"The spending is only going to get worse, not better, in terms of the underfunding,'' said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "The caseloads, the pressure's obviously only growing, not lessening.''

The nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation opposes the sales-tax cut measure, citing "dramatic consequences" to the state budget.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association, which represents cities and towns, and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said they will try to put the issue to a popular vote if the Legislature fails to act next year, but it shouldn't come to that.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, was skeptical of the monthly-holiday proposal when I first mentioned it to him. He said the Department of Revenue estimates that last weekend's spree will cost Massachusetts about $20 million in lost taxes and that if it were extended to once a month it could cost an already strapped state $250 million.

"The meals tax has shown itself to be an important source of revenue,'' said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit that monitors state finances. "I think we'll see more communities look to adopt it. . . . It's largely painless for the taxpayers.''

"It's a huge issue," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "The benefit is enormously rich and very difficult to change." It isn't just rising premiums that are making it harder for cities and towns; the economy, joblessness and the deterioration of private employers' health care plans play a role, as well.

The Foundation won the GRA's 2010 award for Outstanding Policy Achievement for its vital role in passage of transportation reform. The Foundation was recognized for its efforts beginning in 2004 and culminating in last year's reform legislation, which created a much stronger and cohesive Department of Transportation and generated savings of tens of millions of dollars each year through changes in MBTA health benefits and other efficiencies.

The sales tax was hiked from 5 percent to 6.25 percent last year to raise about $900 million to help balance the state budget. Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said dropping the sales tax to 3 percent would devastate police, fire and school funding.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan research group, says UMass's role as a catalyst is often overlooked, but its research and graduates, most of whom stay in the state, create "a very powerful combination'' for the state's economy. "One of the keys,'' he added, "is they've recognized that they have to master their own future, and steer their own course.''

"It's just a necessary evil. I mean, every community pays legal fees. It's inevitable," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"We just got whacked," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, one of several watchdog groups that have been lobbying for this kind of change. "When you look at long-term state finances this is a major reform."

In 1990, health spending represented about 16 percent of the state budget, says the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. By 2000, health's share was 22 percent. In 2010, it's 35 percent. About 90 percent of the health spending is Medicaid.

"There's been a long-term, clear decline in the municipal services," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "There's no sign that will change and every indication that it will accelerate."

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said he agrees with some of the changes but at best, they might eventually save about $500 million a year.

Many of the e-mails were in response to a column by Mike Widmer, head of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, who pointed out what a dreadful idea the rate cap was

"We have a distribution formula for state aid in which the poorer, largely urban areas get much more state aid than the wealthier communities, and so in good economic times, that problem of inequity is addressed," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan public-policy research organization. "But in bad times like these, the cities, the poorer urban areas, tend to suffer more because they depend more heavily on state aid, and they in many cases never have done an override.

On March 17, Patrick's press secretary, Juan Martinez, also asked top administration aides for a rebuttal to a Globe op-ed piece written by Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Widmer wrote that while some small businesses had been hit with premium increases of up to 50 percent, official state data showed their average hikes were only slightly larger than increases levied on mid- and large-size companies.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said public employees would still have much better health plans than most private sector employees if cities and towns could unilaterally change their health plans. "No one is talking about gutting the plans," Widmer said.

"It would dwarf the cuts we've seen to date," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "I mean, this is the state's worst fiscal crisis, so of course the sales tax ballot question couldn't come at a worse time."

"It will have a drastic impact on a whole range of services that the public expects from state and local government in Massachusetts -- local schools, public safety, human services, health care," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "The problem is this will take full effect in fiscal 2010 on top of a structural deficit in fiscal 2012 that could already be more than $2 billion. You're talking about a $5 billion hole in the 2012 budget."

Michael Widmer - president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed fiscal watchdog group - has criticized both borrowing plans because they put off the costs of transportation projects with borrowed funds, saddling taxpayers with burdensome interest payments.

"The reality is that even with the economy coming around, we're going to have major layoffs around the country because local and state budgets have been so dependent on stimulus money," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"The municipal side did more layoffs and squeezing in fiscal '09 and '10, and now the schools are going through it for '11,'' he said. "In one sense, the cuts to the schools have been delayed.'' But Widmer predicted major cuts to both municipal and school spending loom for fiscal 2012, after one-time revenue sources, such as federal stimulus dollars, run out.

"Reforms are critical, but no reforms anyone has put forward or could put forward could close the existing gap of $2 billion, never mind $2 billion plus tax cuts of $1.5 billion,'' says Widmer.

The budget further depletes the state's emergency spending fund, which could leave pols with few options next year, when they'll face an almost certain $2 billion deficit, said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "They'll have to cut spending or raise taxes or both," Widmer said.

