The president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation Michael Widmer calls the potential move a vital step in the state's shortfall on transportation funding.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-funded Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, praised the new efforts on Beacon Hill. "Massachusetts is legendary for placing obstacles in the way of businesses seeking to preserve jobs, expand, or locate in the state,'' he said. "Streamlining the byzantine process would be a critical step in improving the state's business climate.''

"This is a vital step given the state's enormous shortfall in transportation funding," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, who also served on Patrick's Transportation Finance Committee.

Steve Poftak and Andrew Bagley, research directors for the Pioneer Institute and Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, respectively, have followed the escalation of public salaries and agree with Edwards.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the bonus program is not justified in light of the state's fiscal crisis and the societal expectation that officers should have a higher degree than a high school diploma now that departments have become more professionalized.

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation is a budget expert, and he was baffled by Baker's claim, too. Noting that Governor Deval Patrick took over in the middle of fiscal 2007, he assessed the financial picture this way: "When you cut through it all, in 2007 we had a balanced budget with no surplus.''

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation describes the pace of recovery as still "anemic" here.

``Absolutely the effect of it is double-dipping,'' said Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. ``It's understandable there may be a per diem for travel from western Massachusetts into the State House that the state provides. But then there is this huge benefit that the federal government provides on top of it.''

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said giving local leaders control over the health insurance they offer, or letting them join the state plan, is the key to significant savings as many municipalities face substantial cuts and potential layoffs.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said that the state won't be able to rely on one-time federal spending after this year. "As good as this is,'' he said, "it simply delays the day of reckoning.'

"I think a lot of people have come out of the woodwork with the Tea Party movement," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a Boston-based policy group that monitors grass-roots political campaigns. "Groups like that are diverse and people are joining for many different reasons."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation in 2004 proposed just such a change to untie the hands of college administrators who each year have to wrestle with all the uncertainties that come with fluctuating state support. MTF President Michael Widmer told The Standard-TImes, "We never addressed the issue of whether it is constitutional.

"It's like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off,'' said Andy Bagley, research director at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog group. "When cities and towns see payments go up 50 percent, when local aid is cut, it's a pretty tough time to find another five, six or seven million dollars.''

He says voters are clearly more angry now than they were a year ago, and would be more eager to vote for the tax repeal, even though it means giving up nearly $100 million a year in revenue for the state. That's not chump change. But there's another ballot question this year that could punch a much bigger hole in the state budget by shaving the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent. Widmer estimates that could cost as much as $2.5 billion a year, or nearly 10 percent of the entire state budget.

So far, only a handful of communities have made the change. But the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and the Boston Municipal Research bureau credibly estimated in 2007 that moving all communities into the commission would save more than $200 million in fiscal year 2011 alone.

"I think it's a very thoughtful and comprehensive package," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation. Widmer said the second round of reforms are actually more important and would result in more savings than the first.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the budget is savvy because it doesn't touch local aid in what looks to be a competitive election year. Cities and towns depend on the $5.2 billion in local aid, which funds everything from schools to city government.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the biggest unknown in Patrick's budget is the reliance on $600 million in federal aid that Congress has yet to approve. Patrick said he's confident the money will be there, but Widmer said if the extra money isn't approved, more cuts will be needed.

"If we don't get that second round of money it would be a $600 million hole," Widmer said. "Then we clearly have to have major cuts in local aid and other parts of the budget. That additional money is what allows this budget to minimize the cuts that all of us expected would take place."

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said that federal funding will be the key to the governor's plan to level-fund local aid. Without that additional $600 million in federal aid to the state, he said, "There is absolutely no way," aid to cities and towns could be maintained at current levels.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, calls the termination provisions "a total giveaway" and says last year's reform bill failed to get the job done. "All the publicity was focused on the legislative abuses, but the most extensive abuse has been in the executive branch," he said. "The larger problem was totally ignored."

"Right now we are in an unprecedented fiscal position. As a matter of fact, Michael Widmer (director) of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation reported that state revenues for fiscal year 2010, will be $18 billion, a drop-off of $3.8 billion from 2008. Year to date ... this is the biggest two-year decline since World War II ..."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation predicts there is a $3 billion "structural deficiency in this year's state budget," he said.

