But the reason the trust fund is out of money, said Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association, is that the recession has overburdened it. At a "7 to 8 percent unemployment rate, we are paying out more in benefits than we are taking in in taxes," Widmer said. "The problem is getting worse, not better."

"This is just the kind of pension reform that is long overdue," Michael Widmer, executive director of Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said of Baker's plan. "The proposals would go a long way toward giving the pension system long-term fiscal health."

But Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed budget watchdog group, said the money for the signs could be used more efficiently. "It's a small amount of money, but symbolically, it's sure to rub citizens the wrong way. ... It would be better if every dollar were spent on the projects themselves," he said.

The money could be a boon for Massachusetts, where sluggish state revenues are expected to cause more drastic budget cuts, said Michael Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "If we don't get additional funding, local schools and higher education will be hit dramatically in the next fiscal year,'' Widmer said.

School Committee Chairman Brian Burke of Stow, said he spoke to Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, and as a result of the discussion, he expects the district to be "faced with some tough choices" during fiscal 2011.

"There's no basis in reality for that comment," Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said. "The T's finances are going to be under pressure for decades." Widmer said cost estimates for operating the South Coast Rail extension range from $15 million to $20 million a year.

"It's impossible to pay for it given the state's finances and the MBTA's finances," said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation who also served on Patrick's Transportation Finance Committee.

"We've been very public about the T's problems for years, but this report demonstrates that those problems are much greater than we imagined,'' said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

By tomorrow, the victors may be wondering who talked them into running, said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "They are going to face horrible conditions," Widmer said. "It's a very ugly picture at both the state and municipal level."

"There have been estimates that the system needs roughly $30 billion, you're not going to save your way to $30 billion," Michael Widmer said.

"The whole underpinning of the reform is to get an experienced board as part of a new united transportation agency," Widmer said. "Instead, three of the board members have recently served on two agencies that have been very troubled. So this is anything but a fresh start."

"You have to have some notion of equity,'' says Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. He's right. Cities and towns should have borne more of the cuts.

"The maximum over 20 years would be $1 billion to a billion and a half,'' said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. But Widmer said that will depend on whether the state wins the lawsuit filed by MBTA workers over benefits and how it handles jobs and salary negotiations.

The state will spend roughly $350 million more in 2010 than it was paying in 2006 to maintain its health care system, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and a member of the now-defunct Transportation Finance Commission, was equally critical. "The Board appointments are potentially a serious setback for transportation reform," he said in a statement. "It's not clear that at least two of the designees meet the qualifications laid out in the statute. The Chair has limited transportation experience and Ms. Loux represents the narrow self interests that reform was intended to put behind us. Given the magnitude of transportation problems facing the Commonwealth, it is unfortunate that the board does not reflect new and experienced leadership."

"The whole purpose of the reform is to set a new agenda and move beyond the dysfunctional authorities of the past. To have three members of the boards as your five picks who have very limited transportation experience is very disappointing," said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, who sat on the governor's Transportation Finance Committee.

At the same time, the governor is being criticized for using federal stimulus money and the state's rainy day fund to offset part of the budget deficit. Michael Widmer, of the Massachusetts Taxpayers' Foundation, warned the state is running through the money very quickly. "And this just delays the day of reckoning and means more pain later," Widmer said.

In a statement, Widmer added: "It's not clear that at least two of the designees meet the qualifications laid out in the statute. The chair has limited transportation experience, and Ms. Loux represents the narrow self interests that reform was intended to put behind us. Given the magnitude of transportation problems facing the commonwealth, it is unfortunate that the board does not reflect new and experienced leadership."

Senator Steven A. Baddour, a Methuen Democrat who leads his chamber on transportation issues, said in a statement that she "undercuts the very essence of reform," an assessment that was echoed by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"There may have to be another round of cuts this year, and there certainly will be major cuts in the fiscal 2011 budget,'' said Michael J. Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. One issue with Patrick's approach to budget-balancing, Widmer said, is it relies in part on one-time revenue sources, including federal stimulus funds and money from the state's reserve account.

Thirty-five thousand Suffolk County employees benefited from the holiday at a cost of $6 million, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said the governor is still depending too heavily on one-time sources to plug budget holes. "He's using some more of the state's rainy day reserves and federal stimulus dollars and we have run through those moneys very quickly," Widmer said. "This just delays the day of reckoning and means more pain later."

