A new report identifies a $1.26 billion shortfall between state appropriations and actual municipal spending on existing programs that are mandated by the state.
Auditor Suzanne Bump’s report flags gaps in state aid for school transportation, education, veterans’ benefits, and other services within cities and towns. The school transportation gap was estimated at $448 million in the report, which pegged the education aid gap at $711 million and attributed $401 million of that gap to insufficient special education assistance.
In a statement, Bump said the new report provides legislators “with the information they need to address the burden of unfunded mandates.”
“The solution to the problem of unfunded mandates is to prioritize funding of them. It is a simple solution, but it may require some hard choices,” said Bump.
State legislators are great at saying they help us and they are our partners, so why not fund their mandates on us?
OK, so I have a question. I'm scratching my head here wondering HOW?
ReplyDeleteSo we have these "unfunded mandates" and as we locally struggle to figure how a town budget can survive we a Chapter 62f which works something like:
Chapter 62F is a Massachusetts General Law that requires the Department of Revenue to issue a credit to taxpayers if total tax revenues in a given fiscal year exceed an annual cap tied to wage and salary growth in the Commonwealth.
Which was triggered last year and the State of MA is returning $3 billion to taxpayers.........
So rather than try and squeeze both ends of wage earner, notice corporate earnings are not utilized in equation, why not mandate to lawmakers that no unfunded laws can be created or maintained........................
All these unfunded mandates are in reality a future liability keeping the system treading water.