Budget Blues

Lt. Governor Tim Murray conducted conference calls yesterday with town administrators and managers, following the meeting he and the Gov had with mayors last week. The Patrick administration makes it a point to do outreach to cities and towns. While I grouse about their fondness for mayors, they've been better at keeping in touch with us little guys. This kind of contact was unthinkable during the Mitt reign and for that matter going all the way back to Dukakis.

The news is not good and we didn't get a lot of detail, save that planning for a potential shortfall in the administration began last spring. The hope is to hold harmless local aid, Chapter 70 (education), public safety and social safety net programs. That doesn't leave a hell of a lot to reduce, given the state's spending patterns. Murray was careful to note their intent but left the door open to reductions in all spending. State grants will take a hit and its possible that we'll see reductions in Ch. 90 (highways) as well. The Lt. Gov didn't rule out canceling contracts already written. There will be layoffs and an "early retirement" package is not in the cards.

The administration is modeling past shortfalls and responses to get a better handle on how to respond to this one and the ever-capable Leslie Kirwan is tasked with coming up with an annualized projection of the revenue deficit. The intent is to fix this once but the prospect of repeated adjustments over the course of the fiscal year remain. Of course, this clouds the FY '10 budget process which will be underway in a matter of weeks.

This afternoons press conference will present what the administration sees as the size of the problem and outline the response. Municipal officials are promised an email by 5:00 PM with additional details.