By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | January 9, 2007
Governor Deval Patrick, faced with a surprisingly tight budget situation, is tempering some of his campaign promises, saying yesterday that he may have to stretch his much touted plan for 1,000 new police officers over several years and stabilize, rather than cut, property taxes.
"We can definitely start, and we will start down the path of adding more cops on the beat, because I think that's critical," Patrick said yesterday.
Last month, he said on a radio station that "we may not need 1,000 cops" all at once.
He also made it clear that property tax cuts, a recurring campaign theme, are not going to be implemented anytime soon.
"What we can do is stabilize property taxes to be sure," he said yesterday. "We've got to start there."
Last week he also told a radio interviewer that investments in transportation might have to be deferred, though he did not name specific projects.
Patrick has said a budget deficit could exceed $1 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1. Despite that prediction, he restored $383 million in budget cuts last week made by former governor Mitt Romney in November.
Yesterday, Patrick also proposed the Commonwealth Corps, an agency that would place volunteers in nonprofit jobs across the state. That program will cost $3 million, he said.
Patrick conducted his first weekly meeting yesterday with Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, and House and Senate budget aides. The budget was one of the items on the agenda of the closed-door meeting.
Before the meeting, Patrick defended restoring the Romney cuts, saying the money is available to pay for the programs and services this year, if not into the future. "I think that we have what we need to meet those expectations this year," he said during a brief encounter with reporters yesterday morning. "I think you have many cases of agencies and individuals who have relied on those appropriations, in some cases had spent against these appropriations. I think the right thing to do is make good on those promises."
But he warned that next fiscal year will be different. "I think going forward we're going to have a very tough and tight time, and there are some tough decisions we're going to have to make and choices we're going to have to make."
When asked whether he was attempting to lower expectations of voters and politicians on Beacon Hill by painting a grim financial picture as previous governors have done, Patrick smiled and said, "You've never seen a governor like me."
Asked how he can justify spending $3 million on Commonwealth Corps given the financial forecast, Patrick said: "No one is interested in wasting money or spending money frivolously."
Patrick is expected this weekend to address the Massachusetts Municipal Association, whose members are hoping for financial relief from the new governor.
According to the group's executive director, Geoff Beckwith, cities and towns are looking for more local aid and more police officers. They still have questions about Patrick's pledge to hire 1,000 police officers, including which communities would receive the officers and who would bear the ongoing costs, including their yearly salaries and benefits.
"There are ancillary costs that come with any employee, from training, equipment, staffing, cruisers," he said. "We would want to make sure [the costs] are sustainable on a state and local level."
Patrick pledged during the campaign "to cut the property tax by reinvesting in cities and towns" and to provide other property tax relief for certain elderly residents. He proposed that a portion of local aid be dedicated to "direct property tax relief," a pledge that even then budget specialists doubted could be kept.
Even if property taxes can't be reduced, Beckwith said, their rate of growth can be slowed if the administration takes two steps: restoring local aid and setting aside a specific percentage of the state budget for cities and towns.
Meanwhile, Patrick said after meeting with legislative leaders that they share many priorities. He specified only one: "updating our energy policy and our approach to energy."
"We are all of us committed to coming together as much as possible to advance that agenda," Patrick said. "I see that as a real opening for us in terms of job creation."
Travaglini and DiMasi called Patrick's openness a "refreshing" change of style from Romney's approach.
"The tone of the discussion and the degree of detail was a refreshing change from the historical conversations we've had in this office, and what we're trying to do now is to again find common ground in all three legislative agendas," Travaglini said.
Asked specifically what was different from the relationship with the Romney administration, DiMasi said lawmakers frequently learned about Romney initiatives only after he held a news conference to announce them.
"It's very nice to find out what the governor is proposing, thinking about what his ideas are, in a frank discussion on the issues and whether or not they can be accomplished in a manner in which we can agree to, as opposed to learning what the proposals are after the former governor would have a press conference like this and then let us know after," DiMasi said.
Patrick said that before unveiling the Commonwealth Corps initiative, he notified the Senate president and the House speaker -- both of whom said they like the idea.
"I think the concept is noble and worthy of support," said Travaglini. "It seemed to be in a controlled state and in a limited form. . . . We've given an indication to the administration that we can be supportive of the concept."
[/size]Defends restoring funds, plans volunteer corps
By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | January 9, 2007
Governor Deval Patrick, faced with a surprisingly tight budget situation, is tempering some of his campaign promises, saying yesterday that he may have to stretch his much touted plan for 1,000 new police officers over several years and stabilize, rather than cut, property taxes.
