GOV. DEVAL PATRICK on Friday signed a $33.6 billion budget for the already-underway fiscal year, but vetoed $417 million in transportation and local aid funds because of an ongoing dispute he is having with the Legislature.
Patrick said he only signs budgets that are balanced and couldn’t in good conscience sign a budget that depended on $417 million in revenue from a separate transportation funding bill that has yet to pass.
The transportation funding bill hasn’t passed yet because Patrick wants a provision included that would hike the state gas tax by 3 cents a gallon to replace revenue the state would lose if the tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike between Route 128 and the New York border come down in 2017. Patrick says he wants to make sure the revenue promised by the transportation funding bill is actually there; he says any doubts about the money would make it difficult for the state to issue bonds contingent on those revenues.
Legislative leaders, however, are reluctant to take another vote hiking the gas tax, particularly if it’s unlikely the tolls will come down. Both House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray issued statements yesterday indicating they planned to pass the transportation funding bill as is next week and restore the funds Patrick cut from the budget.
At a State House press conference, Patrick tried to frame the policy debate between himself and DeLeo and Murray in the context of a much broader debate about the state’s transportation needs and the difficulty in raising taxes. But in reality their dispute is about whether the Turnpike tolls will come down in 2017, creating a shortfall in revenues.
Under state law, the tolls will come down if Turnpike bonds are paid off and state officials determine the Pike is in a good state of repair. Lawmakers believe Patrick’s successor is likely to determine that the Pike is not in a good state of repair and that the tolls need to remain, making the current dispute moot.
But Patrick and his aides say there is no guarantee the governor’s successor will adopt that position. Patrick, for example, said he would love to see the tolls come down. Richard Davey, the governor’s secretary of transportation, said he would keep the tolls up, but he noted the tolls have been political footballs in the past. “In 1996, Gov. Weld took the tolls down,” he said.
Patrick’s budget vetoes included $49 million for regional transit authorities, $115 million for the MBTA, $76 million for other transportation initiatives, and $177 million in aid to municipalities. Officials said those cuts, if they were to stand, would lead to higher MBTA fares and service cutbacks as well as cuts in local services.
Separately, Patrick vetoed an additional $18 million in spending, with one of the biggest cuts a $2.1 million reduction to the budget of the Plymouth County Sheriff’s department.