"The reality of the long-term finances of the state dictate this is where we need to go,'' said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and one of the report's chief authors.

Taxpayer Foundation President Michael Widmer says closing state-run facilities for the developmentally disabled could save the state more than $50 million per year while also helping the facilities' current clients. "The key point is these individuals who are in the institutions can be better served in the community closer to the family, and this has been shown time and time again," Widmer said.

"The issue of part-time employees deserves a lot more attention than its gotten," said Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, an independent state government watchdog organization. "What you've discovered is one more item in a long list of things that are driving up municipal health costs."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates that granting such authority would save up to $100 million annually. That's money we in local government could use to provide property-tax relief to residents, to improve deficient services, or to replenish our stabilization funds.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the Patrick administration's actions were arbitrary and unfair, but he was surprised by the board's ruling. "I had expected that the hearing officer would support the division's actions and return it to the courts,'' Widmer said. "And in the end, I thought the courts would rule against the division.''

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, warned more cuts will be needed if the Senate doesn't approve the state aid included in the bill.

The plan, reached after closed door negotiations between key House and Senate lawmakers, would cut local aid by $42.1 million, according to the analysis by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. State support for local school systems would suffer a $123 million reduction, the spread sheet shows.

"It would mean drastic cuts in aid to cities and towns, public higher education, health care, human services, and public safety,'' said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "It would come after several rounds of cuts and would have a dramatic impact on state and local programs that the public has rightly come to expect.''

According to the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, municipalities' health insurance costs have grown from 6 percent of their budgets in 2001 to 14 percent today and are projected to hit 20 percent by 2020.

Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, criticized DiPaola for handing out the bonuses during a statewide economic crisis.

According to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, health insurance costs have risen from 6 percent of municipal budgets in 2001 to 14 percent today, a figure projected to rise to 20 percent by 2020. Unfortunately, the Senate proposal seems more likely to make that situation worse than to make it better.

"D-Day is getting closer," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, referring to the beginning of the next fiscal year. "There's clearly, I think, a broad understanding of the very serious consequences of not doing this."

The coalition, which includes the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, is urging legislators to allow municipal officials to modify health plans without negotiating with each and every union.

In a letter to legislative leaders this week, MTF President Michael J. Widmer said requiring municipal officials to bargain (and possibly submit to arbitration) over the use of any savings from changes in health coverage "places unnecessary further restrictions on a community's ability to manage health care costs." In fact, he adds, such a mandate "could well lead to higher costs down the road."

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer and Progressive Business Leaders Network Executive Director Andrew Tarsy - wrote in a Wednesday letter. "It will mean reductions in all types of state services, including health care, K-12 and higher education, public safety, municipal services, and a wide range of human services."

That is how Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer describes the reform known as plan design, which would give local officials the same authority that the state has to control the design of employee health plans, outside of collective bargaining.

Nor is excess spending the real nub of our budgetary troubles. "The fundamental cause of the state's fiscal problems is the collapse of tax revenues,'' notes Michael Widmer, the foundation's president.

"The administration kept denying the obvious,'' Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed watchdog group, said in a recent interview. "If you keep spending more on the Central Artery, you're going to have less to spend on state highways. I learned that in second grade. If you've got a dollar, you can only spend it once.''

Even if that happens, Widmer still thinks it would be a bad idea to hold the holiday. Sure, state revenues have stabilized: Tax collections for the first five months of the year essentially matched the total for the same time in 2009. But Widmer argues that the Legislature needs to wait until revenues are climbing at a steady pace again.

In a letter to legislative leaders this week, MTF President Michael J. Widmer said requiring municipal officials to bargain (and possibly submit to arbitration) over the use of any savings from changes in health coverage "places unnecessary further restrictions on a community's ability to manage health care costs." In fact, he adds, such a mandate "could well lead to higher costs down the road."

"We're seeing more of ‘Let's get through this year and worry about the next year when it comes,' '' Widmer said. "My overall sense is even in communities that often pass overrides there is a recognition of the realities of an economic recession and that the only chance of passage is if they are modest. This is not the time to ask for large numbers.''

But no matter how widely the pain is spread, its impact would be deep, said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-funded watchdog group.

"To the extent there was ever any justification for this - it's long gone," said Michael Widmer, who chaired a Transportation Finance Commission charged with reporting on the Bay State's crumbling infrastructure. "Transportation agencies in the state are in desperate need of resources, and even if the money lost from this isn't huge, every penny counts."

And that's where the new reality comes in. With experts like Cathy Minehan, former president of the Boston Fed, Mike Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, and Sam Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, warning about a still-uncertain economy and serious ongoing state and local fiscal problems, most councilors clearly recognized they had to take a broader view.

Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, hit the nail on the head when he called the unexpected bonus payments "illogical." If the state's fiscal crisis were over, it might make sense to give a year-end reward in recognition of financial sacrifices made, but Massachusetts' monetary woes are far from resolved, Widmer argued. We wholeheartedly agree.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, warned the state will be facing a $2 billion shortfall in 2012 that could balloon to $5 billion. "We are a long way from being out of the fiscal woods," Widmer said. "The only question is how severe will the budget cuts be."

"If we were at the end of the fiscal crisis it might make sense to give an end of the year reward, but in the next two fiscal years we're going to require more budget cuts," said Widmer. "So it makes no sense when you've already asked employees to make a sacrifice to essentially pay back half of that without making them work."

An estimated 35,000 workers enjoy the days off, according to a rough tally compiled with the help of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Longtime fiscal watchdog Michael J. Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, agreed, criticizing the Internet ad produced by Baker's campaign. "There are vastly more moving pieces that [Baker] leaves out of the ad, so the ad is misleading,'' Widmer said.

Michael Widmer of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said Howell's contention that the state could easily lop $2.5 billion from its budget is disingenuous. He said the state needs to rein in spending on pensions and health care plans, but there's no way that could save $2.5 billion, especially in the early years.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, called the budget "realistic," but said he remains concerned about the structural deficit. "This makes it very, very likely for major budget cuts for fiscal '12, probably larger than fiscal '11, even with an economic recovery," Widmer said.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the Senate plan is the best that can be expected given the state's bleak revenue outlook, even though it relies heavily on one-time federal stimulus dollars.  "The major concern is that it still uses $2 billion in one time money that won't be available in 2012," Widmer said.

"The principal lesson learned is that it works only if the state is willing to give additional assistance to cities and towns," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan public-policy research organization.

Michael Widmer, president of the independent, nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said that although the foundation has not conducted an in-depth analysis of the Pacheco law, he thinks repealing it would save tens of millions of dollars a year by making the bidding process more competitive.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said no saving is too small, but regionalizing municipal services won't conserve a substantial amount of money. "This is a good primer and set of recommendations," Widmer said of the report. "It won't have any significant impact on municipal finances in the short term and maybe in the longer term."

Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation president Michael Widmer called the tab "outrageous." "I don't fault the city," Widmer said, "but the fact that the city had to pay $400,000 to get a ruling . . . is salt in the wound for the taxpayer."

"I don't believe (they) will have any difficulty recruiting superintendents," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "We're still talking about a very generous benefit."

On an annualized basis, the sales tax reduction would allow consumers to be spared of $2.5 billion in sales taxes in fiscal 2012 and $110 million in alcohol taxes, according to the estimates outlined Tuesday, which are similar to projections offered earlier this year by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Baker said that his proposed budget reforms would save the state roughly a billion dollars, but the Massachusetts Taxpayers' Foundation estimated a total savings at half that number.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said such programs tend to become rife for abuse. Asked about the e-mail, he said, "I would think with this level of specificity that there was undoubtedly some abuses."

This one-time money is likely to dry up much faster than tax revenues recover; the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation is predicting a $2.5 billion shortfall in fiscal 2012. That's bad enough. But voters will likely be confronted in November with ballot initiatives to cut the state sales tax from 6.25 cents to 3 cents and to repeal the sales tax on alcohol purchases altogether. Should those measures pass, billions of dollars in expected revenues would vanish.

Though Baker slams Patrick for "spending our state into oblivion,'' state expenditures during the years Baker oversaw the budget grew by an annualized rate of just shy of 5 percent, according to an analysis by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan, business-funded watchdog group. Since Patrick presented his first budget, for fiscal year 2008, state spending has increased an average of 2.4 percent, according to the group.

"The private-sector benefits have eroded and public-sector benefits have been largely untouched," Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation told The Patriot Ledger earlier this month.

Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said spending the $800,000 might have been necessary. "But it is unfortunate that it was so costly for such a limited program," he said.

MTF President Michael Widmer told the News Service in March the group does not have a formal position on either ballot question but would "likely" oppose the sales tax cut. Widmer said the two tax cuts would remove $2.5 billion a year from the tax base and the sales tax cut would lead to "massive cuts" in local aid and an "utter disaster" on the budget front.

When it comes to health insurance and other benefits, Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation told GateHouse News Service, "the private-sector benefits have eroded and public-sector benefits have been largely untouched."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-supported nonpartisan watchdog, calls the state's health reform "remarkably successful" in expanding coverage to 97 percent of residents at a modest incremental cost to taxpayers, consistent with projections.

Immediately after the House ways and means committee vote, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer said that he expected most of the local aid cut to come from education allocations under the Chapter 70 program and agreed with the assessment that this represents the biggest cut in state school aid of the recession cycle.

