Romney vetoes $108.5m in budget

"In scope or scale, they're pretty modest," Romney said of the vetoes, which totaled roughly half of the money he excised from last year's budget. "The areas of consensus among the executive and the legislative branch with regard to the budget are a great deal greater than areas where we disagree."

In addition to striking the $108.5 million, which amounts to less than one-half of 1 percent of the overall budget, Romney also rejected a proposal to allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities and another that would prohibit outsourcing by vendors doing business with the state. He also followed through on his pledge to veto a moratorium on the opening of new charter schools.

Democratic lawmakers, who form a supermajority in the House and Senate that is able to override the governor's veto, vowed to begin the process of overturning most of Romney's vetoes immediately, saying that they "unfairly target the poor" and "restrict economic development."

"Upon first impression, these vetoes are frivolous and harmful," said House Ways and Means chairman John H. Rogers, a Norwood Democrat. "I think the initial reaction will be to override most of these vetoes" before the Legislature breaks at the end of July.

Although Romney vetoed scores of individual line items, he struck only a few big-ticket items. The largest cuts included:

$20 million in additional payments to private contractors working for the state to increase the salaries of so-called "direct care" workers. Romney said increasing wages is important, but that he felt that the budget failed to ensure that the workers, not the companies employing them, would receive the funds.

$10 million for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, which Romney denounced as an increase that should have been avoided by cost-cutting and reform initiatives.

$7.4 million for the trial court system, including $1.6 million for additional security jobs that Romney has criticized for being earmarked for friends and relatives of Democratic lawmakers.

$5 million in subsidies to eliminate prescription drug copayments for low-income residents. Romney said that all residents, regardless of income, should pay something for prescriptions.

$1.3 million for the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, which Romney has accused of being a haven for political patronage.

Despite those cuts, Romney was careful yesterday to minimize his differences with Democrats in the House and Senate, saying that the two branches of government had more in common with him than the vetoes make it seem.

"The leadership of both houses and I have the same priorities, I think," Romney said, pointing to budget plans that would stimulate teacher recruitment and increased residential development in town centers.

While many advocacy groups praised Romney for leaving most of the budget untouched, some chafed at the cuts.

Geoffrey W. Wilkinson, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, called Romney's veto of $1.2 million to implement the new statewide smoking ban "inexplicable" because Romney signed the ban into law only days ago.

"Why would the governor stand up with tobacco advocates last week and support smoke-free workplaces and turn around a week later and veto one-third of the money left to make sure teenagers can't go into the local variety store and buy cigarettes?" Wilkinson asked. "This is a no-brainer for the Legislature."

Similarly, the Massachusetts Teachers Association criticized Romney's veto of a moratorium on creation of new charter schools, which public education advocates say divert badly needed funds from the neediest school districts.

"It is absurd to continue to expand the number of charter schools at the expense of the rest of the state's public schools," said association president Catherine A. Boudreau.

A two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate is needed to overturn vetoes, but the Democrats easily nullified Romney's vetoes last year, in several cases with votes from Republican lawmakers. Because overrides have to originate in the House, Speaker Thomas M. Finneran will play a key role in determining the fate of Romney's objections.

The budget blueprint for fiscal 2005, which begins July 1, is the first in several years that doesn't include severe cuts in popular programs and services or dramatic increases in fees. With state revenues on the rise after a three-year slump, legislative budget writers are proposing modest spending increases in areas such as K-12 education, criminal justice, and various healthcare programs.

That was welcome news to communities still reeling from the cuts of the past.

"This is a good day for the Greater Boston community," said Paul Guzzi, president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. "Affordable housing, workforce education, and reasonably priced heathcare matter to everybody, and we applaud the governor and the Legislature for what they have accomplished."

But the spending plan is still a far cry from the heady days of the 1990s. Most agencies will receive no increase in funding, even though costs are soaring, and some individual programs will be cut. Furthermore, the budget does not restore most of the $3 billion in spending cut over the past three fiscal years.

Signs of the state's financial weakness still show in the budget, especially the reliance on about $670 million from "reserves and other money that does not regularly flow into state coffers. Romney said he cut the $108.5 million in part to minimize the amount required to take from reserves.

Romney expressed reluctance in making some of his vetoes, especially one that nullified a plan to let about 400 undocumented immigrants pay in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities. Supporters argue that it isn't right to punish students who may have been brought here illegally when they were toddlers, but Romney said he doesn't want to encourage illegal immigration.

"I hate the idea of in any way making it more difficult for kids, even those who are illegal aliens, to afford college in our state," Romney said. "But equally, perhaps a little more than equally, I do not want to create an incentive to do something which is illegal."

Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, blasted Romney for that veto and for cutting benefits and access to health insurance for undocumented immigrants, saying that the cuts would undermine efforts of immigrants to join mainstream society.

"Everybody else sees the immigrant community as an asset to their states and their economies," Noorani said, pointing out that Republican and Democratic governors in Texas, Utah, California, and New York have approved laws enabling undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates

In a surprise move, Romney also vetoed a provision barring overseas outsourcing by vendors doing business with the state, even though in March he proposed a $29 million package of incentives designed to discourage Massachusetts companies from moving jobs out of state. Romney said that the plan included in the budget was hastily crafted and would drive away some businesses while failing to create jobs here.

Romney said he would continue his effort to merge the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority with the state Highway Department, even though the Legislature for has dismissed the idea as unworkable and a power grab.

"It's never done," Romney said. "You fight until you win."

Globe correspondent Elise Castelli contributed to this report.