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BOSTON, OCT. 16, 2003…..There's more to retiring
the state's projected $2 billion deficit for next year than curbing
spending and consolidating services, the governor's budget chief
told business leaders Thursday.
The financial imbalance is a problem rooted in history
and the solution will require a "completely new way of seeing
government," Administration and Finance Secretary Eric Kriss
said during a morning address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Kriss said new taxes won't solve the problem, and
will make it worse.
To create a system of "sustainable government
services," the solution will rather involve establishing a
better balance between the "givers and takers" in the
system, specifically those who contribute to government through
taxes more than they consume - "net contributors" - and
those who rely most heavily on those taxpayer-funded services and
are thus "net beneficiaries."
In 1964, that ratio was set at a 9-to-1 ideal -
90 percent of people paying into the system to help the bottom 10
percent grow. Currently, Kriss said, it has dropped to a 3-to-1
ratio, and is nearing 2-to-1. Kriss pointed to the more than 1 million
residents receiving free health care covered by the taxpayers and
the need for the state to subsidize education in cities and towns
that can't afford it with property taxes alone.
"The trends are unsettling," he said.
Kriss used the example to make his point that reforms
are needed to supplement spending decisions.
But the state's Democratic Party leader decried
Kriss' analogy late Thursday, calling it "classic right wing
Republican philosophy to believe that poor, elderly and disabled
people contribute nothing to the society," said Phil Johnston,
the state's Democratic Party Chairman.
"It is extremely troubling that key people
in our state government hold this view," Johnston said. "I
don't consider them to be takers. One fundamental reason government
exists is to help us when we're having problems in our lives."
Johnston called the philosophy "Social Darwinism
of the 19th Century," and said people who seek government assistance
ought to be defended rather than singled out.
"Eric Kriss will be on the Medicare program
when he turns 65. Would he consider himself to be a taker at that
point in his life?" Johnston asked.
Economists also questioned whether such a ratio
could be used to truly analyze the state's growing deficit. Cameron
Huff, senior research associate at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation,
was unsure how to define "takers" because "everybody
who is on Medicaid and on welfare is paying sales tax," he
said.
Kriss' remarks come as the administration continues
to push its reform agenda, much of which was rejected by the Legislature
during the earlier part of 2003. Specifically, he used Thursday's
stage to officially announce the administration's intention to move
forward with plans to build a new courthouse in Worcester, a project
that the state has spent nearly $7 million on during 10 years of
planning, advocates say. Kriss said the state will use approximately
$3 million in funds from fiscal year 2004 for demolition work and
begin construction work by the end of this fiscal year.
"We still need a courthouse in Worcester, so
we're going to move forward," Kriss said. "But moving
forward does not mean we're going to stop asking questions."
The administration's capital plan, outlined three
weeks ago, puts a $1.278 billion cap on all spending for FY 2004.
The Corner Office had delayed its release of a plan while budget
officials worked to draw a larger connection between capital projects
and the state's operating budget.
The state needs to "look at each project individually,
and we need to think through how these projects fit together,"
Kriss said. "It behooves us to think through this in a strategic,
systematic way."
Kriss said consolidating several Worcester-area
courthouses such as Clinton, Uxbridge, Westborough, Dudley, and
Milford to develop a more "regionalized" court system
would be a money-saver. The administration has not proposed such
an option, but will "take the lead in asking these questions"
to the Legislature, he said.
But some Beacon Hill lawmakers think the Romney
administration is misguided in its attempt to revamp the state's
court system.
"He's wrong," said Sen. Richard Moore
(D-Uxbridge), whose district includes many of the courts possibly
slated for closure. "I don't think Eric Kriss knows anything
about judicial reform."
Moore said the administration's standoff with building
a new court in Worcester was a "blatant political move"
that they were smart to reverse. The majority of the Legislature
does not favor further court consolidation, he said, and will continue
to fight courthouses from closing.
"They're getting into areas they don't know
enough about," Moore added.
Kriss kept his comments to a minimum on other topics
such as the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which will likely
be depleted by the year's end. Lawmakers will soon release a compromise
plan to adjust what certain companies pay into the trust and Kriss
said the administration is working on its own proposals make the
system "more fair."
"It's a work in progress," he said.
Kriss also touched on the state's higher education system and the
"cumbersome" school building assistance (SBA) program.
The state needs to take an honest look at the role of state and
community colleges and determine if that role is different from
that of the university system, he said.
But the state's major work lies ahead with the SBA
program; a program he said cannot be continued at its current level.
The more than 300 projects on the waiting list for construction
are estimated to add up to $13 billion. Kriss said overhauling the
program to approve projects on more of a need-basis could help ease
the state's future commitments.
"The system is completely broken and
is not sustainable moving forward," Kriss said. "It must
change."
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