Cutting Costs for Massachusetts Taxpayers

By Representative James Eldridge

 As the Legislature heads into budget season, it appears more and more obvious that as state revenues have exceeded state  government’s expectations, the requests to restore cuts made to a wide array of important programs, agencies and services has begun.  Over the past few years, Massachusetts state government has cut over $3 billion from its budget, and has laid off the most state employees of any other state in the nation.  When you consider that education, housing, environmental, library, and higher education funding have all been cut by over 20% over the past five years, it makes sense that efforts have begun to restore the funding for these core essential services.

Yet while the state has more revenue than was expected, it is not enough to restore all of these cuts this year.  Given this fact, it is important to look at the different pieces of recently-passed and proposed legislation that will go a long way to reducing costs for the state and its taxpayers, as well as to continue to look to how to cut additional costs while still maintaining the services and funding that our communities and residents need to remain prosperous. 

One example of such legislation comes from last year, when the state’s School Building Assistance (SBA) funding mechanism was radically changed.  The Legislature voted to dedicate a penny from the sales tax to fund the reimbursements provided to towns and cities that invested in education through the expansion or construction of school buildings.  This upfront funding provides the reimbursement years ahead of schedule to project like the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School (which received a $25 million check from the state this past year), and therefore reducing interest payments that towns have to make on bonds it takes out, and saving homeowners money on their property taxes. 

More recently, the House of Representatives passed a primary seat belt bill last month that will not only save lives, but will reduce costs for both automobile drivers and taxpayers in general.  The bill will reduce the number of fatalities and injuries sustained by drivers and passengers in cars by increasing state-wide seat belt usage.  This will in turn help reduce the significant health care costs incurred to take care of disabled or paralyzed accident victims, who often rely on state-provided Medicaid health care that all taxpayers pay for.  In addition, the reduction in injuries and fatalities reduces auto insurance rates because insurance companies don’t have to pay as much money for the costs incurred by such accidents.

The energy efficiency standards legislation passed by the House and Senate speaks to the fact that if we want to reduce energy costs, which is one of the biggest obstacles in stimulating economic development, government must take the lead and make sure that many of our household appliances must be made in a more efficient manner.  The legislation would make home furnaces, boilers, laptop power cords, utility transformers, reflector lamps and certain lamp fixture require less energy to run as society needs to function.  Reduced energy costs for consumers and businesses should cut energy bills by at least $1 billion between now and 2030, according to MassPIRG.  When you consider how many seniors are struggling to pay their fuel bills this winter, you can imagine how helpful more energy efficient products will be to help keep seniors from being priced out of their homes.

Finally, there is the prospect of health care reform.  The likelihood of the House, Senate and the Governor reaching a consensus on how to overhaul the state’s health care system seems dim now, which is unbelievably disappointing.  Health care spending now comprises over 1/3^rd of the state’s spending, and a significant chunk of that is dedicated to free care for the uninsured.  If there is one thing that numerous health care advocates and parties agree on, it’s that health care costs go down when insurance coverage is extended to more people, due to the exorbitant costs of free medical care in many hospital emergency rooms.  Whether it’s primary care, prescription drugs, or medical premiums, from an economies of scale point of view the larger the pool of businesses or individuals within a health care network, the greater the savings.  Radical reform in this field is necessary to break down many of the external costs of providing health care to people in , and until such change is made, more and more precious state tax dollars will be directed away from all of the state’s other critical needs, such as education.

Of course, there are numerous other current legislative efforts to cut costs for the state and taxpayers, but other ideas are needed.  I encourage citizens to contact my office with their suggestions for reducing state costs, so that the state can continue to deliver the core essential services that maintain the quality of life we all enjoy in the 37^th Middlesex District, and so that all families and their children in Massachusetts may prosper.