Saturday, May 11, 2013
Results from a recent executive survey ranked Massachusetts 47th for business.
A CEO magazine ranks Massachusetts as one of the worst states in the nation for business. Chief Executive Magazine ranked Massachusetts 47th based on a survey of corporate leaders. Survey respondents reported the Bay State is one of the worst for taxation and regulation. The state Republican Party is pointing to the survey and saying that Gov. Deval Patrick and the Democratic-led Legislature are bad for the economy and business. What do you think about Massachusetts’ business climate? Is this a good state in which to do business?
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Should the state forge ahead with Gov. Deval Patrick's bold plan to invest now? Or should it follow the Legislature leadership's proposal to address the bottom line before embarking on bigger initiatives?
Massachusetts legislators this week answered Gov. Deval Patrick's ambitious plan to raise $1.9 billion for transportation and education with a $500 million plan of their own, which says the governor is asking for too much, too soon as the Bay State shakes off the effects of the Great Recession. Who's right? Should the state forge ahead in a bold plan to invest now? Or should it cautiously address the bottom line before embarking on bigger initiatives? While Patrick's plan includes funding for both the state transportation system and increased education funding from preschool through college, House and Senate lawmakers eschew new revenue for education, focusing solely on closing the transportation budget gap over the next five years. The …
Monday, March 25, 2013
The grounds were closed after Sept. 11, 2001, but Patrick has said he wants to make the State House's iconic statue of JFK available once more.
More than three years after Gov. Deval Patrick said he'd make the State House grounds open to the public, the gates remain shut. The grounds were closed after Sept. 11, 2001, and Patrick has said he wants to make the State House's iconic statue of JFK, in particular, available once more. However, Boston Herald reporters were recently turned away from the plaza and told that it is open during the summer during official tours of the State House, the Herald reported. The governor seemed unaware that the grounds were never reopened. “Well, the JFK statue is accessible now, which is great,” he told Herald reporters Friday. “The rangers can take you out. You just have to ask them. It doesn’t have to be a tour, and that’s a great thing.” …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The transportation bond bill would provide funding for modernization and maintenance of the transportation system.
Gov. Deval Patrick filed a transportation bond bill Wednesday that will finance an ambitious 10-year plan to overhaul the state’s ailing transportation system. The bill would invest $13.7 billion over 10 years in The 21st Century Transportation Plan “The Way Forward” if it is accepted by the state’s legislature, according to a press release from the governor’s office. The funding would address a backlog of deferred maintenance and strategically improve the state’s transportation system by reducing congestion on roads, curbing delays and minimizing crowding on trains and buses, according to the press release. “These investments will create the jobs and opportunity today that will build a stronger Commonwealth for tomorrow,” Patrick said in …
Monday, March 11, 2013
The program also allows users to develop their own plan and see its effects on their tax bill.
In an effort to further promote his proposed $34.8 billlion budget, Gov. Deval Patrick this week rolled out an online tool that would help families see the effect his plan would have on their bottom line. The tool was released less than a week after Patrick unveiled 400 online maps showing what each district would receive in transportation and education benefits under his tax plan. "We are proposing meaningful investments in education and transportation, and people want to know what that means for them," Patrick said. "Last week, with the maps, we showed what long-postponed projects would get done in each community. Now, with this tool, we show just what the costs or savings will be for individual households." The program not only lets …
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The tool includes a maps for transportation funding and educational funding for each legislative district.
In an effort to promote his $34.8 billion budget proposal, Gov. Deval Patrick unveiled an online tool with 400 maps that shows what each legislative district would receive in education funding. “This tool will help people see exactly what to expect in their own backyard as part of the investments we’ve proposed,” Patrick said. “Meaningful investments in education and transportation today will significantly improve our economic future both in the short term and for generations to come.” There are two maps per district – one displaying transportation investments and one displaying education investments in each community. For example, according to the maps, Chelmsford will receive $10,218,568 in Chapter 90 educational funds for fiscal …
Friday, March 1, 2013
The governor's optimistic but state legislators don't sound so sure. What do you think?
Governor Deval Patrick's still bullish about his budget proposal, which will raise $1.9 billion in new revenue through an increase in the income tax, decrease in the sales tax, and various other changes to taxes, fees and deductions. But the men and women who have to pass the bill don't sound as eager to support a package many see as a politically-damaging measure. The Boston Herald quotes several Beacon Hill legislators who sounded notes of caution to outright opposition to the budget. Those quoted cited the 1990 election losses in the wake of an income tax increase, pressure on small businesses and the higher price of gas as reasons they were skeptical. And the governor's new web tools touting proposed transportation and education …
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
While specific deductions would end, personal exemptions would double under the Patrick budget.
A recent analysis of Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed budget finds that it eliminates 44 tax breaks that benefit a large slice of Massachusetts taxpayers. Patrick's $34.8 billion FY2014 budget includes not only a 1 percentage point hike in the income tax – from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent – but the end of such deductions such as the capital gains from the sale of a person's primary home, college tuition, and contributions to a health savings account. The analysis, by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, found that the eliminations would raise an additional $1 billion for the commonwealth. But Patrick's assistant secretary for fiscal policy, Gregory R. Mennis, told The Republican that that amount would be offset by the doubling of personal…
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The two announcements came earlier this week from the Governor's office.
Chelmsford and eight other municipalities within the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments will receive $98,000 to help control and treat stormwater runoff in the Greater Lowell area as part of a new utility called the Northern Middlesex Stormwater Collaborative. Funding came as part of $2.25 million in Community Innovation Challenge (CIC) grants for municipalities, regional school districts, and planning agencies across the state. The Northern Middlesex Council of Governments initially applied for the CIC grant in January 2012, but was unsuccessful, opting instead to move forward with establishing a governance structure for the regional stormwater utility with local officials from Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Lowell, Tewksbury, …
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Do you agree with the governor's decision or was it too drastic?
All non-emergency drivers were ordered off the roads on Friday when Gov. Deval Patrick issued an executive order banning travel during the blizzard. (Editor's note: The ban is lifted statewide as of 4 p.m. Saturday.) Patrick's executive order is being praised by some and bashed by others, reported The Boston Globe. While former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who was in charge of the commonwealth during the Blizzard of ’78, praised the governor’s move, others called the order “tyrannical” and say the strict ban and hefty fines were too much, according to The Globe. Those caught violating the ban would face up to a year in jail and a $500 fine. What do you think? Do you agree with the governor’s decision or do you think the travel ban …
Chris Noonan Funnell
7:14 am on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Great talk was given on this topic last night at Greater Boston Tea Party/Medford. See my blog post "New Jobs for Massachusetts" on the Medford Patch more ›