Forget the Mayan prophecy of doom for December 2012. The far more likely catastrophe, according to a recent report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, is a financial one that will hit with the state budget some months earlier, when the fiscal 2012 budget is put together. MTF warns that by constructing a fiscal 2011 budget that relies heavily on one-time federal funds, Gov. Deval Patrick is setting the state up for serious and widespread budget cuts a year later.

For many years, generous benefits were defended as a necessary incentive to attract applicants to lower-paying government jobs. "That may, in fact, have been true at one point, but it's now a myth," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association. "The explanation no longer holds water."

Michael Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, called the House budget an "improvement" over Patrick's because it relies less on one-time revenue. "From my perspective, it's better to have a lower bottom line and not rely on the rainy day account because we're going to run out of one-time money in fiscal 2012," Widmer said.

Michael J. Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed nonprofit, said of the House budget, "This is an honest reflection of the fiscal straits that the Commonwealth is in.''

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the House budget reflects the state's austere revenue situation. "From a fiscal point of view, this is an improvement on the governor's budget," said Widmer, who defended the House's proposed local aid cuts. "They need to share in the pain given our fiscal realities."

President Michael Widmer, focusing his praise on the committee's decision to stop spending state reserve funds that he said will be needed in fiscal 2012. "The cuts are going to be difficult but they're absolutely essential," Widmer said. Asked about the local aid cut, Widmer said, "They need to share in the pain, given our fiscal realities.

Immediately after the committee vote, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer said he expected most of the local aid cut to come from education allocations under the Chapter 70 program and agreed with the assessment that the cut represents the biggest cut in state school aid of the recession cycle.

But Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit policy research firm, said the judge's decision is only likely to prolong a process that will inevitably return to the court. He said the insurance division will probably uphold the Patrick administration's approach.

"It's a high-risk move by the administration,'' said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "Rate caps don't deal with the underlying causes of medical inflation, but they are creating havoc in the health care sector, the state's number one employer, and undercutting the extraordinary coalition of stakeholders that has been critical to the success of the state's landmark health reform law.''

It's unclear how many undocumented students in Massachusetts and other states would benefit from any federal changes. For example, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates that 400 to 600 students might enter Massachusetts schools as a result of an in-state-tuition reform bill and that it likely would result in $2.5 million of extra revenue.

But with looming deficits in both the T's maintenance and operating budgets, "we need to be very careful about adding costs,'' warns Michael Widmer, who heads the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. The rail proposal should be kept on the drawing board until other priorities are addressed.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the new spending is difficult to explain in light of the budget problems, but it is logical. "It's a little bit of moving money around," Widmer said. "That's standard."

"Increasing the rate of collections will just help on the margins," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "Even if they change their collection rate, it does not change the fundamental reality that they rely so heavily on local aid."

The Republican team says their proposal would save about $100 million a year, an estimate Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, calls "very reasonable.''

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which represents insurers, health care providers and an array of area businesses, termed the action "arbitrary and capricious."

"It's like throwing a hand grenade into the health insurance marketplace," Widmer said. "It may not have legal basis. It almost certainly will be challenged in court."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has said that the law, though it has not held down spiraling premiums, is costing the state less than 1 percent of its budget and has succeeded in extending coverage to about 97 percent of residents.

A year ago, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation produced a report that is considered the bible on Massachusetts health care costs. In the first four years since the law was enacted, the report concluded that state budget spending on health reform grew from a base of $1.041 billion in fiscal 2006 to a projected $1.748 billion in fiscal 2010. "That is an increase of $707 million, half of which is supported by federal reimbursements. The $353 million state share translates into an average yearly increase of only $88 million,'' the report stated.

"These abuses are fueling the ire of the public,'' said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and a frequent critic of public pension plans.

"I don't really see the need for this commission, especially in this fiscal climate," said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation - which supported the state law - said the requirement for near-universal coverage has been a much bigger issue for local businesses than the fines for not offering insurance. That provision, known as the individual mandate, is costing local businesses between $500 million and $750 million extra annually, he said.

 

"Prop 2 1/2 has served to create a damper on the rate of property taxes," said Michael Widmer, president of business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "But the worst possible time to do this is in the middle of a recession."

In short, said foundation president Michael Widmer, the plan has worked. "This was one of those rare occasions when the implementation actually measured up to the promise," said Widmer, whose group more often plays the role of government critic.

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has testified against the tax credit, but D'Amico said "sometimes facts and logic are trumped by emotional appeals."

Mayor Lisa A. Wong read a report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation at her news conference yesterday on state and local finances.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, called Panagiotakos "a realist who showed a steady hand in a thankless position."

Murray said there have been some "false statements and figures" circulating about the existing Massachusetts health care program. He said the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has concluded that the program puts minimal strain on the state budget.