Lawmakers feeding pet projects
Bacon comes home to every corner of the Commonwealth
One item calls for $200,000 to be disbursed to the Boston Symphony Orchestra so the renowned group can renovate and repair Tanglewood. There is $25,000 in state taxpayer money to pay for the town of Halifax to have its 275th anniversary next July Fourth. There's enough to cover a merry-go-round in Holyoke, a ballfield in Fitchburg, and new seats at a theater in Medford.
In the $28.2 billion budget approved yesterday by the House and Senate, there are scores of earmarks to fund pet projects in legislators' districts in nearly every corner of Massachusetts.
"This budget is a good document," Representative Robert DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat and chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said yesterday during debate on the House floor. "I think it's a good document for each and every member of this House."
Many of the requests submitted by lawmakers to bring projects home to their districts were taken care of, giving legislators fuel for reelection campaigns this November.
"You're there to deliver for your district," said Representative James R. Miceli, a Wilmington Democrat who secured several earmarks, including $200,000 for the Wilmington Historical Commission to rehabilitate an historic farm. "Show me a legislator who can't, and I'll show you someone who will not be there very long."
The earmarks are spread throughout the 266-page budget, making it difficult to determine the total amount. But it is a small number in the context of a $28.2 billion spending plan that relies heavily on higher taxes and spending from reserve funds to increase spending on local aid, education, and healthcare.
Republicans immediately pounced on the spending items during a time of rising healthcare costs and an uncertain financial future.
"Beacon Hill Democrats are addicted to spending, period," said Rob Willington, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party. ". . . This budget, which is coming three days late already, contains enough pork in it to make BLTs for the whole Commonwealth."
Meanwhile, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a major corporate tax reform package yesterday that will prevent corporations from declaring some of their profits in states with more favorable tax rates.
Since taking office, Patrick has been seeking the changes, which will raise $285 million in new state revenue next year, but his proposals had been rebuffed by House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi. "I want to thank my partners in the Legislature for their work in passing this important legislation," Patrick said yesterday.
The budget relies on a $1-per-pack increase in the state's cigarette tax, which will bring in $174 million, and uses more than $500 million in reserve funds.
The budget also includes a provision to lease Ponkapoag Golf Course in Canton, a storied state-owned course that has fallen into disrepair while under management of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Under the plan, the state would lease the course to an outside manager. Town officials in Canton will first be given at least 180 days to decide whether they want to take the course over.
It is still uncertain whether additional adjustments to the budget will be needed. The state has been negotiating with federal officials over extending a Medicaid waiver that helps subsidize coverage for low-income residents. The waiver was set to expire June 30, but federal officials have allowed for a two- to four-week extension for more negotiations. The state budget assumes those will come out in the state's favor; if they do not, it could create a budget gap of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Budget analysts warn that state spending may be too high, given uncertainties with the Medicaid waiver and the capital gains tax, which may drop in an economic downturn.
"It's a very risky budget," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-funded budget watchdog group. "This is certainly the time when we should be limiting state spending to the absolute most essential items. It's one thing to add projects during a boom time. It's quite another when we're in fiscal peril."
The budget was approved three days after the start of the fiscal year on July 1, which required Patrick to approve a $1 billion temporary budget last week that allowed the state to continue paying its bills for two weeks into July. The governor now has 10 days to review the budget before offering any vetoes, which will probably include some of the earmarks stuck in by the Legislature.
Other set-asides approved yesterday included $50,000 for the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Beckett. The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, and the Bing Theatre in Springfield are all beneficiaries. The Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, which charges $16.99 for admission, is getting $300,000 of taxpayer money, which a legislative aide said would go toward securing a Division II college basketball tournament.
Legislators argue that the earmarks are necessary to pump money into the local and regional economies and that controlling the flow of taxpayer money is one of the most crucial duties of their office.
Patrick has made an effort to eliminate the legislative earmarks from state spending, arguing that they amount to micromanagement of local spending.
Republican governors had long sought to eliminate legislative earmarks through vetoes, but the Democratic-run Legislature often overrode the governors' decisions.
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com. 