My apologies, as I got it wrong in a recent post about the senior staff raises.  Here is the  correction from Kristine Trierweiler –

The merit increases that were just discussed at the Selectmen’s meeting were approved at the Town Meeting in April 2012. The Department head staff is not being given increases early than anyone. There has been no merit for the prior three years for department heads, department heads also had two years with a zero percent increase for cost of living.

I defer to Rachel Brown and the Board to discuss the recommendation that was made at the Personnel Board last Tuesday night.

Kristine Trierweiler, AICP

Assistant Town Administrator

Town of Medfield

Mike Sullivan is recommending 2% merit raises for the town’s sixteen senior staff members, excluding himself.  Those 2% merit raises would be on top of the expected 2% cost of living raises that have been targeted, so the total would be 4%.

This from the Statehouse News this afternoon –

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JAN. 15, 2013….When he addresses the state on Wednesday night, Gov. Deval Patrick, who sketched out plans Tuesday for massive new investments in education, will outline an ambitious and likely controversial plan to raise as much as $1.57 billion in new revenue next year.

Visiting the Orchard Gardens school in Roxbury – the same school he highlighted in a speech last summer at the Democratic National Convention – Patrick called for a $550 million investment in education in fiscal 2014 that would ramp up to $1 billion in new spending by 2017.

The plan calls call for the state to deliver on its promise of universal access to early education by eliminating wait lists for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers, and making Chapter 70 funding available for the first time to districts for pre-school for four-year-olds.

The governor also called for more expanded learning time, a $226 million increase in Chapter 70 education aid in his fiscal 2014 budget, and a $152 million increase in funding for community colleges, the University of Massachusetts, and college student grants.

“Investing in our children at a young age pays huge dividends for them and for our community as a whole. To those who say we cannot afford that, I challenge you to show me which one of these four-year-olds we should leave behind,” Patrick said, raising voice in the school auditorium as he delivered a message to the would-be detractors of his revenue push.

The governor’s plans for education, which span early childhood education to college, arrived a day after Patrick made his pitch for $1.02 billion in new revenue to pay for the maintenance and expansion of the state’s highways, bridges and public transit systems.

“The money’s going to come from new revenue. We’re going to put our proposal forward in the State of the Commonwealth and we’re going to make the case for investing in our growth and in our own future. It’s a proven strategy. It has gotten us a long way over the last couple years. We can go a lot further,” Patrick told reporters on Tuesday in Roxbury.

Patrick declined to elaborate on his revenue proposal, only acknowledging that “revenue” means tax and fee increases to pay for programs he believes will “accelerate” economic growth. “We got to stop being afraid of that conversation and start talking about the choices that we have to make in order to ensure that we are building a stronger future,” Patrick said.

The broad plans for new spending come a day after the administration and House and Senate budget writers agreed to a revenue estimate for fiscal 2014 reflecting modest 3.9 percent growth, an $838 million increase from this fiscal year’s revised estimate that will largely be consumed by spending associated with health care, fixed costs and caseload-driven programs.

“I think the economy is improving and we’re going to be stronger if we take action. We can’t treat the economy like the weather. We don’t have to stand around and wait for it, wait for it to happen to us, wait for someone to forecast what’s going to happen. We can build our own future and we can create our own growth,” Patrick said.

So far, legislative leaders have taken a wait-and-see approach to Patrick’s revenue plans, though House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray have both indicated they may be more open to raising taxes this session than over the past couple of years.

Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez (D-Boston) attended the governor’s event in Roxbury with Reps. Gloria Fox and Russell Holmes.

“The governor’s on fire out the box. I’m happy and excited that this administration has this much energy,” Sanchez said. Sanchez said schools like Orchard Gardens prove that investment and “hard work” can pay dividends, but predicted a good debate in the House over revenue.

“I’m from Jamaica Plain. Taxes are always on the table in my district,” he told the News Service.

Asked whether he felt politically freed to pursue substantial new revenues because he does not intend to seek a third term in 2014, Patrick said, “That’s not the reason. The reason is we have done all we can to move ourselves forward through reforms.”

Patrick was joined on stage at the school by Boston School Superintendent Carolyn Johnson and new Education Secretary Matthew Malone. The governor has held up the school as a model for what investing in education and forging partnerships within the community can accomplish, citing a 184 percent improvement in English and a 533 percent improvement in math proficiency at the school.

After viewing student art work in the hall, Patrick listened to students of various ages tell him what they wanted to do with their lives, including one young boy who said he wanted to go to firefighting school. Others talked about the value of the after-school program and the commitment of teachers at the school.

“The pride students and educators have in this school is palpable,” Patrick said.

The governor’s education investments, which will be filed as part of the fiscal 2014 budget he submits to the Legislature next week, will call for $550 million in new spending next year that will ramp up each year to $1 billion in annual new spending by fiscal 2017.

Citing a persistent achievement gap for minority, low-income, and special needs students and a reading proficiency rate of just 61 percent for third-graders, Patrick said his plan would eliminate the 30,000 student wait-list for early education and care programs.

The plan would also invest $5 million next year, and up to $70 million a year by 2017, in expanded learning time programs at the middle-school level, with an additional $20 million dedicated to supports for students and their families in urban “Gateway Cities.”

The $226 million increase in Chapter 70 aid for public schools would guarantee a $25 per pupil increase in spending for each district, and keep all districts at foundation levels.

