Budget Blues, part one

I was at the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) annual meeting last weekend and got hear the Governor first hand explain his intended reduction of local aid, which left a lot of us puzzled. The Gov will reduce lottery aid and additional assistance by 9.74% and “hold harmless” Chapter 70 (aid to education funds) since education was a priority. In most communities, school budgets make up well over 50% of expenditures and use far more funds than Ch. 70 allocates, so the Gov's sympathies notwithstanding, schools should expect a reduction in spending this year and next.

The Gov's proposals were greeted with grim faces and some testiness and in a couple of cases he responded in kind. The reality is the proposed FY '09 cut is less than anticipated – we were looking at 10% of all “cherry sheet” aid, not simply a reduction in two categories. (Folks who want to learn more about state aid and cherry sheets should check the Department of Revenue website.) The state also provides a variety of local aid that doesn't show on the cherry sheet: community policing, formula grants to councils on aging, Chapter 90 (the so-called “gas tax” money for roads) and a variety of technical assistance grants, any and all of which we can expect to be reduced with todays scheduled announcement.

He also laid out some proposals that will be helpful: taxing telco properties; a one cent increase in meals/lodging tax that will be distributed statewide through the lottery formula; moving eligible retirees onto Medicaid; reducing the require union vote on switching insurance; changing the funding schedule for pensions. The local option of adding one or two cents to meals and lodging taxes is out there. Missing was any mention of giving municipalities the same level of control over health plan design that the state enjoys or a change in motor vehicle excise amortization.

Sometime this afternoon, DOR is going to post local aid numbers for this and next year. We'll also be scouring their site for data on the telco tax and potential meals/lodging revenues.

The MMA meeting was a bit lackluster this year --the seminar offerings weren't that attractive (at least to me) and attendance appeared to be down. I did run into two members of the Amherst Selectboard (one of who I almost didn't recognize without her laptop). I noted that the water temperature in the Hynes restrooms appeared to be below 120 degrees. Something to look into.