The first annual Dan Ford 5k road race was held yesterday, and it was a rousing success, with over a thousand people in attendance and over twenty thousand dollars raised. Congratulations to all those who worked so hard to make the event a success. We lost Dan Ford to cancer this past week at a young age, and this outpouring of people showed how highly he is regarded in Methuen and the entire Merrimack Valley. Read the Tribune story here.
Taking a cue out of the Bobby Jindal mode of delivery Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy delivers the Republican response to President Obama’s weekly address. Some of the items that he forgot to mention include the conversion of huge Clinton surpluses to enormous Bush deficits, five years of total Republican silence on the enormous fraud and waste associated with the Iraq war effort, Republican Congressional support for massive farm bills that waste billions, Republican support for the earmarking process, which they made into a science. And when people spoke up about the dangers inherent in such policies the Republicans rallied behind the Dick Cheney mantra that “deficits don’t matter”. These folks think the country has amnesia, and given the chance they would run deficits that would be enormous. Just take a look at the House Republican alternative budget.
The President talks about the deficit in his weekly address, and frankly acknowledges our current unsustainable fiscal path. He announced support for a restoration of the pay-go system, as well as saying that announcements will be coming soon on the elimination of federal programs that do not work. Good luck in getting Congress to eliminate anything. Their idea of fiscal discipline is cutting program growth rates and announcing “budget cuts”. A good subject for the President to deal with, but change will not be easy in this area.
Texas Governor Rick Perry raised the prospect of secession in interviews, stating that the State of Texas had a right under the agreement which brought it into the United States to “leave if we decided to do that.” Obviously the Governor has forgotten his civil war history. I can only imagine what the response would have been had a blue state Governor made that suggestion during a Republican presidency. There certainly would have been calls for a charge of treason against such talk, probably by Governor Perry himself. These guys just need to keep on talking. The hole gets bigger and bigger.
Massachusetts Mayors gathered yesterday in Boston under the auspices of the Mayors Association to talk about a response to the unveiling of the House Ways and Means Budget. I was unable to attend the conference, but the video is pretty representative of the thoughts of Mayors throughout the State. Mayor Wong made some pretty important points here, and you saw some of those in my earlier posting on this budget. Mayor Wong’s points are important not just because we need to rebuild public confidence before we ask for additional money, but because even with additional money the rate of growth in the budget busting line items of health and pensions are not sustainable at the municipal level. So that means real reform is imperative NOW. And while the Patrick Administration has taken real and substantial steps to try to help municipalities on the revenue side of the equation they still blanche from endorsing real reform on the cost side of the equation. The Legislature, up to this point, has produced nothing on either side of that equation. We await the Rosenberg/Donato Commission report.
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/16977198001?isVid=1&publisherID=245991542
VETERAN HOMESTEAD MOBILE MEDICAL UNIT COMING TO METHUEN
Local Veterans Will Receive Free Medical Service
Mayor William M. Manzi, III in conjunction with the City of Methuen Veterans Services Office will be sponsoring a daylong medical clinic for veterans who are unable to access medical care because of transportation or homelessness. The Veteran Homestead Mobile Medical Unit will be set up in the parking area of the American Legion at 200 Broadway from 10-3 on April 29th. Routine health care, physicals, blood screenings, EKG’s and other medical services will be offered.
“I am very pleased that Methuen veterans will be able to receive these much needed medical services,” Manzi said. “No one should go without health care, least of all those who have served our country in the military.”
The van is operated by Veteran Hospice Homestead, a non-profit that provides homes for elderly veterans. They last visited Methuen in August of 2008. For further information, please contact the Methuen Veterans Services office at 978-983-8585.
There is plenty of bad news in the House budget for municipalities, which saw a real decrease in local aid (non education) accounts of 32 percent. That is draconian, and will lead to a real decrease in our ability to provide services that are at the core of our function. We recognize the reality, and I will for the time being forego a discussion of additional revenues. But we cannot forego the complete outrage engendered by this type of budget being put forward without immediate and full reform of the higher cost structure imposed on us through state rules with regards to things like health care. As we await the Rosenberg/Donato report on municipal relief it would be fair to say that with these local aid numbers half measures out of that Commission will not be sufficient. One of the ironies of this budget is that the Committee utilizes an increase in employee health care contributions to help balance the budget (doubling the employee health care contribution). This change in plan design is exactly what Mayors have been seeking, and is a tool that has been continually denied to us. And so while the State cuts local aid they continue to insist that we maintain a higher cost model of doing business, and refuse to give us the same rights they excercise to balance their own budget. That is wholly unacceptable. Real reform must come now. As a final note I must ask where the promised pension relief is, and how the Commonwealth expects municipalities to make full funding payments that in good times are budget busters???? Where is the promised extension of that full funding schedule? This nonsense must end now. More to come, including additional analysis of Methuen’s numbers. I have attached the Executive summary of the House budget, as well as the letter from Chair Charlie Murphy.
