Curious If State Budget Cuts Are Shared Equally
BOSTON (CBS) -- Over the past three years as the Governor has cut billions from the state budget, tax payers have been told that the cuts are across the board and that everyone is feeling the pain equally.
Tom from Watertown Declared his Curiosity asking, "Why is it always police, fire and schools where the cuts need to be made? Why isn't Beacon Hill sharing in the budget cuts?"
Has Beacon Hill escaped the deepest budget cuts?
Whether it's higher tuitions at state colleges, fewer teachers at your local elementary school, or reduced hours at your town hall or community pool, residents are feeling the years of state budget cuts.
WBZ-TV's Joe Shortsleeve reports.
People stopped on the street have different experiences. One woman works in the court system.
"The judges can not get decisions typed. We have no law clerks. The whole wheel of justice is turning more slowly because of cuts," she said.
Noah Berger is the director of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. He says cities and towns have lost a whopping 34 percent of their local aid.
That makes them -- and the people who depend on those services -- one of the biggest losers in this recession.
"If you are looking at this from a city or town perspective, you can look at it and say our cuts, if you do not count education, have been larger than other cuts," said Berger.
And it is true. We crunched the numbers and since 2007 while cities and towns lost a third of their state funding.
Public Safety has been reduced by nine percent. The Governor's Executive budget has been cut 17 percent. Beacon Hill lawmakers have seen cuts totaling 18 percent. State conservation and recreation programs have been sliced 23 percent.
But not all spending is down.
Over the past three years the number of tax payer dollars spent on the state pension system has increased eight percent. State health care spending is also up eight percent.
Berger says, "When people lose their jobs in Massachusetts your family does not lose access to health care. As a result the state picks up more of the cost as private employers lay off people."
So with fewer state tax dollars and rising health care and pension costs it seems Tom from Watertown has a point -- local town budgets and all the services that go along with them have taken a harder hit than some other budgets on Beacon Hill.
And the situation is only expected to get worse. The Governor will be unveiling next year's budget in the coming weeks and it's expected to contain more than a billion dollars in additional cuts.
