There is a growing belief among serious economists that we, as a country, face a large and unsustainable gap between our financial resources and our financial expectations. Current deficit spending by the national government and a failure to control long…
Blog Archives
The Budget Conference Report
We passed the conference committee report this week. It now goes to the Governor’s desk for review.
How to save $2m+ per year from the state budget
Hi Will – you may remember that the state has been through bad times before and there were lots of creative ways of saving money. I was reminded of one way today in a discussion with a colleague from Canada —…
State Stabilization Fund
The state’s stabilization (or “rainy day”) fund is designed to buoy the state through tough economic times, and it has certainly been used in the recent recession. This post will examine the set-up of the fund, the recent history of…
A week of ironies
The House worked on the budget into the evening every day last week, finally finishing relatively early at about 6:30 on Friday night. The financial outlines of the budget remained unchanged — rising health care costs, modest cuts in local aid, deep cuts to many state agencies, no tax cuts and no tax increases.
Questions and Answers about the House Budget
The House begins its Fiscal 2011 budget debate next week. While we will seek to amend the budget in many ways, the major outlines of the budget are unlikely to change. Here are some answers to basic questions about the budget.
House Ways and Means Budget Released
The House Ways and Means Committee has released its draft of the FY2011 budget.
Dazzled by the stars
Last week, I voted with a surprisingly small minority to curtail the state’s film tax credit, which was expanded under the leadership of former speaker Sal DiMasi. Mike Widmer, the President of the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, has stated that “All…
State employee payroll totals
The spreadsheet below compares census data on state payroll as of March 2008 with March 2000, responding to comments on this post. Most areas other than higher education, which is not funded primarily on the state budget, show cuts. The…
FY2011 Budget Priorities
In my annual budget letter, I reinforced concern re local aid and health insurance reform and expressed a preference for a budget without earmarks.