Lawmakers face a state budget gap of more than $2 billion in the fiscal year starting July 1 as federal recovery aid runs out, according to Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a Boston-based policy group.

Meanwhile, valuable discretionary initiatives are suffering; outlays for higher ed, local government, and economic development shrank from $3 billion in 2001 to $2.4 billion in 2010, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. In contrast, health and pension benefits for state employees and retirees grew by $1.1 billion.

Coakley, however, recently took a shot at Brown for backing a fiscal year 2004 state budget that contained over $390 million in fee increases likened to tax hikes by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Mike Widmer of the Massachusetts Tax Payers Association says he never knew about it. "I was surprised, I usually know about these things. I was taken back that there was $7,200 in compensation that was out of the public lime light."

Massachusetts homeowners saw property taxes rise an average of 5.1 percent statewide in 2009 after a 4.8 percent hike in 2008. Now, 276 of the state's 351 municipalities can't raise taxes any higher without getting local voter approval, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer, director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, doesn't see Massachusetts going back to the way it once did business when the recession eases.

Andrew C. Bagley, director of research for the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation in Boston, agreed, saying the December tax collections are definitely a good economic sign. "We may have bottomed out and started to climb out of an incredibly deep fiscal hole," Bagley said.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, has been a vocal critic of choosing what he calls short-term fixes over long-term plans. "You take advantage of the opportunity in a fiscal crisis to make changes that will help over the long term," he said.

"The (corporate tax cut) is sort of a Band-Aid on a gaping wound," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"We're in for a very tough fiscal 2011 (starting July 1) and I think that's going to lead to major layoffs in cities and towns around the state," said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, has been a vocal critic of choosing what he calls short-term fixes over long-term plans. "You take advantage of the opportunity in a fiscal crisis to make changes that will help over the long term," he said.

Although the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a non-profit, independent financial assessment organization, projects a slight uptick in state revenues in the upcoming fiscal year, state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli said Sunday that rising energy and infrastructure costs within the state will negate any gains.

"Romney might've said it, but that doesn't mean anyone else thought it," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "It's not reasonable to ever have assumed that the legislation would reduce costs. It was about greater access. It was widely understood at the time that this was chapter one. In chapter two, we would have to address costs"

"It's just not responsible to kick it another 10 years out so we have another generation of taxpayers paying the burden," Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, told a reporter recently.

Michael J. Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association, a Boston-based business group, said that starting in January employers will see an increase of 30 to 40 percent in their unemployment insurance taxes, which are already among the highest rates in the country.

Widmer said the state could face further fiscal 2010 gaps of up to $500 million, even after a round of October budget remedies, largely cuts, totaling $484 million, along with a structural deficit next year that even with anticipated tax collection gains could hit $3 billion.

"I do feel that we have reached, or are close to reaching, the bottom,'' said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "It's been a long slide, to say the least.''

"We're facing a very difficult fiscal 2011 that will probably require cuts to the magnitude of 2010," said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

State tax collections will remain flat this fiscal year but grow at a 3.7 percent clip in fiscal 2011, according to Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates. "We see the beginning of an economic recovery but it will be slow and employment growth in fiscal 2011 will be minimal," foundation president Michael Widmer told the News Service Tuesday afternoon.

BOSTON - State tax collections will remain flat this fiscal year but grow at a 3.7 percent clip in the fiscal year that begins next July, according to Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates. "We see the beginning of an economic recovery but it will be slow and employment growth in fiscal 2011 will be minimal," foundation president Michael Widmer said.

"It's just not responsible to kick it another 10 years out so we have another generation of taxpayers paying the burden," Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, told Huggins.

Michael J. Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association, told the Boston Herald there needs to be better scrutiny of new state hires during a financial crisis.

But the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates that the combination of executive branch and legislative action actually only solved about $450 million of the shortfall - which is broader than anyone wants to admit. And no one seems to want to take the even more difficult steps to close it.