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Governor’s budget sparks opposition

Gov. Paul Cellucci’s $22.8 billion budget plan for the Fiscal Year 2002 has sparked opposition from several of the Massachusetts Legislature’s budget leaders who feel the departing governor’s planned $1 billion tax return will hurt the state’s middle class residents and cut funding for crucial public services.

Opponents say the Bay State’s infrastructure and health care services could be dramatically affected by significant downsizing in state funding for these services resulting from Cellucci’s bill for a $1 billion income tax cut in 2002.

The income tax plan was opposed strongly by Senate President Thomas Birmingham (D-Suffolk) and Senate budget chairman Mark Montigny (D-Bristol) before being voted into the budget last November.

In a debate televised on WBZ before the November elections, Birmingham and Montigny publicly voiced their opposition to Cellucci’s tax cut proposed by Ballot Question 4.

“[The Senate President’s] main goal was to be clear with the voters that … the governor’s supporting position on the tax cut was … disingenuous,” stated Birmingham press secretary Allison Franklin. “This was a choice the voters were making.”

Sen. Stephen Tolman (D-Middlesex) also opposed the governor’s relocation of $1 billion from what his Chief of Staff Matt Irish called “desperately needed human services” to a tax cut that will only benefit upper-class citizens.

“The shape of the tax cut benefits the wealthiest tax payers,” Franklin explained. “Public school children, roads, bridges and hospitals will suffer. The $1 billion being returned would have been going to reduce class sizes and [acquire] park space and land that would keep Massachusetts’ character.”

“If billions are taken out of the budget, that amount of money has to come out of somewhere,” Irish said.

One of the most prominent points of opposition to the proposed budget is Cellucci’s plan to place the $400 million the state received in the tobacco settlement into a special trust fund for later use.

Irish suggested there are many other options for the budgeting of $400 million that would better serve the state’s needs.

“There are lots of things the governor does not address with his proposal such as the government providing services to those who need them most,” he stated.

Cellucci will officially unveil the budget plan for debate on April 23. The general consensus of senators such as Birmingham, Tolman and Montigny seems to be that the bill needs some serious refining.

The democratic Legislature serves as a “doorstop for the governor’s budget,” Irish said.

House budget chairman John Rogers told The Beacon $500 million will have to be generated to “develop a fiscally responsible spending plan for next year.” He outlined specific budget shortfalls in the bill that accumulate to more than $100 million including funding for pensions, state employee health insurance and charter school tuition payment reimbursement.

Rogers also claimed Cellucci “used questionable financing mechanisms” and “unviable savings schemes.”

The Legislature’s debate over the proposed budget is predicted to be more complicated than it has been in over 10 years because of the plummeting economy.

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