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BEACON HILL BEAT
MAY 2005

UCANE MEETS WITH CONGRESSMAN OLVER TO REQUEST
SUPPORT FOR $1.35 BILLION FOR THE CLEAN WATER SRF

A delegation of UCANE members met with Congressman John Olver (D-MA) to request that the House fund the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) program at its traditional level of $1.35 billion in the Environmental Protection Agency’s federal budget for FY 2006. Last year, in what was called a one time reduction, the Clean Water SRF program was funded at $1.1 billion. Previously, throughout both President Bush and President Clinton’s Administrations, the program has been funded at $1.35 billion.

President Bush, in his FY 2006 budget proposal, cut the Clean Water SRF program to $730 million. UCANE and NUCA have worked diligently to restore the funding. On May 2nd, Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and John Kerry (D-MA) along with 49 other Senators co-sponsored a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee stating the importance of SRF funding and requested at least $1.35 billion. This bipartisan letter has the support of the majority of the Senate members. Unfortunately the House has yet to include a specific funding level for the Clean Water SRF program in their FY 2006 budget proposal.

Based on research conducted by the Northeast-Midwest Institute, if President Bush’s proposal for the Clean Water SRF were implemented that would result in a $20,727,671 reduction in SRF funding for MA compared to the traditional funding level of $1.35 billion or a $12,232,671 reduction compared the last year’s funding level of $1.1 billion.

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CLEAN WATER ACTION CALLS FOR $20 BILLION
FOR DRINKING WATER INVESTMENT

The MA Chapter of Clean Water Action in a report titled Funding Shortfalls Threaten Drinking Water Quality calls for $20 billion over the next two decades to upgrade and modernize the state’s drinking water infrastructure. The report states, Without a massive new financial commitment from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to share this cost with cities and towns, local water rate payers will be confronted with increasingly high water bills or will face increased threats to tap water quality and to their health." The author of the study, John McNabb went on to state, The bottom line is that there are a lot of pipes in the ground that are reaching the end of their useful life. They are clogging, breaking, falling apart, and rusting." The Clean Water Action study also points to the reduction of the MA Department of Environmental Protection’s budget by 24% since FY 2001. This reduction in funding and staff has affected the agency’s ability to appropriately monitor drinking water quality.

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SIGNS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH SEEN AS
MA SETS RECORD FOR APRIL TAX COLLECTION

The Department of Revenue announced that Massachusetts set a tax collection record in April. The $2.024 billion collected breaks the state’s all-time record for a single month and was 11.2% higher than what was collected in April 2004. Another sign that the state economy is brightening, is that tax collections thus far for 2005 has increased by 7.4% or $963 million for a total of $13.9 billion with two months remaining in the state’s fiscal year.

The increase prompted Governor Romney to call for a reduction in the state income tax from 5.3% to 5%. He stated, The surplus is large. We’ll either spend it or give it back to the citizens, and I say it’s time to give it back to the citizens." The House, during their budget deliberations, rejected a proposal to implement the income tax reduction. Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) stated, I think it’s very encouraging, but in terms of making major policy decisions like cutting taxes, I think it’s really premature. The big economic indicator that we’re getting out of the problem we’re in is job growth."

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JOHN COGLIANO APPOINTED NEW
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION

In early May, Governor Romney appointed Massachusetts Highway Department Commissioner John Cogliano as the Commonwealth’s new Secretary of Transportation. Cogliano replaces Dan Grabauskas, who resigned last month to seek appointment as General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

John Cogliano is an experienced professional with a solid understanding of the nuts and bolts of the state’s transportation system. As Transportation Secretary, I look to him to keep the people of Massachusetts moving and to implement our $31 billion transportation improvement plan," said Romney. Cogliano started at the Highway Department in 1997, rising through the ranks until he was appointed Commissioner in 2002, overseeing 1,850 employees. In this role, he spearheaded many of Governor Romney’s key road and bridge initiatives, including an initiative to alleviate the traffic bottleneck at the Sagamore rotary.

Cogliano also implemented the Fix it First and Communities First policies, accelerated spending on road and bridge projects to a minimum of $450 million a year and took an aggressive approach toward reducing the number of crumbling bridges. As Transportation Secretary, Cogliano will manage 8,600 employees working within the Highway Department, the MBTA, the Registry of Motor Vehicles and the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission. These agencies have a combined annual operating and capital budget of $2.8 billion.

~ Archived News ~

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