Baker budget seeks to ‘right size’ gov’t
The Urban Agenda Initiatives Lack Funding in the Budget
Last week, Governor Baker released his budget for Fiscal Year 2016, a $38 billion plan that he said would “right-size” government and close an estimated $1.8 billion deficit. Although the proposal increases total spending by 3 percent, that rate is still significantly less than this year’s expected 8 percent growth. Baker said the reduced spending rate, combined with other measures, would help close the gap between projected spending and revenues for the fiscal year starting July 1. His budget does not increase any taxes or fees, although it does raise some revenue through a hodge-podge of initiatives, including a tax amnesty program for people who have failed to file taxes in the past and the sale of a courthouse.
At his press conference, Baker touted his cost-cutting measures while also emphasizing a number of increased investments that he called for in education, transportation and other areas.
Medicaid a major savings source
The governor’s biggest source of proposed savings comes from $800 million in cuts to MassHealth (the state’s Medicaid program). The governor emphasized, however, that the Medicaid savings were realized not by cutting benefits — except for one, chiropractic care – but rather wielding more technical changes.
Chief among them is an eligibility “redetermination” process that would cut out those who are improperly enrolled in the program to bring the state in compliance with federal law. The Boston Globe also reported that roughly 60 percent of MassHealth savings would come from the simple accounting trick of making certain Medicaid payments in early Fiscal Year 2017 instead of late Fiscal Year 2016.
Dominick Ianno, Communications Director for the state’s Administration and Finance office, said the governor did not have an exact number for how many people were improperly enrolled in MassHealth, but repeated the governor’s estimate that there were $200 million in state savings to be gained through redetermination, something that has not been done since 2013.
Another proposed Medicaid change includes limiting opioid prescriptions to 14 days (from the typical 30 or 60-day prescriptions) to reduce money wasted on subsidizing unnecessary amounts of medication. Ianno also told the Banner that limiting the amount of painkiller prescriptions to what a patient actually needed after a medical procedure would help address a “potential abuse problem.”
The Boston Public Health Commission responded to a Banner inquiry about the public health ramifications of this proposal with a statement praising the governor for his “commitment to addressing the epidemic of opioid addiction in the Commonwealth.” The city currently is reviewing the proposal to determine its public health impacts.
Beyond MassHealth savings, the governor also sought to cut spending through a variety of changes such as a new early retirement program and an increase of health insurance premiums for some state workers.
Multiple social investments
While emphasizing the need for budget cuts, Governor Baker touted what he said were important investments in areas including education, transportation and his so-called “Urban Agenda” items.
He also said he hopes to double the Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax credit that helps low-income wage earners. He would pay for the increased EITC by eliminating a film tax credit that some have credited with brining recent filming projects – including The Heat, filmed in 2013 in Dudley Square – to Boston.
However, some advocacy groups are challenging his claim that it actually includes the robust kinds of investments that he implied. The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget), a liberal-leaning think tank, released a statement on Friday saying that while the doubled EITC “would significantly help lower-wage working people,” the other kinds of investments were not large enough to “make a meaningful difference.”
Education
Baker’s budget calls for a $105.3 million spending increase for Chapter 70, the major state aid program to public school districts. It also restores $1.2 million in METCO funding, bringing the total allotted for that program up to $19.1 million. Governor Baker cut the funding for the program by $943,000 in January, following former Governor Patrick’s $287,000 METCO cut in November.
However, MassBudget points to several other cuts within the education budget, including the proposed elimination of a program designed to increase the number of districts offering full-day kindergarten.
The governor’s proposed increases in certain areas struck some observers as too modest to have much impact. The governor calls for an average 3 percent increase to higher education campuses, including the UMass system, state universities and community colleges. However, a group called the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts protested briefly outside the governor’s press conference before being escorted away by court officers.
Felipe Carvalho, a junior at UMass Amherst, told the Banner that the proposed 3 percent increase for higher education would not be enough to stave off higher tuition and student fees.
“He’s not doing anything for us in a significant way,” Carvalho said. “We believe education should be a right. We believe, at a minimum, we should have a freeze on tuition.”
Tom Gosnell, President of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts also weighed in, saying while he was “glad to see small increases” for education in the proposal, they were “a drop in the bucket compared to the 40 percent reduction in local aid that has occurred over the past decade.” Gosnell concluded that the governor’s budget would “continue underinvestment in our children.”
Transportation
The Governor’s budget calls for a total increase to transportation funding by 20 percent, including a $65 million increase in the operational budget for the MBTA. It also includes a snow and ice budget of $72 million.
Baker emphasized that the increase in money allocated for the troubled transit system was not meant to be a substitute for longer-term reform. “Let me be clear,” he said, “this is not a blank check, it is a placeholder.”
Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the MBTA, issued a statement to the Banner saying that the MBTA “welcomes Governor Baker’s continued support of public transportation and appreciates the increase his budget proposal provides for much needed repairs and service improvements.”
Former MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott, who resigned in February following public outcry over the MBTA’s poor performance during Boston’s record-setting snowfall, was unavailable for comment. Scott argued during her final press conference that the issues ailing the MBTA and contributing to substandard service sprouted from a longer term pattern of underfunding. Baker referred to the winter weather troubles at his budget press conference by noting, “this winter taught us a few things – Don’t underfund the snow budget.”
However, some transportation advocacy groups claimed that the governor was extolling an increase that was only nominal in nature. Rafael Mares, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, told the Banner that Baker’s proposed $187 million in MBTA funding remained $15 million less than the $202 million that the MBTA was slated to receive per the 2013 transportation financing law.
When the Banner asked about Mares’ claims, Ianno, the state’s Administration & Finance communications director, countered that the 2013 law did not specifically mandate a dollar amount, and that the $202 million was only included in a “draft schedule” published later. “We disagree with anyone that calls it a cut,” Ianno said, calling the amount allotted in the governor’s budget “appropriate” given the Commonwealth’s current financial situation.
In an email to the Banner, Mares responded by stating that while Ianno was technically correct – “a legislature cannot bind a future legsilature when it comes to authorizations” – the $202 million amount was laid out in a budget accompanying the law, which presumably would have shaped the MBTA’s assumptions about how much money it had to spend.
The fine-grained nature of their exchange suggests future transportation funding debates may center to a large degree on technical interpretations.
Urban Agenda
The governor also chose to highlight some investments in his “Urban Agenda,” a campaign term he used to describe the collection of education, housing, public safety, incarceration and economic development policies that concern urban communities of color.
His proposal for so-called Urban Agenda Economic Development Grants would allocate $2 million in funding to support local entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Baker also proposed a $1.4 million increase for housing programs above current year spending levels.
When asked what he wished he had achieved in his budget that he was unable to include, Baker specifically mentioned the Urban Agenda and a desire to do more in the way of Opportunity Zones and Main Street developments. He indicated, however, that those initiatives would likely “come to the table later.” (What is the Urban Agenda? Read here for more information on the Urban Agenda)
‘In the grand scheme of things’
In all, Baker said his budget exemplified responsible cost cutting, asserting that while “most people will see some belt tightening,” they wouldn’t see an impact in general government services.
Such claims prompted repeated questions from journalists about whether no one would feel pain as a result of the budget. “I’m sure people are gonna notice,” Baker wryly responded. He insisted, however, that “in the grand scheme of what we inherited” in terms of a deficit, the budget achieved a desirable outcome.
