Locals wary of pending budget cuts

LYNN – Madelyn Soares knows all about the tough budget slashing decisions top state officials must make: She is contemplating the ones her family faces if her husband loses his job as an airport worker.”In two years we could have to make some changes,” the mother of a Ford School student said Thursday.Soares and plenty of other local parents want teachers and firefighters to keep their jobs, but they don’t know how Patrick and top legislators like House Speaker Robert DeLeo are going to balance the state budget unless they cut jobs, freeze salaries and contemplate taxes and money from casino gambling.”Sparing teachers is good but we need (federal) stimulus money to create jobs,” Shannon Miranda said.She is worried that job cuts in cities and towns spurred by state cuts will cost lives and pointed to the quick Fire Department response to a major fire two weeks ago on Lewis Street.Tony Frascone is already feeling the state budget ax. The mental health worker is seeing consolidations in his organization.The range of options available to Patrick and the Legislature for tackling the budget crisis boil down to cutting costs or raising money.With tax collection continuing to lag with rising unemployment, Patrick on Wednesday said he planned to close a $1.1 billion deficit for the current fiscal year with $191 million in cuts. He also proposed $68 million in new taxes or fees, a $327 million withdrawal from the state’s rainy day fund and using $533 million in expected federal stimulus money.Among the cuts is a $128 million reduction in state aid to cities and towns, while among the new revenues is a proposal to extend the state’s 5 percent sales tax to store-bought alcohol, as well as candy, soda and other sweetened drinks.Joey Crawford, another Ford parent, thinks gambling revenue must be considered as a budget balancing source. He said the referendum question passed last November eliminating dog racing by 2010 leaves the state, and cities like Revere, with less revenue-raising options and puts more people out of work.Patrick’s budget also relies on $711 million in anticipated federal stimulus money.”Taken together, these measures are right and necessary steps to get us through these difficult times,” the governor said during a State House news conference that kicked off the state’s annual budget dance.The House and Senate will next unveil budgets that work from the governor’s proposal. Any differences will have to be worked out in a process that usually takes until June or July.The Massachusetts Restaurant Association said the proposed meals tax increases would discourage business by increasing the size of checks just as the industry is suffering from reduced business and skyrocketing food costs.Patrick is proposing to increase the state meals tax from 5 percent to 6 percent, generating about $150 million that can be returned to cities and towns based on the formula used to distribute lottery funds. He also wants to let cities and towns levy their own 1 percent meals tax, which would be kept locally. Patrick is proposing similar increases for the state’s 5.75 percent hotel/motel tax.”To single us out from the other things subject to the state sales tax, we believe, is blatantly unfair,” said the association’s president, Peter Christie.The Massachusetts Package Stores Association also criticized the sales tax proposal.”A sales tax on liquor is simply another regressive tax that will impact the quality of life for the average citizen who is already struggling to make ends meet,” the association said, adding it fears the tax will send business to neighboring states and drive down tax collections in Massachusetts.In outlining his ideas, Patrick denied being overly reliant on federal financial assistance, which is the subject of a battle between the Obama administration and congressional Republicans. Patrick said the money he budgeted was new Medicaid funding that appears widely agreed upon and in the mid-range of the state’s likely port