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Bullet points from the $27.4 billion state budget

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 19, 2009 03:15 PM

Read today's Globe story here. The text of the budget can be found here.

--Cuts local aid by up to 15 percent to cities and towns

--Eliminates funding for 800 local projects and programs

--Closes 12 offices of the state Registry of Motor Vehicles
--Uses $199 million in state reserves, leaving less than $600 million in the rainy day account

--Increases sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, which is estimated to bring in an additional $900 million. The budget dedicates $275 million of the new revenue to transportation: $100 million to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority; $160 million to the MBTA; $15 million to regional transit authorities.

-- Increases the meals tax by 1.25 percentage points. Cities and towns would be allowed to raise the meals tax by an additional .75 percentage point.

--Eliminates a tax exemption on alcohol sold in retail stores and allows communities to raise the local hotel tax by 2 percentage points.

--Slashes Quinn Bill funding by about 80 percent

--Levies new tax on telecommunications companies for poles and wires

--Levies new 5 percent tax on satellite television companies, bringing in an estimated $11 million in new revenue by adding roughly $3.50 to the average monthly bill