Massachusetts state lawmakers are facing an increasing deficit of more than $1 billion and taking drastic measures to balance the budget for fiscal year 2010, officials said.
Governor Deval Patrick, who has already proposed more than $2 billion in cuts over the last four months, petitioned legislature Jan. 7 for emergency authority over the budget that would allow him to make further cuts to state spending. Patrick’s request came just a week after he announced the most recent $1 billion cut from Massachusetts’ $26 billion budget.
‘A budget gap of the magnitude we face will require tough choices that impact individuals, families and businesses across the Commonwealth,’ Patrick said in a statement. ‘It’s necessary for us to have everything on the table when making these decisions.’
This emergency authority, which is called 9C authority, will allow Patrick to cut funds from outside his own executive branch, including the legislature, the judiciary, district attorneys, sheriffs, other constitutional officers and local aid.
A Department of Revenue analysis showed December tax collections in Massachusetts were $130 million below where they were in 2007.’ As a result, Patrick announced Dec. 30 that $1 billion will probably need to be cut for the 2010 fiscal year in addition to a previous $1.4 billion reduction in October, bringing the total to more than $2 billion. The 2010 fiscal year runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010.
Executive Office for Administration and Finance spokeswoman Cyndi Roy said it is important to recognize that cuts were not actually made on Dec. 30, but rather that these cuts were declared as a possibility.’
‘The governor announced that it is likely that we would have to make up to $1 billion more [cuts] in fiscal year,’ Roy said.
The original October cut, which is definite, was implemented because of the economic downturn, Roy said.’
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer said projected revenues are expected to drop much further as the recession continues.
‘[Patrick’s] projections of a need to cut an extra $1 billion is a reflection of the drop in revenue since the Oct. 15 estimate he announced,’ he said. ‘That tax revenue had dropped more than a billion or is expected to drop for this fiscal year.’
Widmer said that while state leaders were slow to recognize the recession’s impact on revenues, they could not have known the grand scale of the economic devastation.
While Roy said it is still unclear whether the budget cuts will affect city and town budgets, Widmer said it is inevitable that the government will have to cut this local aid.
‘There will have to be major cuts in the fiscal year of 2010 for higher education and healthcare,’ he said.
The projected budget reductions will have a serious impact on public higher education and may cause higher tuition and fees for students, Widmer said. The administration will do its best not to make these increases, but ‘it will be difficult to find alternative sources for acquiring fees,’ he added.
Despite this news, Roy said cutting corners goes beyond cutting dollars.
‘We have to look at everything,’ Roy said. ‘Cuts. Reforms. It won’t be just cuts.’
Patrick will announce his proposed budget around Jan. 15, Roy said.
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