With state tax collections on the rebound, the House and Senate budget bills do not call for new or higher taxes.
BOSTON - Ten days before the start of a new fiscal year, House and Senate negotiators working to resolve differences in $30.5 billion spending plans are closing in on a budget agreement for this fiscal year that starts July 1, according to one of the six conference committee members.
Stung by the expiration of federal aid intended to help states balance budgets as they seek to recover from the recession that began in 2008, negotiators say the final budget will include another cut in local aid to cities and towns and some are calling for reduced growth in the rate of spending on education and health care, although special education is one of the few areas in which significant investments appear imminent.
Budget writers in the House and Senate and in the Patrick administration hope spending cuts next fiscal year will end the longstanding practice of pushing off structural budget deficits into future years. With state tax collections on the rebound, the House and Senate budget bills do not call for new or higher taxes.
Michael KnapikLegislative leaders have put House and Senate members on standby, advising them to be ready to travel to Beacon Hill and vote on a budget accord, if one is reached, on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
“We expect a resolution in short order,” Sen. Michael Knapik, of Westfield, said late Monday morning during an interview outside the Senate. He said the committee’s goal was to reach an accord “as soon as possible.”
Knapik said committee members were “meeting pretty vigorously” but declined to specify their next meeting and indicated much of the deliberations are taking place in phone conversations.
“It’s ongoing,” he said, referring to committee deliberations. “I mean it meetings and there’s phone conversations and conferences and things like that so it’s somewhat irregular in terms of that. The updates occurred through Father’s Day yesterday, over the weekend, and it’s all good.”
Knapik is one of two Republicans, along with Rep. Viriato DeMacedo of Plymouth, on the budget conference committee. The committee is led by Rep. Brian Dempsey, a Democrat from Haverhill, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Stephen Brewer, a Democrat from Barre, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Their respective vice chairs, Rep. Stephen Kulik, a Democrat from Worthington and Sen. Steven Baddour, a Democrat from Methuen, are also members of the conference committee.
An aide to Dempsey declined to comment on progress in budget talks, citing the ongoing negotiations.
After a break in its session Monday, division chairman Rep. Paul Donato, a Democrat from Medford, said, “They are getting close to some kind of agreement.”
Knapik said dueling versions of municipal health insurance reforms, a controversial topic that has pitted public employee unions against local government managers, are “still under discussion at this point.”
Aside from municipal health reform, an issue lawmakers have been unable to find common ground on for years, the final budget is also expected to feature major reforms in the state’s approach to emergency shelter and public counsel services.
Municipal government officials told Patrick administration officials last week that they prefer the House approach to municipal health insurance reform. Union officials slammed the House’s approach as undercutting collective bargaining rights and were less critical of the Senate’s plan.
After years of late budgets, including talks that stretched into November in 1999, Massachusetts in recent years has “more often than not” produced its annual budget in time for the July 1 start of the new fiscal year, Knapik said.
“Other states have many more problems than we have,” Knapik said.
Asked if an agreement was close, Knapik said, “I think we’re getting there yeah. There’s no dynamic that’s any different than any other years. The reality is that the budget numbers are not that off and the issues to be resolved are not that great either.”
Knapik added, “It’s only June 20 so there’s still plenty of time and the discussions are again, very vigorous and robust and we look for a resolution very quickly.”
Both branches held their sessions open Monday with plans to send Gov. Deval L. Patrick a $54 million spending bill that includes $15 million in tornado relief funds and $10 million for youth violence prevention grants.