3) It does appear that economic conditions are getting worse and that our budget gap estimates do not reflect the most recent indicators of oncoming recession. The Governor’s budget cut plan was final before the latest report on falling consumer spending, a report which triggered another big sell-off on the stock markets.
4) The Governor’s plan makes no cuts in the major local aid accounts. This is a politically safe call and one that all members of the legislature appreciate. Mid-year changes in school funding could be very disruptive. The word is out though that municipalities should husband their resources in case a further round of cutting is necessary. The Governor does not have the power to make local aid account cuts without legislative approval. The Governor did cut the METCO account and the special education circuit breaker.
5) Within the executive branch, it appears that the Governor was surgical and thoughtful about his cutting. He deserves real credit for attempting to preserve core lifeline services for the most vulnerable, not always politically the easiest choice.
* The total percentage cut within budgetary line items was $655 million or 2.4%.
* The legislative branch itself took a voluntary cut of 10%.
* The executive branch areas that got the largest cuts in percentage terms were housing (15.9%), environment (7.3%) and labor (25.0%). Housing is an area where independent agencies, like the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, can offset some of the cuts, but the cuts in employment training grants are very deep. I was disappointed to see a substantial cut in DCR’s Office of Dam Safety which has responsibilities relevant to controlling flooding in the Alewife area.
* Transportation (2.1%), education (including Chapter 70 which was not cut, 1.6%) and public safety (1.9%) absorbed relatively modest percentage cuts.
* Areas that were untouched include legal services for the poor, food stamp out reach, elder protective services, domestic violence programs, homeless individual assistance. Many human service programs did experience cuts, but many of these cuts were less than the average statewide cuts.
* The areas that got the biggest cuts in dollar terms were health care accounts. Over $200 million in Medicaid cuts will mean benefit cuts and provider rate cuts that are just beginning to be explained.
* After the proposed job cuts, the total state government employment will still stand above its recent nadir in 2004 after the last downturn.
(6) Apart from the direct cuts of $655 million, the following measures balance out the Governor’s budget gap of $1.4 billion:
* $146 million from decisions not to fund to fund projected overruns in selected accounts which were contributing to the gap (this may prove to be a weak area)
* $200 million from reserves
* $168 million from additional revenues (including an increased tax on telecommunications companies)
* $100 million from extending the amortization of the Commonwealth’s unfunded pension liability (this is a cost deferral, not a savings)
* $52 million from “pension reconciliation”
* $64 million in reduced support for the Boston Medical Center
* $15 million from reduced transfers to energy, life sciences and e-health trust funds (cutting back on flagship initiatives from the last session).
(7) The Governor used the occasion of the budget squeeze to cut most earmarks out of the budget — a mixed bag of decisions, but a move that furthers a perennial executive branch goal of reducing legislative control over the budget.
(8) Similarly, the Governor is resubmitting a recommendation that state employees pay a larger share of the salaries for health care benefits (included in the $655 million of cuts). The employee share was increased in the last down turn, but the legislature (including me) voted to reject further increases in this budget cycle. It seems likely, however, that we will now vote to accept employee share increases in the new downturn — sacrifice will need to be shared broadly.
(9) Watch for additional use of the crisis to make politically difficult cuts in the coming weeks and months. I am hopeful that we will be able to make reforms in the pension plans. Notably, we need to align benefits more closely with lifetime earnings. This will not affect most employees, but will eliminate some of the most common excesses of the system — excesses in which people inflate the last three years of their salary to gain a pension that bears no relation to their lifetime contributions to the system. The Governor has signaled an intention to file a reform package shortly.
(10) So far, the direct impact on our municipal budgets has been minimal and the most vulnerable among us have not lost their lifelines, but the cuts in many other areas are real and substantial and diminish the state’s ability to provide services that most voters do value.
/w.
P.S. Vote NO on Question One! The cuts forced by Question One would be 10 times greater than the cuts forced so far by the still worsening economic conditions.
I already get your email but it is nice to see you here.
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p>What are we going to do about MASSHEALTH not funding day treatment programs effective 12/1? That makes no sense. Where are those people going to go during the day? How will they get treatment? These are some of the most vulnerable people in the Commonwealth.
Thank you! I’ll look into that issue and reply further.
The discretionary funds of the DCF were cut 6 million. That account/line item & those funds do things like buy winter clothing for foster kids and provide housing for legal orphans age 18-22. Is there any good way to monitor how DCF implements that 6 million cut?
Wish I lived in district with such a thoughtful and thorough Representative. Have heard that the cuts would eliminate Masshealth-funded psychiatric day treatment services – do you know if this correct? Is there anything that can be done about this?
One of the areas of greatest vulnerability is that of the young people who are rendered legal orphans by having their parental rights terminated, or being abandoned to the state by their parents, and who lose their right to counsel and “right” to services at 18, while many of them are still in high school and no where close to being able to support themselves.
