God does this state ever need Republicans in charge!
"Governor could get control over aid cuts" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | January 14, 2009
.... "It's almost a week-by-week kind of drama that's unfolding here," said Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette of Chicopee, where nearly half of its $150 million budget comes from state aid and a cut in local aid could cause 350 layoffs to the 2,400 city and school employees. "People are realizing that the gun is not only at our heads but . . . is cocked."
Under state law, Patrick has two weeks to produce his plan, but House Republicans have been pushing Patrick to release a detailed budget plan before they vote today on whether to give him expanded budget-cutting powers.
With NO INFORMATION WHATSOEVER!!
SOUND FAMILIAR (think Washington D.C. and Bush, folks)?
Yesterday, they sent Patrick a letter asking him to present his plans for so-called 9C cuts, named for the section of the law involved in granting the power.
"The governor should spell out exactly how much money he plans to cut, what accounts he will be targeting, and what mechanism he plans to use when making his 9C cuts," said Bradley H. Jones Jr., the House minority leader.
Sounds REASONABLE to ME!
"Until he can give us those answers, the Legislature should not be so quick to cede unilateral budget-cutting authority to the governor," Jones said.
But Mass. DemocraPs will anyway!
Administration officials refused yesterday to detail what programs and services would be cut, including how much would come from cuts to local aid....
Leslie A. Kirwan, secretary of Administration and Finance, said she was not ready to discuss solutions as she briefed reporters on revenue figures, adding, "We haven't formulated a plan."
Are you effin' kidding?
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Lawmakers in the House and Senate anticipate debate today over whether to give Patrick the expanded powers, but DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray have said they expect their chambers to vote in favor.
Mass. voters and citizens deserve to have it tucked to 'em!
"Obviously, we're in a financial crisis and very difficult decisions have to be made," DiMasi told reporters Monday. "The governor's going to have to make a lot of those decisions. We'll give him the power to do so."
Yeah, as long as "flushing . . . millions of dollars away supporting a highly profitable industry" when it comes to $300 million in taxpayer dollars for Hollywood is o.k., even as the price of a school lunch rises; paying $13 million for a computer software system that could have cost less than $3 million is all right because the winner was a close friend of the House speaker, even as my poorer-than-dirt district "has been struggling to close a $2 million budget gap."; the lottery shelling out "millions of dollars" for sports tickets for "lottery officials, their family members, and friends" is fine, even as schools are closing; making interest payments to banks to the tune of "a staggering $22 billion" for the Big Pit, as we call it around here, is required, even as bridges are neglected across the state; and again, paying off banks like UBS, who can "demand repayment of an additional $2 million a month beginning in January" while also receiving a "$179 million payment," while the state pension fund loses $1 billion dollars -- which still didn't stop the executive director from carving himself a nice "$64,000 bonus on top of his $322,000 annual salary."
Yup, the BILLION DOLLAR GIVEAWAY to the pharmaceutical corporations was a GOOD THING, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?" Flush that money away, too, taxpayer.
And look whose backs they are balancing the budget with: the blind, mentally ill, kids, and cripples!!
Of course, "one of the governor's pet projects, the $3 million Commonwealth Corporation, is only taking a 5 percent trim."
And that is not counting the troubles at the Turnpike!
"The authority was attempting to renegotiate terms of a complex financial deal with the banking giant UBS. Known as a swaption, the arrangement could force the authority to pay out a $450 million lump sum"
Of course, the war looters were next in line for a handout. And should the state be appropriating money for a "multimillion-dollar reconstruction" of golf courses?
Nor is it RECKLESS to BORROW the STATE INTO OBLIVION so they can PAY INTEREST to BANKS while SITTING ON $2 BILLION DOLLARS!
Need one final insult, Mass. taxpayers?
"Town officials... are trying to decide how much of a property tax break to offer and how they can secure state funding for infrastructure improvements.... although it could take several years for the studio to realize its potential"
Also see: Hollywood, Massachusetts
Hollywood (East) Disses Veterans
More Mass. $$$ to Movie Makers
Sorry, that wasn't it:
"$5m in tax breaks going to IBM for Littleton project
The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved $5 million in state and local tax breaks for IBM Corp., which recently began a $63 million expansion in Littleton. IBM vice president Bob McDonald said the company plans to create 42 jobs at the site over the next decade. McDonald said the computer giant, based in Armonk, N.Y., has already begun renovating a building and hopes to move into it next month. McDonald said the tax incentives were important, but the company would have gone forward with the expansion without them. IBM has 4,000 employees in Massachusetts, including about 2,000 in Littleton (Boston Globe October 30 2008)."
Yup, but the PUT-UPON, AGONIZING GOVERNOR is going to decide how to fuck you next!There could be certain conditions with the approvals, including allowing Patrick to cut only a certain portion of local aid. The Legislature may also exempt the governor from making cuts to the judicial and legislative branches. Legislators have also been asking the administration to give them a better sense of what types of cuts Patrick would make.
Could be, if, maybe....
"We know this needs to be done in a timely fashion, because we're bleeding money," Murray said in an interview. "But it's hard to act in the dark. We'd like a little bit of light, in terms of what the parameters are. It's going to be shock and awe. The revenues are not there, and next year's budget is going to be very depressing."
Well, I've OUTLINED where to go to get the $$$$, but I guess Hollywood, corporations, banks, war-looters, etc, are off limits, huh?
The last time there were midyear cuts to local aid was in January 2003, when Governor Mitt Romney sliced $114 million.
Yeah, and he caught hell for it from some of these same stink DemocraPs!!
What a STINKING BUNCH of HYPOCRITES they are!!!!
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