LInda Dean Campbell - February '08 - North Andover Massachusetts

The State budget debate begins

Methuen State Rep. Linda Dean Campbell

This year’s budget debate will not be boring. The Governor has dropped the gauntlet demanding that we (the House and the Senate) either act favorably on some of his proposals to generate revenue - or come forth with a plan of our own.

It seems quite certain that the House plan will be quite different than the Governor’s. The only source of agreement at this point is that we face a large revenue gap in the range of $1.0 to $1.3 billion.

Many House members, myself included, resent the fact that the Governor built casino revenues into his budget because it is disingenuous. Even if we settled the casino issue today, we would still be many months away from the receipt of tax or licensing revenues.

Furthermore, as difficult as the casino debate will be, the follow-on debate regarding exactly how these revenues shall be distributed will prove even more contentious.

On a more positive note, it appears that there will be serious discussion of the Governor’s proposal to address corporate tax loopholes. Currently, however, the Commonwealth’s Business Community remains suspicious of the Governor’s “tax break in coming years” in exchange for “loophole closings at present.” And, selling tax reform and increases during economically uncertain times is formidable public relation challenge for even the most charismatic among us.

None-the-less, this concept likely will remain on the table.

The House will continue to search for avenues in which to trim and save. For example, action last session to allow City and Town participation in the state’s pension and health plans has the potential to yield huge savings. If we sell City and Town participation in these state plans and make enrollment easier still, we will achieve considerable economies and address the single largest budget buster locally – rising health care costs.

The Governor’s Life Sciences Initiative invests all of our tax incentive dollars into one basket. Having the state government pick winners and losers in a very complex and dynamic private sector environment is not sound fiscal policy. Because of this, I and many other Representatives prefer a strategy of greater diversification.

On a final note – Many thanks to Methuen’s new Veterans Director, Tom Hargreaves for his recent Beacon Hill visit where he met with fellow Directors and Legislators from across the Commonwealth. Another item worthy of note for our Veterans Community is the huge boost that Jim Wareing’s new “Support our Troops” license plate proposal received. Of the great many license plate requests filed on Beacon Hill, Jim’s is noteworthy because it has received endorsement from both State Secretary of Veterans Affairs Kelly and Representative Verga, House Chairman of the Veterans Committee. This license plate visually “Supports our Troops” and revenues collected will be used to help Massachusetts Veterans in need, not put into the general fund.

Thanks to Jim for having the tenacity to see this through.