"Worker training money targeted; Businesses tell state to stop using fund to balance budget" by Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | June 12, 2010
Governor Deval Patrick and the state Legislature have raided a worker training fund in each of the past two years to help balance the budget, and now Massachusetts businesses that finance the program with an $8-per-employee tax want the practice to stop.
Businesses and workforce training agencies are pressing the state to convert the training fund into a trust, similar to unemployment insurance, to prevent future raids and ensure that the money goes where it was intended. In each of the past two years, the fund has been sliced in about half, cutting out hundreds of businesses seeking grants to train their workers.
“This is an employer assessment specifically to go to training,’’ said Alan Macdonald, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, an organization that represents top executives. “If it’s not going to training, why are we paying this?’’
The Globe told you why above.
The employer tax raises about $21 million a year for the fund, which has helped train more than 100,000 workers since 2005. But Patrick, using emergency powers to balance the budget, slashed it to $12 million in fiscal 2009. The Legislature followed suit when it approved the budget for the current fiscal year, reducing the fund to $10 million and using the rest of the money to help close the budget gap.
Those aren’t the first times the fund has been raided. Mitt Romney, former governor, used worker training money to help balance the budget during the previous recession....
So it really doesn't matter which party is in charge, does it?
Among the companies that were shut out this year was New Bedford medical device maker Symmetry Medical Inc., which sought a $125,000 grant to help train more than 200 workers to boost productivity and make the company more competitive....
Last month, in a supplemental budget, the Legislature restored $9.5 million to the program, allowing the money to be carried over into the next fiscal year, since it’s unlikely it could all be spent before the budget year ends June 30. The Senate and House are negotiating the size of the fund for next year as they craft a compromise budget. The House’s spending plan fully funds the program at $21 million; the Senate has proposed $15 million.
I wonder what it got because Globe doesn't tell me in today's article.
State Senator Steven Panagiotakos, the Lowell Democrat who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said with $9.5 million carried over into the next fiscal year, the program will essentially be fully funded — and more. He said he opposes conversion to a trust fund, because it would compromise the Legislature’s flexibility in fiscal crises.
Yeah, God help us that you guys spend the money on what you said you would spend it.
“We have kept our commitment to the program for the most part,’’ Panagiotakos said, “but when you get these unprecedented revenue declines, you have to do whatever you can.’’
AFTER THREE QUARTERS of ECONOMIC GROWTH?
Related: States may get budget relief as tax collections rise
Sigh.
Cyndi Roy, spokeswoman for the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, said the governor views the program as valuable, and proposed a trust fund structure in a recent package of initiatives aimed at job creation. But facing multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls, Patrick had little choice but to tap the worker training money. “To balance the budget,’’ she said, “reductions were needed in all areas.’’
But House Speaker Robert DeLeo has pushed for full funding of the program, arguing that helping employers train workers keeps companies competitive, which means more employment.
“These types of funds can really create jobs in Massachusetts,’’ DeLeo said. “This is how we get jobs here and keep them here.’’
Michael Tamasi, president of AccuRounds, a precision manufacturer in Avon, said training grants from the program have led to better skills and higher pay for employees. Over the past six months, AccuRounds has added eight workers, boosting employment to 62.
Sounds like a weapons manufacturer, sigh.
“In order to remain competitive, you have to train,’’ Tamasi said. “We pay a tax specifically for workforce training, and for the government to take it away is unconscionable.’’
So is the mass looting of the taxpayer.