Michael Widmer with the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has said today's cuts could get ugly. "Cuts upon cuts upon cuts, so it's really a pretty drastic situation that is not going to end anytime soon," said Widmer last month.

"It's ugly and it's going to get uglier," said Michael Widmer, executive director of the business-based Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "Services have already born a heavy brunt of the cuts - this is the fourth round for some agencies."

Despite the false claims of ideologues, academics and politicians, who claim that health reform is unaffordable and unsustainable, the facts tell the story of Massachusetts' remarkably successful health-reform law. Our state's landmark 2006 law and its implementation amount to a truly historic achievement. 

The fiscal 2010 budget shortfall has the potential to rise to $1 billion if significant changes are not made, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

State tax revenues for fiscal 2010 will total $18.279 billion, $600 million less than the $18.879 billion consensus forecast on which the 2010 state budget is based, according to Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation's latest forecast which was presented to the chairs of the Senate and House Ways and Means Committees on October 8.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, a nonprofit business-funded watchdog group, agreed that there is a risk that revenues for the rest of the year will not meet the governor's current projections. But, he said, it is unfair for Cahill to say that the administration should have known months ago how severe the fiscal crisis would get.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, offered the dismal outlook for the rest of the year, suggesting the budget might be about $600 million out of balance.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, testified on Beacon Hill that the state is likely to face a combined shortfall of $900 million because of falling revenue and rising Medicaid costs, Reuters reported.

Widmer also gave committee members a chart showing Massachusetts ranked fifth from the bottom among states in job creation this decade, with jobs here down by 186,000 since 2000. Massachusetts outperformed only Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, according to the chart, which showed about half the states adding jobs over the decade.

Massachusetts' tax forecasts are overly optimistic, and the state should trim its revenue estimates by at least $600 million, a fiscal watchdog said on Thursday. Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, who testified at a legislative hearing, also warned of another $200 million to $300 million shortfall in Medicaid.

Outside of that Medicaid funding problem, Mr. Widmer said, his group estimates the state will see revenues from income, sales and capital gains taxes come in $600 million less than estimated for the budget signed in July. He said the recession will trim estimated income tax, sales tax and corporate excise tax revenues more than expected earlier this year.

Michael J. Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed budget monitoring group, said, "Bottom line, we are projecting a decrease from that forecast of about $600 million dollars.''

Michael Widmer, of the Massachusetts Taxpayers' Foundation, said state revenue officials had over-estimated revenue collections by about $600 million for FY2010. In addition, he said the state faces a Medicaid shortfall of between $200 and $300 million.

Widmer argues that the $100-million-plus a year that the state spends on these credits could be used more effectively in other corners of the economy - such as local aid to cash-strapped cities and towns. It doesn't help the industry's case, he says, that the tax credits only return 16 cents in tax revenue to the state's coffers for every dollar that's spent.

But the tax credits' critics may enjoy a more receptive audience on Beacon Hill now that state officials are considering another round of budget cuts. Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, recognizes that the film tax credits spurred job growth. But Widmer says the film industry's jobs remain just a tiny portion of the state's overall work force.

"Within all of a $30 million budget not every dollar is well spent, but the larger reality is this disconnect between taxes and the need for taxes to fund programs [residents] believe in," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, thinks emergency cuts may be necessary, noting the "probability has gone above 50-50." "I think, given the scare that September revenues have produced, we may well see some midyear cuts in local aid," Widmer said. "I'm surprised at how bad'' the revenues were.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the state of the economy made it difficult to know whether the new sales tax was to blame for any of the revenue decline.

"The return on investment is ludicrously small," said Michael Widmer, head of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a public-spending watchdog group. "Of all the tax credits that I'm familiar with, this would be unquestionably the worst deal for the taxpayer."

"The underlying issue is that even when the recovery begins, it will be anemic, not robust, and there's a delay in the impact that has on tax revenue," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "Capital gains will be slow. Consumer purchasing, people will be cautious and unemployment will continue to rise modestly for maybe the next six months."

"If we don't take advantage of this incredible structural (budget) meltdown to make changes to protect public education, then we will never make those changes," said Michael Widmer, the foundation's president.

"Taxpayer savings each year would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and then over time it would be billions," said Michael Widmer, executive director of the fiscal watchdog group the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

But Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says if these early numbers hold, he expects there to be new cuts. "Cuts upon cuts upon cuts, so it's really a pretty drastic situation that is not going to end anytime soon."

"Oh, Lordy,'' said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, when told of the estimates. "Numbers like this for September suggest [the state's revenue estimates] could be $500 million or more too high for the year.''

Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, which researched the effectiveness of the state's health insurance mandate, said most people chose to buy insurance rather than pay the penalty -- even those who are "young, healthy and immortal." "Most are saying, 'If I'm going to have to pay this much in any case, I should be covered,"' he said.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said Kirwan is probably worn out from the fiscal crisis. "Leslie did a very good job under very difficult circumstances," Widmer said. "It's a tough job even in good times."

"The major public criticism, false though it may be, is that it's breaking the bank and that it's unaffordable and that hasn't been the experience," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which recently released a study defending Romney.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said he was not surprised by the ranking. In fact, he said the ranking seemed too generous for Massachusetts.

State spending on health care grew from $1.04 billion in 2006 to a projected $1.75 billion in 2010, an increase of $707 million, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit research group, which called the cost of reform "well within early projections."

"It is not going to fix our fiscal problem. We are still going to face major budget cuts so it will help on the margins but it's not going to be a solution or a silver bullet," says Mike Widmer, Executive Director of the Mass. Taxpayers Association.

Michael Widmer: "What combination of initiatives will be part of gambling, and I think that is a huge unknown that could stall the resolution of this."

"The reason [the new law] was able to preserve a very generous package for MBTA employees and retirees and still save $30 million a year is because the current benefits are absolutely off the chart, public or private,'' Widmer said. "So the sacrifice they have to make is minimal, compared to what people across the country are making.''

Opponents of reform claim that the Massachusetts experiment is too costly. They are wrong. State estimates and independent analysis from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation concur that health-care reform has only added moderate incremental costs to the state budget.

The state's costs to expand coverage have swelled nearly 70% to an expected $1.75 billion in fiscal 2010 from a base of $1.04 billion in 2006, about half of which is supported by federal funds, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit policy research group.

That rescue won't last long, Wilson said. State tax collections won't return to 2008 levels until at least 2014, Michael Widmer of the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation predicts, and the stimulus money is mostly spent.

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael J. Widmer, who sat on a transportation reform committee, said the administration faces a "Herculean challenge" of implementing the reform by Nov. 1. "It would have been desirable to have this done earlier," Widmer said of choosing a transportation secretary.

Meanwhile, a Beacon Hill source said that the state could face another round of deep budget cuts as soon as next month. Michael J. Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said it is "plausible" that one or two prisons could close if state finances continued to melt down.

Unfortunately, some observers don't think that will happen, and it's not certain if the commission's current proposals will be in the Oct. 1 report. Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, doubts legislators will pass another bill.

But has anyone calculated the ultimate financial impact of changing long-standing tax policy and putting the arm on multistate and international corporations? The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation last year put the potential job loss at 10,000 jobs.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the August collections are a sign that the worst may be behind state government.

Because of the recession, tax collections for the fiscal year that ended June 30 fell $2.6 billion below the prior fiscal year, the deepest year-to-year decline in history, Widmer said. The drop prompted cuts in local aid, layoffs in government and reductions in services.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the commission is offering "a strong package" that could lower costs to taxpayers if approved by legislators.

A recent report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-funded budget watchdog, found that the additional cost to fund the 2006 reforms will be roughly $700 million through fiscal year 2010, with the federal government picking up half the tab.

Despite predictions that Massachusetts residents would drop their employer-based insurance, the number of people enrolled in employer insurance increased by 150,000 after one to two years, according to Michael Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"They are very heavily tilted toward those with self-interest, and I think that's problematic," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a government-spending watchdog group.

Cost has been a hurdle for the Bay State as well, though. While the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan watchdog group, argues that reform has had only a "marginal impact" on state spending, Gov. Deval Patrick and state legislators have enacted new revenue-inducing measures to offset increased spending and a down economy.

"There is this widespread assumption, that is treated as fact, that it's breaking the bank in Massachusetts ... it's not breaking the bank at all." said Michael Widmer of Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"I am so concerned that the cuts to the zoo are so large as a proportion of their budgets that we'll have to end up closing the zoos," said Michael Widmer, of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"They are very heavily tilted toward those with self-interest, and I think that's problematic," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a government-spending watchdog group. "These boards have a lot of power," Widmer said. "It's not like they are just advisory bodies."

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the Quinn Bill itself needs to be reformed to lessen the financial obligations of the state and the municipalities. He said having a 10 percent wage increase for an associate's degree is not valid, and questioned the wisdom of a 20 percent increase for a bachelor's degree.

