Patrick's municipal bargain
Municipal relief bills proposed by former governors in recent years offered little actual solace to cities and towns. Governor Deval Patrick took a bolder approach yesterday with a plan to help communities lessen their dependence on residential property taxes.
The strongest section of Patrick's Municipal Partnership Act would eliminate unfair tax exemptions for telecommunications companies. Telephone poles, switches, fiber-optic lines, and other equipment are often out of the reach of city tax collectors, unlike in most states. The decades-old loopholes cost cities and towns about $140 million annually, according to the nonprofit Massachusetts Municipal Association. Patrick's proposal would finally put some power back in the hands of local officials.
Patrick blinked, however, when it came to giving cities and towns the clout they need to control double-digit annual increases in healthcare costs for municipal workers. His bill would give communities the option of folding town workers into the state's tightly managed Group Insurance Commission, but only by agreement between the municipality and a public employee committee. Municipal unions are almost sure to dismiss the proposal. Cities and towns need the same power the state now wields to design coverages, such as increasing co-pays for state employees. The governor doesn't have to go with his hat in hand to achieve health care efficiencies. And neither should mayors and selectmen.
In other areas, Patrick showed more backbone. His bill would allow communities to impose a local option tax of up to 2 percent on restaurant meals. That could raise as much as $240 million for communities that now don't share in the 5 percent state meals tax. Cleverly, Patrick would set aside a quarter of the new revenues to provide property tax abatements for cash-strapped elderly residents.
The tax option stays true to Patrick's oft-repeated campaign promise to help communities diversify their revenues for the purpose of providing real property tax relief.
Local pension boards may rise up against Patrick's proposal to force the transfer of underperforming local retirement systems into the successful state pension fund. But it is only reasonable for the governor to demand that local communities clean up their own backyards now that he has pledged publicly not to cut state aid to cities and towns.
Municipal relief packages often amount to little more than lame early retirement packages served up by detached governors. Patrick puts authentic proposals on the table. And he is backing a commission to grant increased local authority in areas, like speed limits, that now require legislative approval.
A governor is finally treating local officials like adults.
