Editorial: Do the math, Maura! Fix the budget
We’ve been saying this for years: Massachusetts spends like a giddy teenager with a new credit card. Sorry, kids, but that’s how it feels.
Now, Gov. Maura Healey says she plans to cut $375 million in spending. Why didn’t she see that giant snowball coming months ago?
Revenue projections must now be downgraded by $1 billion. So, what happened to being fiscally conservative?
“Our foundation is really strong here in the state,” Healey told the Herald in an end-of-year interview. It’s all about the messaging, not reality. But taxpayers need leadership, not spin.
The millionaire’s tax, a budget rising past the rate of inflation, the migrant crisis, overtime jumping 25% for those state employees pulling down $100,000 or more in bonus pay, and an underwhelming tax relief package are causing cracks in the state economy.
Healey’s philosophy is tied too closely with the state Legislature, which is fighting off Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s attempt to open state lawmakers’ books.
As we stated in this space last week, Massachusetts was a top 10 state for outbound residents, according to United Van Lines’ 47th annual National Movers Study. Among those making an exit from Massachusetts, 28.4% moved because of their job, 19.2% for family considerations, 18% for retirement, 16% for lifestyle, and less than 3% each for health or cost reasons, according to the study.
It all points to what Herald columnist Peter Lucas wrote this weekend: inflation can be tracked based on the cost of cucumbers. That’s a relatively cheap item that, when it fluctuates, can take a bite out of your budget. Maybe not for lawmakers, but for the rest of us who need to balance household budgets, any hike hurts.
That’s exactly what Healey and the House and Senate are striking out on. Any Massachusetts governor must rein in spending by lawmakers who only want to score points with constituents so they can keep in office. They’ll spend more energy trying to banish former President Donald Trump from the Super Tuesday ballot in March — when a Republican presidential candidate hasn’t been a threat — than cracking down on unnecessary spending.
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Just look at the state payroll! (As the Herald has now done for 17 years.) It has more fat than bacon. How can Healey sit back and say cuts need to be made while overseeing runaway overtime?
Comptroller data shows 276 state troopers, MBTA workers, nurses, prison guards, and a social worker all pocketed $100,000 or more in OT last year — a double-digit jump year-over-year. That’s obscene. Yet it happens every year.
The reaction on Beacon Hill was muted, but it is a glaring example of greediness with taxpayers picking up that tab. That’s what’s wrong with state government. From the top down our government is not run like a business. It’s run like a club. An exclusive club where the money flows and the taxpayers can like it or leave.
Massachusetts is a great state, from the Berkshires to the tip of Cape Cod. Knowing that many are bolting to New Hampshire is not good news. It’s sad news.
Maura Healey should take a stand today against runaway spending and be the prudent governor the Bay State needs before we’re back again with more cuts and possibly services taken away that some of us actually enjoy.