for
the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts
September 7, 2001
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State revenues dip for 2nd month by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff  wo successive months of declining tax revenues prompted warnings this week from state officials about overspending amid a possible economic downturn.According to the Boston Sunday Globe, state Department of Revenue officials are expected to announce this week that Massachusetts took in $35 million less in August than it did for the same period last year. The report follows a $38 million year-to-year dip in July. The drop is only the second two-month decline since 1992, according to the Globe report. Even as legislative budget negotiations continued behind closed doors on Beacon Hill, state Secretary of Administration and Finance Stephen Crosby said the latest numbers mean lawmakers will have to work hard to keep spending in check over the next couple of years. "No question - the salad days are over," said Crosby, who told the Globe that Acting Gov. Jane Swift is readying some $200 million in vetoes to hold down state spending. Crosby also raised the possibility that the state may have to dip into its $1.7 billion rainy day account to support next year's budget. According to the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, revenues are dropping because of a loss in jobs and decreased consumer spending. The economic outlook is further clouded by the effects of a voter-approved tax cut, which will eliminate an estimated $1.4 billion in revenues by the time the rollback is fully in place in 2003. According to the Globe, legislative budget leaders said the declining numbers will have little effect on their current negotiations, even though the state budget is more than two months late. Oddly, the state is saving money because the interim operating budgets are based on last year's spending. |
