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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Saturday, January 11, 2003 :::
Romney seeks authority to cut local aid Gov. Mitt Romney filed legislation Friday to broaden his emergency authority to cut aid payments to cities and towns to help close an estimated $450 million to $600 million budget gap.
I'm not a fan of the state sending as much money to cities and towns as it does -- they have their own taxing authority. It might make sense to send aid to some of the poorer locales, but I don't think a quarter of the state's budget should be on local aid that goes to every city and town in the commonwealth.
That said, I don't think you can really look at it as a spending cut. Some cities and towns will cut services, and some will raise taxes -- either way, it's pushing the problem downward rather than taking care of it on the state level.
On the other hand, he isn't making cuts solely to local aid. He's looking at cutting local aid by substantially less than the projected budget shortfall, and I think that's appropriate. I just think we have to be careful how we characterize it.
::: posted by Steven at 1:33 PM
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