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p>Before these cuts, 37% were homeless at age 18, see my post from 10/13/08 http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/s…
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p>43% of these age-outs are pregnant, almost ensuring another dependent generation.
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p>I am starting to hear that some DCF offices [was DSS until this summer] have frozen “voluntary sign ins” for this 18-22 year old group as a cost-cutting measure to a cut line item for discretionary services. If true, this would not only be tragic, but also immoral and in the long run, costly because the rate for a kid who signs themselves in for housing and to stay voluntarily in DCF custody is $18.00 a day – it is not a “cadillac” program. Contrast that to $43,000.00 a year for secure incarceration.
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p>Also, at the roll-out of the report on this population, not only was it made clear that 800+ legal orphans turn 18 without anywhere to go – per year – but that as of 2010 there are federal matching funds available if we as a state watch out timing and legislative enactments.
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p>Please also watch THIS issue – these 18-22 year olds cannot do it for themselves.
is worth about $50 million in revenue. Now that the price of gas is way down from it’s peak of about $4.00/gallon (and should fall as gasoline demand declines in winter, gasoline demand declines during a bad economy, and the price of oil has fallen way down to under $90/barrel), why not raise the gas tax a few cents?
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p>For a nickel a gallon more, the state would bring in a quarter billion — enough to restore the budget for environmental, transportation, and (some) housing.
That way folks who pay zero federal and state taxes get to contribute like they 50% who pay 100% of all of the other remaining taxes, Why should ant citizen, green card holder, resident alien, those here on any visa and illegal aliens get a free ride?
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p>A 2% tax on everything bought and sold ain’t gonna croak anyone.
…don’t have loopholes, not bad, MCRD. Good luck, though, with that one.
There is a large area of waste in the state Medicaid budget that could be cut without harming anyone. Massachusetts nursing home residents get their meds dispensed in a thirty day supply. But if the meds aren’t used (allergic reaction, patient died, went to the hospital, changed nursing homes, changed dosage, doctor switched meds, discharged to home) most of them are flushed down the toilet. Currently, only 17 name brand drugs can be returned to the pharmacy for credit under Mass.Medicaid rules. Why not return all of them and save some money? Ask any nursing home nurse or administrator how many meds they destroy each month.What a waste!
I’ve been ranting about this for years. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of meds in blister paks—perfectly fine for re dispensing and they are flushed or tossed. BTW—the flushing has now led to increased resistenace. Dumb asses!
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p>There are are whole host of other medicaid/medicare waste that could be easily rectified with PA’s & RNP’s making house calls instead of $350.00 chair car rides and $500.00 ambulance rides (one way) to a 15 minute doctors appt. What a crock!
There were several critical cuts in the MassHealth budget which will directly affect the ability of seniors with significant medical issues to stay in the community, at lower overall cost to the state. Among these hits are:
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p>Home Care Purchased Services will see a $3.968 million cut by changing consumer eligibility criteria. Mass Home Care Association estimates that the cuts in the Purchased Services account will result in 1,810 elders losing home care services. These services are critical to keep medically fragile elders at home, such as medication reminders, housekeeping, and bathing and dressing assistance. The caregivers are able to observe changes in health and alert a nurse before a crisis occurs — and so stay out of the hospital or nursing home.
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p>The Community First Initiative (CF) will be postponed for at least a year. CF is intended to allow elders and persons with disabilities who otherwise qualify for nursing home Medicaid payment to receive those services in their own homes, thus both maximizing independence while eliminating the boarding costs that MassHealth otherwise pays skilled nursing facilities, The CF budget was reduced from $20 million to $6.5 million. The Commonwealth had already agreed to set aside $5 million of CF money to move persons with developmental disabilities and medical needs out of skilled nursing facilities and into group homeagreed to in the Rolland v. Romney settlement. With only $1.5 million left to spare, the decision was made to not implement CF in 2009.
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p>Funding for services to homeless elders will be cut 66%, from $450,000 to $163,000. Given that the foreclosure crisis is directly affecting many seniors (both homeowners and renters whose landlords have been foreclosed on), there will be more homeless seniors this winter — and far less money to help them move back into appropriate housing.
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p>Elder mental health services will be cut from $225,000 to $125,000. Many of these services are provided to homebound elders with chronic mental illness, and reduce the need for hospitalization.
Shame and stupidity prevails on the Massachusetts budget cuts with the Governor to the Attorney General cutting their own budgets as a show of absolute dumbness that only depicts a continual lack of leadership failure.
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p> There should be no budget shortfalls and a leaner budget to begin with. Stop feeding the addiction of costly no bid contracts to vendors, providers, and consultants that cost billions of budget taxpayer dollars.
Elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse rampant throughout in several budget areas alone could solve any deficiency.
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p> Going after the so called underground economy that flourishes in the state alone means billions of additional revenue. The elimination of unneeded patronage positions will enable the career dedicated workforce to perform their mandated duties on behalf of the taxpayers and citizens of Massachusetts.
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p> Time for a true line item, subsidiary accounts, object codes, and scheduling state budget filled with true accountability and oversight devices to regain the trust in government by the citizenry.
Or in a coma, or on a desert island. Those are about the only logical explanations for claiming that the budget crisis is manufactured.
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p>Government budgets are tied to revenue from taxes and fees, the sale of bonds to finance operations, and access to lines of credit. If people are losing their jobs, the stock market tanks and the credit markets freeze up, the amount of funds available to operate drops. That’s what led to the budgetary emergency in nearly every state and local government in the country.
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p>The Globe had a story earlier this week concerning an joint initiative by the state Departments of Labor and Revenue and the AG to go after underground businesses. While the news is encouraging, the agencies certainly don’t think they’ll find “billions” of unpaid taxes.
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p>In Massachusetts, there has been little or no hiring in many agencies and the courts for a number of years, and the number of state employees has been dropping by attrition. Maintenance schedules for state parks and building has been cut back or deferred. Access to programs for persons with disabilities has dropped. The time processing MassHealth applications has increased. All of these cuts are tied at least in part to reductions in revenues. It is what it is.
5.3% is too low to fund a high quality state.
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p>We’ve been hiding that with a lot of prop 2.5 overrides and quickly climbing property taxes for several years.
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p>Cities and towns should be required to reduce their levy one year, in exchange for equivalent raises in local aid, funded by an increased income tax, which should also be a little bit higher than that in order to fund health care (which would also reduce costs for most people, on balance).
Thank you for taking the time to comment on this piece.
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p>Here are a few partial responses:
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p>(1) Regarding new revenues, I think we all have to take a breath and see what happens over the next few months. We may be fighting to offset the loss of the income tax after November 4 and we also need to see a little more of the recession to see where it is headed. The gas tax does deserve attention for a lot of reasons — environmental and equity reasons, in addition to sheer need for funds.
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p>(2) Regarding the concerns expressed about some of the Governor’s specific cuts. Yup! I agree. Some of these are very troubling, although I know it is not easy to make cuts of the size necessary without doing some damage. Concerns should go directly to the Governor — these are not legislative decisions. I greatly appreciate Amberpaw’s work on the children and family issues. I’m also a big believer in home care and day care for persons in vulnerable positions. Often these programs create great savings. I gather that some of the mental health day treatment cuts have been rescinded. This is very good news.
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p>3) Regarding waste in the health care system. Can’t judge it from where I sit, but everyone seems to agree that health care cost control is a high priority. It’s a huge challenge!
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p>Here is some detail regarding the DMH cuts (which as to the day care programs have been at least partially rescinded). This detail was prepared by my aide, Barbara Miranda.
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p>For the Department of Mental Health, the scope of the Governor’s 9C cuts totals $33.5 million spread over most of the accounts and the Agency was also required to reduce spending by an additional $6 million. DMH was allowed to access $24.2 million in funds from the trust accounts to mitigate the impact of these reductions.
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p>Reductions in services will occur in the areas of:
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p>1. DMH personnel: $3.5 million
2. Adult community services: $3.7 million
3. Various child/adolescent community services: $1.2 million
4. Inpatient pharmacy savings: $300,000
5. Elimination of earmarks $650,000
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p>To accomplish the reductions in adult community services, the Department is eliminating selected day services and community programs. The three selected programs are Day Rehab, SEE and Social Clubs. Within this there is also a $1 million reduction in funding to clubhouses.
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p>The goal of the Department is to maintain core essential services for consumers with the highest levels of acuity, maintain services that provide or support consumer housing, and maintain consumer and public safety.
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p>The Department anticipates that affected consumers will be referred to the continuing community programs.
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p>
From my aide, Barbara Miranda:
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p>The 3 programs, clubhouses and the other two, that are strictly DMH remain cut. Under MassHealth, providers contract for day treatment programs and partial hospitalization for people on Medicaid. The Governor cut that. Commissioner Bigby and the MassHealth strongly petitioned for the MassHealth day treatment and partial hospitalization program that is reimbursed to MasssHealth by Medicaid to be restored because not to do so and leave that population without any service is vastly more expensive in the long run. A&F has agreed and is doing the paperwork now.
We were very happy that the cuts for day treatment programs and partial hospitalizations were rescinded.
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p>But I have to tell you that I was VERY impressed to get a call from Barbara Miranda, your aide, on Tuesday in response to a question I posted on BMG on the previous Friday.
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p>THANK YOU