And other observers, including the MBTA Advisory Board and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, have all pretty much agreed that the T has structural problems.

‘‘The stimulus is shielding communities from layoffs,'' said Michael Widmer, president of the nonprofit Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which tracks state finances.

Success comes at a cost, but it's a manageable one. So says Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan, business-funded organization.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a watchdog group on public spending, said paying more for state government isn't anything new in an economic downturn. "Anywhere a fee exists, there is fair game to try to get more revenue," he said.

"There's no magic here. They're going to need a fare hike,"said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "The only question is when."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a non-partisan research group, recently concluded that the cost of achieving near universal coverage "has been relatively modest and well within early projections of how much the state would have to spend to implement reform."

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the level of benefits for state public employees can't be sustained. In essence, a two-class system has been created. "The public sector has much richer benefits than the private sector," Widmer said. "Voters have endured big cuts, but they're being asked to preserve the benefits of public employees."

"I think it was a hugely missed opportunity," said Andy Bagley, research director for the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "They went part way there, and then they stopped."

"July is not a big month (for tax collections), but what it does is support the case that the revenue estimate for fiscal 2010 is on the high side," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "It raises the concern that we may fall short $300 million to $500 million for the year."

It's been convenient for critics of health-care reform to assail the Massachusetts effort. But the Massachusetts effort -- which was focused on coverage, not cost -- worked. It has been a success. It has radically cut the number of uninsured residents. It has come in at about the cost predicted. It has proved popular.

The facts - according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation - are quite different. Its report this spring put the cost to the state taxpayer at about $88 million a year, less than four-tenths of 1 percent of the state budget of $27 billion.

That led "critics to conclude mistakenly that health reform is unraveling," said Michael W. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. No, he said, Commonwealth Care costs are well within estimates - "the fundamental problem is ... the unprecedented collapse of state tax revenues."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says health reform adds just $88 million a year to the state budget. Would Baker cut into benefits residents were receiving before reform?

This is a common misconception about the state's health coverage law that Michael Widmer at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation addressed in May. The Boston Globe and New York Times editorial pages weighed in over the weekend...refuting what the Times calls an "egregious misreading of what is happening in Massachusetts."

"The sales tax increase, to put it mildly, is not popular," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "I would think that there would be considerable support" to repeal it.

Foundation president Michael Widmer says the costs of reform have been very much in line with initial projections. "Despite the widespread notion in Washington that Massachusetts' health reform is falling apart because it's unaffordable, our study shows there is no basis in fact for that conclusion."

Meanwhile the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has said the state's final tax take for fiscal 2010 could be several hundred million dollars less than what experts had predicted - meaning lawmakers could be forced to make emergency cuts to the budget, and soon.

Massachusetts Taxpayer's Foundation Executive Director Michael Widmer chided lawmakers for not tightening their belts more. "From the point of view of sharing the pain, it would have been best if they hadn't restored so much," Widmer said.

"It's likely several hundred million dollars too high,'' said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom disputed Pawlenty's contention. "The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation recently reported that the cost to taxpayers of achieving near-universal coverage has been relatively modest and well within initial projections of how much the state would have to spend," he said in an e-mail.

"That was a lost opportunity," said Michael Widmer, executive director of the business-based foundation. "The Legislature left that open for (the Patrick administration) to pursue that line, but they've taken the rate that's on the books."

"It is a small expense, but it's just not necessary," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Boston-based Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "It just creates ill will for a good cause," he added.

The business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said health care costs are not out of control. In a recent report, the group said the cost of the law has been "relatively modest and well within early projections."

However, Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said there are other tools for municipalities to collect late payments, such as tax liens, with Spilka's bill coming at an inopportune time.

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation president Michael Widmer said Monday "three moving pieces" will determine the outcome of immigrant health care: the fate of the governor's veto, whether state revenue collections continue to slide, and how a low-cost health plan for the immigrants is designed.

"There is no justification for travel expenses of this amount,'' said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "Limited travel is justified, but this is a perfect example why we don't need 106 [pension] systems in the state.''

We already were so heavily borrowing, the state, through the normal processes of borrowing,'' said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "And in this case, the price, I would argue, is high . . . almost a decade of sacrificing a third of our highway money.''

"It's bad timing," said Michael J. Widmer, the group's president. "This budget casualty may be more under the national microscope than others, but there is no shortage of casualties across the board."