From Governor Patrick.
Dear Colleague:
Today, I announced that state government continues to have serious budget problems. I know these challenges have had a significant impact on our state. Most are into or past your second year since your last cost of living adjustment. Some of your co-workers have been laid off. Everyone is having to make due with less.
In order to close the latest gap, we are using a series of difficult cuts, efficiencies, discretionary federal recovery dollars, the elimination of 750 jobs, and furloughs for managers in state government. For those making between $50,000 and $75,000, there is a mandatory 3-day furlough before the end of the fiscal year, June 30. For managers making more than $75,000, there is a 5-day mandatory furlough. The Lieutenant Governor and I will take 5-day furloughs as well. Employees making less than $50,000 will not be subject to furloughs.
I want to acknowledge that some state employees, a large majority of them at Health and Human Services, have already participated in an agency-wide furlough program since October. I want to thank you for your sacrifice, and assure you that today’s initiative will not result in a double-furlough for you. If you took the required 3 or 5 unpaid days already this fiscal year, no further furloughs are required. Please check with your agency head for additional details about your specific case. You can read the full details of the plan here.
Over the next several weeks you will hear of discussions at the collective bargaining table, as the Administration seeks to work with state employee bargaining representatives to fashion the fairest possible solutions to these ongoing challenges. I am committed to the principles of equitable treatment and shared sacrifice, and I look forward to working with you in meeting these challenges and positioning the Commonwealth for a prolonged period of growth and prosperity. Together I am confident that we can make this promise a reality.
I know that, like working people all across this Commonwealth, many of you and your families are already struggling to hold on and that today’s announcement will add to your anxiety. Unfortunately, we have no good options. Nonetheless I do want you to know that I appreciate you and the extraordinary work you do every day on behalf of the people of the Commonwealth. If you lean on each other and work with me, if you give me your ideas and good counsel just as you give the public your dedicated service, we will get through this together and state government will be the better for it.
Thank you for your understanding, your partnership and your sacrifice.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts continues its budgetary free fall, with Governor Patrick indicating yesterday that he will, for the third time in the FY2009 budget, be forced to downgrade his revenue estimates and impose further cuts in the state budget. The Governor estimated a budget shortfall of over $400 million, with $156 million being the immediate shortfall. The Governor proposed forced furloughs for 5000 executive branch employees of up to a week, laid off 750 additional state workers, and asked A&F Secretary Leslie Kirwan to begin negotiating concessions from state unions. The Governor’s proposals, for FY2009, would not even put a dent in this years deficit. He indicated that further proposals to close the FY2009 gap require legislative action, and he would not identify what proposals he would make. He also refused to identify what concessions he would seek from labor. As we are now in the middle of April it is highly unlikely that the Governor will be able to close this gap without a massive hit to the State’s rainy day fund.
The Governor has ratcheted up his criticism of the legislature, including direct criticism of their non-action on the FY2009 deficit. The Governor filed a bill that would have raised revenues via immediate tax hikes (soda, beverage alcohol, etc) over thirty days ago to try to offset some of the FY2009 shortfall, but that bill has been shunted aside by the Legislature. It is now simply too late to make meaningful reductions to the FY2009 budget, and that failure by all parties concerned will only worsen the FY2010 budgetary armageddon we now face. Revenue estimates downgraded three times in one year? Michael Widmer, at the begining of this budget cycle, correctly predicted that the Governor’s revenue number was off by over a billion dollars, and that was before the downturn. Widmer is already calling the Governor’s 2010 budget filing revenue estimate way off, and frankly that makes House 1 not worth the paper it is written on. As the House prepares to unveil its budget today the failure to act in Boston will become evident in the starkest of terms. I will post the ugly details, as well as further postings on impacts to Methuen, in the coming days.
I had a chance to visit Beacon Hill today to talk budgets and health care, and had a chance to sit and talk with Senate President Therese Murray about issues of concern. I was joined by Mayor Thatcher Kezer of Amesbury and the Executive Director of the Merrimack Valley Planning Agency, Dennis DiZoglio. We talked municipal health care, and we were able to make our case to the Senate President, as well as Senator Susan Tucker, Senator Bruce Tarr, Senator Stan Rosenberg, and Senator Steve Baddour. There is a lot more to post about, and I will try to do so tommorow, which will bring the unveiling of the House Ways and Means Budget. I know that people think they realize that it will be a “bad budget”, but we are talking about much more than bad. Without even dealing with the wholesale decimation of local aid the cuts that will be made against state level programs that serve our neediest citizens will likely be shocking. The Ways and Means Budget will include no new revenue, and the Rosenberg/Donato Commission will not make its municipal report until next week. And tensions continue to rise between the Governor and the Legislature, making political settlements of the complex issues all the more difficult. Look out below, and gird for a major political donneybrook after Charlie Murphy unveils the House budget tommorow.