"We can definitely start, and we will start down the path of adding more cops on the beat, because I think that's critical," Patrick said yesterday.
Last month, he said on a radio station that "we may not need 1,000 cops" all at once.
He also made it clear that property tax cuts, a recurring campaign theme, are not going to be implemented anytime soon.
"What we can do is stabilize property taxes to be sure," he said yesterday. "We've got to start there."
Last week he also told a radio interviewer that investments in transportation might have to be deferred, though he did not name specific projects.
Patrick has said a budget deficit could exceed $1 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1. Despite that prediction, he restored $383 million in budget cuts last week made by former governor Mitt Romney in November.
Yesterday, Patrick also proposed the Commonwealth Corps, an agency that would place volunteers in nonprofit jobs across the state. That program will cost $3 million, he said.
Patrick conducted his first weekly meeting yesterday with Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, and House and Senate budget aides. The budget was one of the items on the agenda of the closed-door meeting.
Before the meeting, Patrick defended restoring the Romney cuts, saying the money is available to pay for the programs and services this year, if not into the future. "I think that we have what we need to meet those expectations this year," he said during a brief encounter with reporters yesterday morning. "I think you have many cases of agencies and individuals who have relied on those appropriations, in some cases had spent against these appropriations. I think the right thing to do is make good on those promises."
But he warned that next fiscal year will be different. "I think going forward we're going to have a very tough and tight time, and there are some tough decisions we're going to have to make and choices we're going to have to make."
When asked whether he was attempting to lower expectations of voters and politicians on Beacon Hill by painting a grim financial picture as previous governors have done, Patrick smiled and said, "You've never seen a governor like me."
Asked how he can justify spending $3 million on Commonwealth Corps given the financial forecast, Patrick said: "No one is interested in wasting money or spending money frivolously."
Patrick is expected this weekend to address the Massachusetts Municipal Association, whose members are hoping for financial relief from the new governor.
According to the group's executive director, Geoff Beckwith, cities and towns are looking for more local aid and more police officers. They still have questions about Patrick's pledge to hire 1,000 police officers, including which communities would receive the officers and who would bear the ongoing costs, including their yearly salaries and benefits.
"There are ancillary costs that come with any employee, from training, equipment, staffing, cruisers," he said. "We would want to make sure [the costs] are sustainable on a state and local level."
Patrick pledged during the campaign "to cut the property tax by reinvesting in cities and towns" and to provide other property tax relief for certain elderly residents. He proposed that a portion of local aid be dedicated to "direct property tax relief," a pledge that even then budget specialists doubted could be kept.
Even if property taxes can't be reduced, Beckwith said, their rate of growth can be slowed if the administration takes two steps: restoring local aid and setting aside a specific percentage of the state budget for cities and towns.
Meanwhile, Patrick said after meeting with legislative leaders that they share many priorities. He specified only one: "updating our energy policy and our approach to energy."
"We are all of us committed to coming together as much as possible to advance that agenda," Patrick said. "I see that as a real opening for us in terms of job creation."
Travaglini and DiMasi called Patrick's openness a "refreshing" change of style from Romney's approach.
"The tone of the discussion and the degree of detail was a refreshing change from the historical conversations we've had in this office, and what we're trying to do now is to again find common ground in all three legislative agendas," Travaglini said.
Asked specifically what was different from the relationship with the Romney administration, DiMasi said lawmakers frequently learned about Romney initiatives only after he held a news conference to announce them.
"It's very nice to find out what the governor is proposing, thinking about what his ideas are, in a frank discussion on the issues and whether or not they can be accomplished in a manner in which we can agree to, as opposed to learning what the proposals are after the former governor would have a press conference like this and then let us know after," DiMasi said.
Patrick said that before unveiling the Commonwealth Corps initiative, he notified the Senate president and the House speaker -- both of whom said they like the idea.
"I think the concept is noble and worthy of support," said Travaglini. "It seemed to be in a controlled state and in a limited form. . . . We've given an indication to the administration that we can be supportive of the concept."
Posted by: PBC FL Cop
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 Patrick scales back expectations
1,000 police officers unlikely in 2007
By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF jmonahan@telegram.com BOSTON— Gov. Deval L. Patrick is scaling back a key campaign commitment to provide cities and towns with state money to hire 1,000 new police officers to be deployed in high crime areas, and it has run into rough water on local aid and economic development issues in his first week in office.
Mr. Patrick committed to putting the new police officers on the streets during the campaign, estimating it would cost about $80 million.
