On the Friday before UMass Boston started the Spring Semester for 2009, Governor Deval Patrick announced that he will cut local aid by $128 million and plans on expanding this cut to about $375 million during the next fiscal year; these diminutions have been called unsound by critics in local governments across Massachusetts because they would force public schools to close, libraries to rollback their hours, and vital public servants, like teachers, firemen, and police officers, to get laid off. This cutback was made in order to mitigate the anticipated loss of tax revenue for fiscal year ’09. During a recent speech at a convention of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, the governor attempted to explain his actions by saying “We have tough choices among miserable options…my job is to make those choices, and I have.”

This setback came nine days after Governor Patrick’s very public warnings of imminent budget cuts at his 2008 State of the Commonwealth Address on January 15, 2009 – during which, the governor explained the current situation of Massachusetts in stark terms. “We gather tonight under an economic cloud darker than anything this nation has faced in three generations. Tens of thousands of people in Massachusetts have lost their jobs to a nationwide recession. Thousands have seen their savings or home equity snatched away by turmoil in the markets. Banks have money but won’t lend it. Businesses and nonprofits are laying off or won’t hire because they can’t see a clear path to tomorrow.” No one is spared from this economic crisis. Not even the “mothers trying choose between paying the rent or the heat, this month, because they can’t pay both.” Many homeowners face foreclosure, in spite of the fact that the Commonwealth was largely unaffected by the recent “Subprime Mortgage Crisis,” while the achievement gap persist within the state. Finally, murder is rampant among the cities lower income communities – thus making the problems facing the people and governments of Massachusetts that much more grim and challenging.

Hope, however, isn’t gone according to Patrick, because during the “October [of last year], we [the state government] identified and closed a $1.4 billion gap in our state budget.” The reason for this major budget shortfall is because of a sharp decline in capital gains, sales taxes, and income taxes. The Governor has promised to take immediate action in his “State of the Commonwealth” address. “At the end of this month, I will file an Emergency Recovery Plan to close this gap further. [The aim] is simple: give [Massachusetts] the tools and we will finish the job.” He also hinted that this “recovery plan” will not come without sacrifice in terms of major cuts in local aid, because “no one’s priorities will be spared.” The Massachusetts Executive Branch has already trimmed $800 million from its budget. All in all, 17% of Fiscal Year ’09’s total budget will be cut to preserve basic services and other important projects.

To resolve the cut in local aid, Mr. Patrick promised to “provide tools to help local governments [to] better manage through these difficult times…[by proposing] a series of measures that give cities and towns greater authority over local decisions…[which will] include raising new revenue through a modest meals and lodging tax” by increasing it by one percentage point. The reasons for this unusual decision are abundant; based on recent reports – from both government and independent sources – this proposal could potentially generate $150 million in revenue and reduce local aid cut from $375 million to $225 million. The governor will also file a plan to eliminate a tax break for telecommunications companies in Massachusetts.

These proposals are similar to ones rejected by the Legislature two years ago. The difference, this time around, is that Mr. Patrick has decided to take a hard line on reducing costs, specifically the cost of insurance for the all state employees within the Commonwealth; he has announced that he would further reduce local aid for any city or town that refuses to enroll their employees into the state’s Group Insurance Commission health plan or create their own plans that would be at least as economical as the state’s plan. Furthermore, the governor also proposed to reduce the amount of local union support communities need to make change, from 70 percent to 50 percent, in order to encourage enrollment in the state’s GIC plan. Interestingly, former House Speaker Sal DiMasi went even farther by suggesting that the requirement for union approval should be banned all together.

The local officials around Massachusetts haven’t been very receptive of the governor’s recent decisions and weren’t afraid to express their dissatisfaction. During the announcement of cuts to local aid, Worcester Mayor Konstantina Lukes had a tense exchange with the Governor, after she smirked while Governor Patrick answered one of her questions. The Governor quickly responded by saying “Before you make a face, mayor, let me finish my answer, all right?” At the end of his response, he quickly told Mayor Konstantina that is was OK to make her face. This exchange didn’t prevent Mayor Joseph Curtatone of Somerville from making a remark about the governor’s plan for correcting the state deficit, “It seems to put municipalities at a disadvantage.” His city will lose about $3 million under the governor’s midyear budget cuts.

The governor offered a single ray of consolation: his plan will not touch the $4 billion that goes to Massachusetts communities for public schools. Mr. Patrick has avoided major political fallout thus far – something Governor Mitt Romney failed to do when he was in office. The reason, according to Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, is that “he’s making the same cuts Romney did, but it’s how he’s done it. He’s much more sympathetic about the decisions. Romney came in like it was a business decision.”

In conclusion, the people of Massachusetts can only take comfort in these words from our governor on tough times: “When I was growing up, we were forbidden from calling ourselves ‘poor.’ My grandmother taught us to say we were broke, because ‘broke,’ she said, is temporary. We will cycle out of this downturn eventually and start expand opportunity again, to widen the reach of the American Dream.”