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06-03-2004

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 5 months ago

June 3, 2004

ROMNEY DELIVERS FIRST DIVIDEND ON REFORM

Announces $500M Estimated Budget Surplus for FY04, Files Supplemental Spending Bill

 

Eighteen months after facing a $3 billion deficit, Governor Mitt Romney today announced the state will end the current 2004 fiscal year with an estimated $500 million budget surplus. He proposed spending the surplus to increase the quality of life in communities throughout the state.

 

Among the largest items in a supplemental budget bill filed today, Romney proposed sending $100 million to cities and towns in the form of additional local aid and setting aside $254 million for one-time capital improvements throughout Massachusetts, including road and bridge upgrades and renovations to the parks system, swimming pools and beaches.

 

Calling the surplus “the first dividend on reform,” Romney credited the Legislature for working cooperatively with the Administration in restoring fiscal balance to the Commonwealth without raising taxes.

 

“Being fiscally responsible isn’t easy – and it’s not always popular – but it has its rewards. If we continue the hard work of reform, we can do even more for the people of Massachusetts,” said Romney.

 

The total supplemental spending bill is $457 million, which also includes:

 

  • $19 million for adult basic education;
  • $11.8 million for substance abuse treatment;
  • $10 million for MCAS remediation summer programs in the lowest performing school districts;
  • $8 million for one-time grants to dentists and community health centers to increase access for children under MassHealth;
  • $25 million to create a virtual gateway within Health and Human Services to facilitate access to services;
  • $19.5 million for a nanotechnology center at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell; and
  • $10 million for state pier repairs and harbor dredging in New Bedford.

 

The increase in local aid is unrestricted and will go out through the existing lottery formula.

 

However, Romney suggested that cities and towns prioritize the needs of their local schools. He noted that $100 million translates into the hiring of 2,000 additional teachers statewide.

 

“As the municipal liaison for the Romney Administration, I have had the opportunity to meet with hundreds of local officials over the past 17 months,” said Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey. “I have heard from them first hand about what they need most, and I can tell you that the package we are introducing today responds to the concerns of the cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth.”

 

The Governor also pointed to the economic impact created by the one-time infusion of money targeted for capital projects. “All of this money – money that goes above and beyond the existing capital budget – will help spark the creation of new jobs,” said Romney.

 

The supplemental budget also contains language to make the voter-approved personal income tax cut a reality by reducing the rate from 5.3 percent to 5 percent starting January 1, 2005. The reduction, originally scheduled to take effect in 2003, was frozen due to the fiscal crisis.

 

“Now that the worst is behind us and revenue collections are once again robust, we don’t have any excuse not to enact what the citizens of the Commonwealth voted for,” said Romney.

 

Romney noted that none of the surplus dollars from the 2004 fiscal year will be used to pay for the tax cut. Instead, it will be paid for out of the 2005 fiscal year.

 

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