BHB Extra: Some Modest Plans For Eliminating the Budget Crisis

The hottest topic of conversation at the State House these days is the budget. With a new governor who was, according to one legislator, "hired by the people to fix the budget mess," and a legislature willing to allow him to do the hard work of making cuts, some interesting days lie ahead. As the same legislator told us on Monday, "It ain't pretty and it ain't gonna get any prettier next year."

Governor Romney isn't the only person in the Commonwealth thinking about how to trim the budget. There have already been calls from many constituent groups telling him that their budget is the important one and it should not only be preserved at current levels, but probably should be funded at a higher rate. There are think-tanks, watch-dog groups and citizen-coalitions all working their sharp pencils to tell the state's elected budget axe-wielder how to proceed.

Two particular cuts came to our attention in the past few days. We thought we'd share them with our readers, which, of course, means the Governor will be made aware of them. BHB reader Bruce Hall sent this suggestion after reading that 21 press secretaries had been fired. "Today he fired 21 press secretaries, saving just over $1 million. Know how he can save another million? Eliminate funding for gay/straight alliances. Not only should the state not promote homosexuality among teenagers -- or any kind of teenage sexual behavior -- but they have been doing so for so long that there are a number of such alliances and an infrastructure to support them. Therefore they no longer need $1.5 million in state, seed money."

Pro-family citizens have been trying to get that $1.5 million out of the budget for several years. This is certainly an opportune moment to make that cut. The journey to $600 million in budget trimming begins with the first million.

Jim Wallace of Gun Owners Action League handed us the second budget-saving suggestion Monday. His concern is about a cut that has already been included in the budget, but that, in his estimation, will cost the state more than it saves. The budget items include a reduction of $35,000 from Hunter Education, $1.3 million from the Land Stamp Acquisition Fund, and about $17,000 from the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife staff budget. On the face of it, these items save the state almost $1.4 million. The problem is that Gov. Romney's appropriations bill calls for this amount to be transferred to the General Fund.

Under federal law, Wallace explained, "if these funds are invaded by the state, Massachusetts will lose approximately $4.6 million in federal funding." That's a loss of more than $3 million as well as a crippling blow to Fisheries and Wildlife, who do so much to clean up and maintain our natural environment. And, by the way, sportsmen and women pay for the Division themselves. These revenues come, not from the taxpayer, but from hunting and fishing license revenues.

So, here we have two suggestions which could save the state more than $4 million. Only $500 million or so to go. We know that there are conservative groups in the state working on more wide-ranging plans to suggest to the governor. Now's the time to unveil them.

Info? Contact Curt Lovelace - 978-425-6278 - curt@lifeworkforum.org

To read Curt's Beacon Hill Beat, click here.