Gov. Deval Patrick appears to be starting to get it: Massachusetts taxpayers, from Gloucester to Great Barrington, Rockport to Rehoboth, are tapped out.
Unfortunately, even the governor's latest actions are only a start.
Last week, the governor announced his plan to close an estimated $600 million gap in the state budget — one that's surfaced just four months into the fiscal year.
The good news was that there were no calls for broad-based tax increases — such as the over-the-top 25 percent hike in the sales tax that took effect Aug. 1. This time, the governor said he is prepared to lay off up to 2,000 state workers, and order furloughs for about 4,000 managers in the executive branch — things that represent hard choices, but realities that have been happening to taxpayers who work in the private sector for much of this decade, and especially in the last two years.
He is pushing unions for contract concessions. He has finally taken heed, for example, of calls by state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, and others to finally eliminate two of the most infamous paid holidays — Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day — that are blatant illustrations of state employees having it easy while those who pay the bill suffer.
But there is plenty of bad news as well. The governor wants to use $62 million in federal stimulus money — money supposedly geared toward promoting job growth in the private sector — to prop up government jobs. That's inexcusable.
Many of the announced cuts are from human services, while the anti-privatization Pacheco law that protects unions and costs taxpayers hundreds of millions a year in inflated construction costs, remains untouched. As Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, R-Wakefield, noted, there are no calls for major reform, like a state hiring freeze or a wage freeze that could cut costs yet preserve vital services. And there are other overt efforts to squeeze more money out of struggling taxpayers.
For example, Patrick is proposing new insurance charges for municipal police training — charges that will only reflect back on our cities and towns. And while his fingerprints are not directly on it, he knows some legislators are now trying to find a way to remove the sales tax exemption for services — a prospect that could suck another $6 billion from taxpayers, and throw yet another wild card at many businesses.
Simply put, this is no way to restore economic health or bring more tax revenue to the state.
The governor and the Legislature are taken some commendable — albeit forced — steps toward fiscal responsibility. But they are too few.
This state's government needs more than simple cuts. It needs true, sweeping spending reform — and the budget gap should make that clear to all.