The governor’s plan would also spend $274 million more a year at its peak, starting with a $152 million investment in fiscal 2014, in higher education, increasing funding for financial aid through the MASSGrant program.

Patrick also wants to expand the Completion Incentive Grant fund, which allows students enrolled at certain campuses to receive up to $8,000 over four years for credits earned toward their degrees, and increase funding for community colleges by $20 million.

The governor will also request a commitment of state support to fund at least 50 percent of the education costs at the University of Massachusetts, state universities and community colleges by 2017.

Jason Williams, the executive director of Stand for Children, called for the governor and Legislature to work together to improve underperforming schools.

“When we invest in education, we invest in the future of our state. Increased education funding is crucial to ensuring that every child has equal access to a great education, but there remains a major challenge for Massachusetts in leveling the playing field for students of all incomes – we need to lift barriers that prevent badly-needed education innovation, including retaining the reforms at our turnaround schools, expanding opportunities to attend charter schools and extending learning time where needed,” Williams said in a statement.

Carolyn Lyons, president and CEO of Strategies for Children, applauded Patrick’s call for more spending on early education, calling it a “bold step toward closing the achievement gap and securing the commonwealth’s future economic vitality.”

Noting 39 percent of Massachusetts third graders scored below proficient in reading on the 2012 MCAS, Lyons said, “With funding for early education and care down more than $80 million since fiscal year 2009, we urge the Legislature to support these critical new investments in young children.”

-END-
01/15/2013

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Commonwealth Magazine article –

Report says Mass. towns have stabilized finances

Moody’s warns that problems are looming

MASSACHUSETTS CITIES AND TOWNS have managed to stabilize their finances in the wake of the Great Recession, but they are facing challenges ahead as state aid continues to fall and debt and pension obligations continue to rise, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service.

The report was generally positive, suggesting that the 228 cities and towns that Moody’s tracks have generally weathered the financial storm. Moody’s downgraded the financial status of a relatively high proportion of Massachusetts cities and towns at the start of the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009, but since then Bay State downgrades have been less than half the national average. In 2012, only two local entities, Saugus and the Seekonk Water District, were downgraded by Moody’s and five were upgraded.

While Moody’s said Massachusetts communities tend to be more stable financially than their counterparts around the country, the ratings service said problems loom on the horizon. The report said unemployment in Massachusetts is likely to show no dramatic improvement over the next few years but will still remain below the national average until at least 2016. The report also said cuts in federal spending on the military and health care could slow the state’s economic growth.  In 2010, according to the report, federal spending in Massachusetts was $84 billion, representing a quarter of the state’s Gross State Product.

The report said Massachusetts has a diverse employment base, led by education and health services, but the cost of doing business in the state is the second-highest in the nation.

Two other major concerns for Massachusetts cities and towns are declining state aid and rising costs for debt service and pension obligations. The report said Massachusetts municipalities received less state aid in fiscal 2012 in unadjusted dollars than in fiscal 2002. The Patrick administration has already announced plans to cut $9 million from local aid this year to deal with lower-than-expected tax revenues.  Moody’s said debt service and pension obligations accounted for a fifth of all municipal expenditures in 2011 and should gobble up a third of spending by 2020.

Moody’s financial rankings fall in three ranges: the high level is Aaa through Aaa3, the midrange is A1 through A3, and the lowest range is Baa1 through Baa3. Most of the state’s Gateway Cities fall in the midrange. The outliers are Brockton and Worcester at Aa3 and Lawrence at Baa1. Lawrence, which has its finances under state oversight, is the Massachusetts community with the lowest Moody’s ranking. Boston enjoys the highest Moody’s ranking at Aaa.

The Lincoln Institute publishes an on-line magazine called Land Lines, and this month it has an article on Boston’s experience implementing PILOT’s for non-profits.  Boston only ask non-profits with over $15 m. in real estate to pay, and the article says they use the following formula to determine the amount of the ask –

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“Determining PILOT Payments

Many alternatives were considered for the basis of PILOT contributions, including a per-student or per-hospital-bed fee, or a charge based on the amount of land or building area. The Task Force determined that a charge driven by the assessed value of the institutions—reflecting size and quality of real estate holdings—would result in the most equity. There was a general consensus that nonprofits should contribute some amount toward their consumption of essential services such as police and fire protection, as well as public works such as street cleaning and snow removal. These services consume approximately 25 percent of Boston’s budget, and the Task Force found that a PILOT equal to 25 percent of an institution’s fully taxable amount was reasonable.

Credit for Community Benefits

The public benefit provided by nonprofit institutions was a major focus of the Task Force, which recommended that institutions receive up to a 50 percent credit on their PILOT in exchange for community benefits. This credit recognized the significant inkind contributions made by nonprofit institutions that directly benefit Boston residents. The credit was limited to 50 percent of the PILOT amount to ensure significant cash contributions from each institution. However, the Task Force felt that if an exceptional opportunity for a program or service were available, the 50 percent cap could be exceeded at the city’s discretion.

While the Task Force did not offer detailed specifics on the services that were eligible for PILOT credit, it did provide general guidance on the types of services that should qualify. To be eligible, community services must directly benefit City of Boston residents, support the city’s mission and priorities, offer ways for the city and nonprofit to collaborate to meet shared goals, and be quantifiable.”

Statehouse News Service reports on recommendations from the state committee studying the unfunded retiree health benefits (Medfield’s are estimated to be about $35m.) –

Subject: PATRICK TO FEATURE PANEL’S RETIREE HEALTH CARE REFORMS IN BUDGET