Related: Slow Saturday Special: Patrick Knows
Becoming a real pattern.
"Patrick plan would slash local aid; But his proposal would boost funds for schools, roads" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff / January 22, 2011
Governor Deval Patrick, moving to close a gaping shortfall in next fiscal year’s state budget, proposed slashing local aid to cities and towns by 7 percent yesterday, but giving them more money for schools and roads, along with greater power to curb crushing health insurance costs.
The governor’s proposed $65 million cut in local aid would mark the fourth consecutive year that the money — which helps pay for police officers, firefighters, senior centers, and other local services — has been reduced. Local aid has been cut by 32 percent, or $416 million, over the last three years, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
Municipal officials, who were bracing for a local aid cut in the budget year that begins July 1, nevertheless expressed chagrin that the account would be slashed again. They said it would inevitably trigger further cuts in communities that have already laid off workers in schools and town halls, closed libraries and firehouses, and reduced other basic services.
Related: Memory Hole: Massachusetts' State Budget
Mass. State Budget: Screwing Cities and Towns
Massachusetts Sales Tax Swindle
See where the money is coming from and where it is going?
Also see: Advocates for elderly, disabled rip $15m cut
I know where you could get $15 million.
Yet even as they lamented the proposed loss in aid, local officials welcomed the governor’s plan to increase spending on schools by $140 million, to the highest level in history, and on roads and bridges by $45 million. And they warmly, if cautiously, greeted the governor’s proposal to help them cut their health insurance costs, even though the plan deliberately pushes off the most difficult decisions for a later day....
Nope, nothing has changed in Massachusetts!
Related: Mass. House says no to jeans, spaghetti straps
Also see: The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
Towns to Pay Health Tax For Public Servants
Talk about a royal screwing.
Patrick said he was intentionally glossing over some of the thorniest questions because he did not want the bill to get bogged down in the details. He said his unsuccessful push for casinos had taught him not to let lawmakers scuttle bills by haggling over the fine print....
How deceptive!
--more--"
And from what I read the towns are rolling in dough:
"Despite fiscal ills, towns are saving up; ‘Rainy day’ funds a hedge for future" by Peter Schworm and Matt Carroll, Globe Staff / November 8, 2010
Cities and towns across the state are diverting large sums of money to “rainy day’’ accounts even as they lay off employees and make deep cuts to schools and services, girding for what many believe will be a long period of austerity.
It's frikkin' pouring out.
This article is available in our archives:
--more--"
Good thing I have a printed paper in front of me:
Municipal leaders give a variety of reasons -- cuts in state aid, anticipated increases in health care costs, dwindling federal stimulus funds -- but the financial stockpiling is also a signal they fear the funding enjoyed before the financial collapse will not return anytime soon.
"This is the new normal," said Mayor Dean J. Mazzarella of Leominster, which set aside $3 million this year while it also made sharp cuts that included layoffs. "And we need to adjust."
The increase in savings is significant -- even surprising...
Yeah, the towns are SITTING ON MONEY while your services are being slashed!
"In a turnabout, governor breaks with unions on health care plans" by Sean Murphy, Globe Staff / January 22, 2011
For much of his first term, Governor Deval Patrick helped protect public employee unions from dramatic increases in their members’ health care insurance costs.
No more.
Yesterday, Patrick joined House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo in calling for a significant curtailing of organized labor’s influence over the health care plans of municipal employees, retirees, and elected officials, proposing that cities and towns receive far greater power to enact major changes without union assent.
The governor’s proposal, as part of his budget plan for next fiscal year, represents a momentous shift in the political landscape, as labor unions, state leaders, and local officials tussle over how to rein the exorbitant costs of the often-generous insurance plans....
--more--"
"Patrick proposal would reshape public pensions; Workers remain longer, pay more into fund" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff / January 19, 2011
Nearly all future state and municipal employees would work five years longer, contribute more to their pensions, and have their benefits slashed if they retire early under a bill Governor Deval Patrick and legislative leaders unveiled yesterday.
Eighteen months after state leaders eliminated loopholes in the pension system, the new proposal would go beyond merely curbing abuses. It would, Patrick said, fundamentally change retirement benefits for thousands of future teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public workers, in an attempt to save $5 billion over the next 30 years.
Many states, including Massachusetts, confront escalating pension costs, a major burden on their budgets. Massachusetts, which has a relatively stable pension system, is nonetheless facing $20 billion in unfunded costs that will eventually have to be absorbed by taxpayers.
Because most of the proposed changes would apply only to future hires, however, it would take decades for the state to realize major savings.
The proposal comes at a time of rising anger at public employee benefits, as workers in the private sector have seen their own benefits and wages cut in recent years. It could trigger a struggle on Beacon Hill because public employee unions have traditionally fought attempts to curtail their members’ benefits. Most unions, however, reacted cautiously yesterday....
--more--"
Related: Globe's Governor's Race: Uniting Behind Patrick
Hope you are getting what you wanted.