Now that he has gotten a firsthand look at the state’s finances, and determined it is running more than $1 billion short next year, Mr. Patrick is saying he may not be able to fund all 1,000 police officers in his first budget, according to his deputy press secretary Cynthia Roy.
“We weren’t aware of this budget deficit,” Ms. Roy said, and dimensions of the fiscal problem only became evident to the administration after the election in November, when the Patrick transition team members met with former Romney finance and budget officials.
At this point, Ms. Roy said, the administration is acknowledging the plan to put 1,000 new police on the streets is in jeopardy and it “might not be able to do all of it in the first budget.” Mr. Patrick said Monday, however, there are resources available “to start” adding police officers later this year.
One month before the election, Mr. Patrick criticized the Romney-Healey administration for cuts in local aid to cities and towns that he said were “directly responsible for the layoffs of 500 to 700 law enforcement officers on the streets around the commonwealth.”
Citing the rise in violent crime in Boston, including a record number of shooting deaths last year, Mr. Patrick asked, “How much human tragedy is it going to take for this administration to act to deal with sharp increases in gun and gang violence? We want action and we intend to deliver on that action.”
Mr. Patrick also experienced a setback yesterday in forming his economic development team, with state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, chairman of the House Committee on Economic Development, announcing he had reconsidered and would not serve as Mr. Patrick’s special adviser on economic development. Both Mr. Patrick and Mr. Bosley said they decided he would be more effective serving in the House.
Mr. Patrick issued a statement saying he would head up economic development efforts himself and would chair what he called a “development cabinet” that would be made up of designees from the secretaries of housing and economic development, energy and environment, and administration and finance.
Local officials are expected to learn more about Mr. Patrick’s plans for increased local aid, more police and stabilizing property taxes, when he meets with the Massachusetts Municipal Association Saturday in Boston. He has until Feb. 28 to file his first budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
While Mr. Patrick has insisted he pledged to curtail, not roll back, local property taxes by providing higher local aid allotments to cities and towns, the budget shortfall has many wondering how effective he may be in stopping rapid increases in property taxes. Earlier this week he said his initial effort will be to “stabilize” local property taxes, which have risen more than 30 percent statewide over the last five years.
State Rep. George N. Peterson Jr., R-Grafton, said yesterday the governor appears to be back-peddling on how much impact the state might have on reducing property tax increases.
“I think he set a very high bar and laudable goals, but we are already seeing him backing off that high bar, which is somewhat disappointing, but we support the effort,” Mr. Peterson said. “I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt until we see what he does in his first budget. To accomplish any reduction in property tax though, state aid may have to be tied to changes in Proposition 2-1/2,” he said, recommending any higher aid allocations should be conditional on communities forgoing Proposition 2-1/2 overrides.
Meanwhile, Mr. Patrick also shed more light on statements last week that he planned to seek legislative changes that would give him direct control over independent state agencies such as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Port Authority.
While he is still not saying which agencies he would seek to gain more control over, he indicated the effort would not be a wholesale action to restructure all of the dozens of independent and quasi-independent state agencies and authorities.
“We certainly covered my interest in having responsibility and authority joined,” by giving the governor’s office more control of those agencies, he said of discussions with House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, D-Boston, and Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, D-Boston, earlier this week. However, he said, some agencies may be allowed to continue operating independently if they are willing to do the administration’s bidding.
“There are different ways to accomplish that and I think in many cases there exists leadership in those commissions’ boards and authorities who are interested in supporting and advancing the agenda we have. So we have to take that on a case-by-case basis,” Mr. Patrick said.
On another front, Mr. Patrick said he is studying whether he has the legal authority to rescind a federal agreement signed by former governor Mitt Romney to give state police authority to investigate and arrest illegal immigrants at traffic stops. “If we can, we will,” rescind it, Mr. Patrick said.
Posted by: justanotherparatrooper
Oh yeah...this is a "new" democrat! screw cops, help the criminals, more guncontrol and raise taxes
Posted by: Wolfman
Thanks for the votes, SUCKAHHHHSSSSSS.....
Posted by: pahapoika
Oh yeah...this is a "new" democrat! screw cops, help the criminals, more guncontrol and raise taxes
ditto !
Posted by: Sniper
fucking scumbag !!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Vader
Once again...thank you. A big F'n Thank You to every department AND individual officer that supported this clown. "Duuuuhhhh...I never saw this coming." (Scratch head and drool from your mouth as you are saying this). F'n MORONS!!!
Posted by: CPT Chaos
Together we CAN'T!
Posted by: Deuce
BOHICA.. You dumb jackasses that voted for him get what you deserve. Unfortunately the rest of us have to suffer for your stupidity.. Thanks assholes...
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