The state has a budget crisis related to falling tax revenues resulting from the recession.

I attended an evening community forum Thursday May 14^th in Milford, moderated by Paul Reville, Sect of Education. The administration is offering at least 36 of these forums before the end of the month. This is an outreach program to inform and collect input from the citizenry.  They are spread across the state to facilitate attendance by the 351 cities and towns of the state.

The Milford forum was attended by about 31 people (about 2/3rd from Milford) – a disappointing turnout even considering the short notice. We have 14,000 registered voters here. The budget crisis is much worse than I thought even a few weeks ago. The power point slides laid out the size of the crisis and the steps taken and those still underway to mitigate it.  Here is a link to the presentation:   http://www.mass.gov/Agov3/docs/ForumPresentation.pdf

Five of our Blackstone Valley PDM members (we’ve worked together on many issues and campaigns over the last 8 years) discussed via email our reactions 48 hours later.  I have heavily edited both our reactions and the following observations of the attendees of the forum.

1. Shock at the size of the budget shortfall- Many billions over the 2B I thought - 5.4B in 2010

2. The shortfall stretches out into at least 2012 where it might reach 9.4 B

3. The total of all proposed tax increases is not enough to make much of a dent (1/2B from gas tax for instance).  The shortfall is about the size of any one of the big three expenses of state government (Healthcare, Social Services, Education. The state budget is about 28B.

The Rainy day fund of about 1.5B will be gone by 2010 - all spent to keep as many departments going as possible.

4. Senator Moore stated that the Ethics reform passed the Senate this week and is in conference.

5. He added some historical perspective - 1/2 of the states 60,000 employees are already gone- moved over the years to non profits. 1600 more have been recently furloughed.

6.  The state income tax is the only tax base big enough to solve the shortfall.  Moore stated that ballot initiatives to allow increasing the percentage had failed. I was later told the last attempt was 1979, but I seem to remember one after that.

7. Rep Fernades calmed the school committee folks by informing of the passage of a house bill this week that replaces the immediate shortfall preventing a triggering of the 'circuit breaker" provision. Further, the Federal money is already coming in.

8. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Federal Stimulus money helps but it is along way from closing the shortfall.

Now my impressions about the attendees.  The summary is:

1. The administration AND our legislators were there.  They're not fighting.  Where were the people?

2. Everyone came with a personal need from the budget. There was a poor me attitude.  There were no replies to repeated requests to state the group’s preferences on how to fix it.

3. People's voices were shaking as they realized how little of their pet programs (or major services) might survive.

4. The social services folks assured the group their pay was not causing any budget bloat and they were terribly concerned for their needy clients.

5. A few people were mad at the messenger.  I heard "How can we have faith in you again?" " That legislator only serves seniors and his cronies and has been there too long." (was not said publicly).

My opinion from more than just this meeting was that for too long people have remained distant from legislative participation. When they do, they flood the representatives with a scattershot of opinions. So much so that it's hard to sort them and find even a reasonable sized minority consensus. Our problem is not the Big Dig or the Mass Pike - they really don't seem to be what's putting us in the ditch, percent wise. They are largely capital budget items and our immediate problem is having an operating budget to keep services going.  Casinos? a red herring; not enough revenue as the receivables steadily shrink.

Two chapter members were motivated to attend the Franklin Mass forum the following Sunday, May 17^th.  Here the attendance was much larger (87) and wide spread in both town of residence and point of view.  This forum was conducted by the governor with the area state representative and Franklin officials participating. An hour and a half of the two hours forum was discussion, with many more people wishing to participate than time allowed. Still, there was a lively and intelligent exchange with the governor and representative covering most of the total spectrum of budget issues.  Here, I was really impressed with my fellow citizens and Gov Patrick.

What was not discussed was the issue of the state income tax, in spite of the fact that the slides make it clear it is the only remaining source of income that could provide the needed remaining revenue needed to balance the budget. It is such a large percentage of the total revenue that less than a 2% hike would cover the shortfall. This presumably is because the mechanism required to change the tax rate is such a long convoluted process and time is of the essence.  The governor’s attending staff were busy collecting written needs, suggestions for increasing short term revenue and existing loopholes that citizens knew from first hand observation were preventing the state from getting sensible revenue return.

We need a notch up in the income tax and it's not the legislature that's afraid to do it. We have to do it. And it should be progressive.  I came away feeling it's too easy to blame the legislature.  I felt the poor performers were us.  I guess I'm one of those millions who is suspicious of the legislature except for my own guys. I can reach them via several ways as often as I like, usually once a month, and I always get sensible answers.

Since many of us are delegates to the Democratic Party’s state convention June 6^th I’m suggesting this:  There may be a way to at least get a progressive state income tax to an up or down vote at the convention. Those reading this who are not delegates should email their governor and representatives immediately on this.  We cannot let the state services stop or we will pay many times over for a start up again later.  Make no mistake, regardless of the chatter out there, most of these services will have to be reinstated if cut. The net gain from total reform, cuts and pending revenue suggestions, should it all happen, does not cover the problem.  Some big additional solution is required. It is now clear to anyone who looks – the state is not some corrupt machine wasting more money than it effectively spends. The ways each one of us may suffer if this crisis is not met may be subtle in some cases, but they will not be trivial.

Contact your representatives now and weigh in to solve this crisis. Nothing less than a mandate from the people is required. 

Jay from Milford

Delegate, State Convention

Town Committee member,

Member, Progressive Dems of Mass.- Blackstone Valley