Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District

The Patrick administration, in collaboration with the legislature, has been doing a good job focusing on long-term financial issues. Click here for the state’s long-term financial model. In a nutshell, the model says that if we can get health costs under control and the economy continues to recover, we will be able to sustain our [...]

Below, please find the local aid numbers released in today’s Senate Ways and Means FY13 budget proposal.  The Senate will debate the budget next week. For more background on local aid issues, please follow this link. Anne Johnson, Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger

The Senate Ways and Means budget is out. Get the SWM press release and links to budget details here.

Last week, the House passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2013 budget. The Senate will deliberate the budget in the last full week of May. The House based its predicted revenue numbers on one-time budget fixes in the amount of $140 million, rather than the Governor’s proposed long-term revenue increases through new taxes.  The [...]

Did your office find whether the Kaiser Foundation report on Massachusetts funding of Mental Health was accurate?  In that report, Massachusetts was reported as paying significantly less per capita than any New England state, save Rhode Island, for Mental Health Services. The difference was startling. http://statehealthfacts.org/ A recent SAMSHA report stated that 1 in 5  (19.9%) of American adults [...]

I’m glad the local aid is being increased, but I’m very concerned about the cuts being made to other services that need to be funded at a state level, like gang violence prevention.  Mental health, the area in which I work, is still being badly hurt by previous cuts which have not yet been restored, [...]

The consensus revenue estimate underlying the budget appears slightly optimistic and is more uncertain than in some years.

The House Ways and Means Committee has released its draft budget. The draft increases both General Government and Chapter 70 aid. If we are able to hold these increases on the Senate side, all of my communities will benefit.

Will, This the report I where I found state comparisons on mental health expenditures.  http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?cat=5&ind=278 Thanks for following up with DMH to see if it can shed some light. Pam

Hi Will, We talked on March 15 about the accumulated cuts of $55 million to mental health services in Massachusetts since 2009, more than any other New England state. Yesterday, I tried to verify on-line how much Massachusetts spends per capita on mental health, compared to the other New England states.  Recent facts were scarce, but the [...]

I transmitted today my annual statement of budget priorities to the Senate Ways and Means Chair.

Mr. Brownsberger, The 2012-2013 budget submitted by the Governor contains a 30 million dollar line item to provide cell phone service to the needy. It will provide free cell phones for over 242,000 in this state. This is absurd and allow me to point out why I feel this way. 1. There is already in [...]

The Governor released local aid numbers last week. Most communities see little change, but a few communities, including Arlington, see substantial Chapter 70 increases.

While I voted against the gambling bill, I think that we got a number of other good things done in this session. The biggest may be the redistricting plan which has been widely praised for the increase it creates in the number of districts from which minority candidates may potentially be elected.

One special thing about special education is that it is extremely expensive. State auditor Suzanne Bump has released  scathing critiques of three special education collaboratives in Massachusetts, detailing misuse of millions of dollars of funds. I first heard the story reported on WBUR. Now I fear that more shoes may drop. My question to Will: [...]

The Governor has signed the budget, making no spending changes and relatively few changes in “outside sections.” He did send back the municipal health care reform provisions with four narrow changes.

Highlights of the final budget include good local aid results, strong municipal health reform, limited spending with no new taxes, moderate reforms of the public counsel system and relatively good funding for a number of high priority human services.

The final budget comes in at the high side of expectations as to local aid.

There are several items of local concern in the Senate Ways and Means Draft Budget released yesterday.

I’ll be reporting on budget issues to the Belmont town meeting on May 9.