials do something in private, you can assume they have something to hide. Yet when caught, there are no consequences.'' [Full Article: Boston Globe]

UPCOMING EVENTS

July 19th - 29th - Statewide: Committee Against Repeal of the Alcohol Tax Regional Campaign Field Meetings. "At November 2nd's state election, the liquor industry will ask Massachusetts voters to repeal the sales tax on alcohol. This sales tax provides dedicated funding for substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery services. Passage of the question would jeopardize funding of these programs." The Committee Against Repeal of the Alcohol Tax is hosting regional campaign meetings to inform you about the campaign and what YOU can do to help defeat the repeal:

Thursday, July 22 - BROCKTON
9:30 AM to 10:30 AM
High Point Treatment Center (Cafeteria), 10 Meadow Brook Road
Tuesday, July 27 - PEABODY
9:30 AM to 10:30 AM
CAB Health Recovery Services, Zero Centennial Drive
Thursday, July 29 - BOSTON
9:30 AM to 10:30 AM
AIDS Action, 75 Amory Street

Want more information on ONE Massachusetts and how you can get involved? Check out our: