Mass. gov: Cut jobs, spare local aid and education

Gov. Deval Patrick said he plans to close Massachusetts' $600 million budget gap with a blend of cuts in state services and programs and up to 2,000 job cuts but none of the local aid and few of the school funding reductions many cities and towns warned would decimate local education and public safety.

In a somber address Thursday to the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, Patrick said he would immediately begin cutting $277 million in executive branch budgets he controls, including making up to 1,000 layoffs. He did not specify exactly where he would make other cuts but said, "That will affect the level and quality of many of the services that you and others expect from your government."

He also said he would ask the Legislature for permission to cut $75 million in budgets he does not control, including those for the legislative and judicial branches. That could trigger additional layoffs.

In addition, he said he planned to tap $60 million left over from the fiscal year that ended June 30, as well as $62 million in federal stimulus funds, to avoid even deeper cuts. Dwindling tax collections forced four rounds of budget cutting last year, and their continuation is prompting the latest trimming in the state's $28 billion budget.

Patrick warned the state's public employee labor unions that they had to choose between job cuts and wage concessions. Executive branch managers, including himself, must take nine furlough days this year, after taking five last year, he said.

"While we will keep talking, we cannot talk indefinitely," the governor told the unions. He said he is ordering managers to prepare layoff plans to either cut 2,000 jobs or save $35 million in labor costs.

Unions have suggested trading furloughs for an agreement to avoid further increases in their health insurance premiums. "I think that somewhere in there is a deal to be made," Patrick said.

Even with such an agreement, Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez said at least 1,000 jobs will have to be cut because of the budget shortfall.

The governor said he's proposing a tax amnesty program to bring in another $20 million in revenue, and filing a bill to eliminate two state worker holidays, Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day, that he branded "traditions whose time has passed."

In response to the proposals, Senate Republican leader Richard Tisei said, "The day of reckoning has arrived."

Tisei, chairman of the campaign committee for one of Patrick's re-election opponents, Republican Charles Baker, said Patrick is resorting to budget cuts that will harm the state's most vulnerable residents but do nothing to change the way the state does business.

"There were no calls for a state hiring freeze, no calls for a wage freeze and no attempt to do away with the anti-privatization Pacheco Law that is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year," he said.

AARP questioned "both the wisdom and the compassion" of a $5.6 million cut to Prescription Advantage, the state's pharmacy assistance program for senior citizens.

"Further cuts to Prescription Advantage are shortsighted, as prescription drugs help keep seniors healthy and out of more expensive care," the elder lobbying group said.

During his speech, Patrick reviewed his administration's accomplishments and argued that Massachusetts has avoided many of the problems other states have encountered, such as late budget and IOUs.

And while celebrating his decision to maintain current funding for public classroom programs, he did not mention he had also approved cuts in special education money, busing money and charter school reimbursements.

He took a political potshot at a re-election opponent, Treasurer Timothy Cahill, criticizing the performance of the state Lottery, which Cahill oversees. Many cities and towns depend on Lottery revenues for basic services.

"Local communities are the front line of both our economic and our social life, and they are struggling as it is, especially as Lottery performance fails consistently to meet projections," Patrick said.

Cahill recently quit the Democratic Party rather than face Patrick in a primary showdown. He now is running for governor as an independent.

Patrick told the social service advocates who have camped out in his office or rallied in front of the Statehouse in recent weeks that he had heard their pleas. He said the budget cuts adhered to the state's appreciation for well-paying jobs, strong education, high-quality health care and assistance for the neediest populations.

"Those values are the values to which we as a commonwealth are committed," he said. "So, as I meet my statutory obligation to bring the budget in line, I do so according to my moral responsibility to those values."