Patrick, Legislature Can Reach Common Ground On Spending
The head of the executive branch wants a tax increase that the legislature's leadership doesn't want. He also wants large government investments in areas he believes need it, but that same leadership is tuning him out.
In fact, there's little hope the two sides will resolve their differences.
You would expect this in Washington. But this is Beacon Hill, where the governor and the legislative leadership – both of the same party — are so far apart on transportation spending priorities and how to pay for them that it has the makings of a typical day of rhetorical jawboning about 400 miles south of here.
Gov. Deval Patrick is passionate about economic growth, as well as the state government's role in fostering it through investments in infrastructure, public transit and education. In fact, when he spoke at Worcester Regional Airport recently at the JetBlue Airways announcement, Patrick appeared to be telegraphing a message to legislative leaders as the wall between them further solidified. With a vocal passion that matched the speech he delivered at last year's Democratic National Convention, the governor stressed the importance of growth.
No one will argue the merits of economic growth, but many will argue how much public money should be spent to foster it. While Patrick has said he won't seek a third term, the fallout from a massive tax hike could rain down on the Democratic leadership and the party's slate of statewide candidates. With the state's economy still trying to gain traction, a large tax hike is an exceedingly exploitable point for a campaign season.
There's plenty of room for compromise between Patrick's $1.9 billion tax-hike proposal and the leadership's $500 million plan. Here's where we believe they can agree on the spending side:
ROADS. In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers said most Bay State bridges were "structurally deficient," while 41 percent of major roads were in poor or mediocre condition. Funding here should start with three projects that can deliver the largest improvement to the flow of goods and workers within Massachusetts and across state lines: the Interstate 91 viaduct in Springfield, and the interstates 93 and 95 interchanges in Woburn and Canton.
BRIDGES. Patrick is seeking $1.2 billion for a new targeted program modeled after one that ends in 2016, the same program that is paying for the current widening of the Route 9 bridge over Lake Quinsigamond between Worcester and Shrewsbury at a cost of 90 million. Other cities should benefit from similar targeted investments.
CHAPTER 90 AID. As we continue to climb out of a recession, Massachusetts is in better shape than much of the rest of the country. But cities and towns have struggled to make ends meet. Both Patrick and the leadership already agree on a $100-million increase in Chapter 90 aid for local road projects.
PUBLIC TRANSIT. This is, arguably, the hardest place to find agreement, especially given the MBTA's financial problems. A combination of funding and operational reforms is needed to bring the agency under tighter control. Also, in combination with prudent fare increases and capital investment in energy-efficient trains and buses, reforms should extract more operational savings.
And how will these investments be funded? There will be a tax increase somewhere, and the House leadership has chosen what feels like a digestible 3-cent-per-gallon hike in the gasoline tax. While we like Patrick's plan to cut the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent, his proposed income-tax hike from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent is an overreach, and threatens to erode consumers' purchasing power. It has also raised warning flags from credit-rating agencies.
Massachusetts has weathered the economic storm better than most states, avoided the overbuilding that has produced a real estate bust in other states, and generally been well managed in the last decade. We can handle making some prudent investments – funded by new revenues — but need to do it as efficiently as possible. The right solution will help fuel some needed economic growth.
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