On Wednesday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and his administration have put forth their recommendation for a state budget concerning fiscal year 2015. The budget, which allots approximately $36 billion for spending and investments, is substantially centered upon education, transportation, job creation, healthcare and tax-based revenue.
According to the governor’s office, the bolstered budget reflects “a 4.9 percent increase from FY14, in line with projected tax revenue growth of 4.9 percent.”
As mentioned last week, included in the new budget is an allocation of $52 million to be used for climate change and environmental preparedness which, given the snowy conditions Mother Nature has subjected Boston to throughout the entirety of January – not to mention the billions of dollars worth of damages at the hands of Hurrican Sandy – is a necessity.
Interestingly, when it comes to healthcare – a contentious issue raised by both Joe Avellone and Don Berwick, contenders vying to succeed Governor Patrick – the budget calls for a “$163 million increase over FY14 to recognize human service providers for the work that they do” as well as “new investments of $16.9 million that eliminates the waitlist for the statewide Elder’s Home Care Program and also expands the Supportive Housing program from 31 sites to 41 sites.”
Massachusetts healthcare, while available to Bay Staters as a human right, is the most expensive in the country and claims a stake of approximately 40 percent of the budget. While these increased investment in health services is certainly not a misguided gesture, Avellone recently made it a campaign goal to reduce the healthcare budget by one percent, freeing up $130 million annually.
To the chagrin of some, like Republican candidate Charlie Baker, the budget calls for a reduction in the state’s rainy day fund, which continues the downward trend started in 2012, as well as taxes on “candy and soda purchases to be dedicated to supporting public health services and infrastructure… imposing the room occupancy tax on the mark-up that room resellers like online travel websites receive as well as applying the room occupancy tax on transient rentals, and applying the corporate tax rate to pass-through entities owned by insurance companies and security corporations.”
Said Baker in a statement,
As governor, I would take a much different approach from Governor Patrick. I believe that we can make real progress in growing our economy and in improving our education system without higher taxes and without taking from the rainy day fund. We did it during the Weld-Cellucci Administration and it can be done again. The problem isn’t that our state government needs more money, it’s that the state must better manage the people’s tax dollars.
Some investments, however costly they may be in the eyes of some, are worth the expenditure. As the old cliché goes, you have to spend money to make money. That’s the mantra behind beefing up the budget for transportation in the commonwealth. Governor Patrick is calling for increased “funding for MassDOT and the MBTA by $141 million” in order to wane transit entities off the capital budget in an attempt to “eliminate the MBTA’s structural operating deficit and make modest service improvements for MBTA bus and subway service.”
The MBTA in particular already has a bevy of new subway cars planned for implementation over the next several years, is considering allowing sponsors to stake claims over specific stations, extensions to the heavily trafficked and oft-unreliable green line and of course is expecting a dramatic success to its late-night pilot program in hopes of attracting a higher and more dedicated ridership. Such measures are intended to apply appropriate pressure into better utilizing the mass transit system.
A better public transportation system will help fuel job creation not just in Boston but across Massachusetts. Governor Patrick hopes to spark a job creation boom by better connecting the state through infrastructure and putting a focus on education from K through 12, investing “$1.1 billion in higher education” as noted by the budget, putting another $4 million towards grants expected to grow the manufacturing industry that’s evaded Massachusetts over the years, and handing out $25 million to the life science-based Mass Life Sciences Center.
For more information on Governor Patrick’s budget proposal, you can view the overview here. For more in depth details on how the budget was crafted and why, you can read the budgetary process and actual budget here.
