Massachusetts Municipal Association looks at Question 1

At last week's City Council meeting, City Manager O'Brien cited numbers put together by the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

You can find the entire report here, but here's the numbers you need to know:

• If it passes, Question 1 would ultimately decrease state revenue by 40% or nearly $13 billion a year.
• This would result (probably) in state aid cuts of an equivilent 40%, or $2.5 billion a year.
• Add to that an additional loss of $.5 billion in aid for capital improvements (road construction, highway improvements, school and library buildings).
• The state pension funding would go down by $1 billion dollars.
• Chapter 70 school aid (which ensures a minimum level of education funding) would decrease to $1.1 billion statewide (which is 27 percent of where it currently is). Some local districts would lose state funding altogether.
• State funding for Medicaid and Transitional Aid to Families With Dependent Children would be reduced to the minimum amount necessary to maintain any federal revenue contributions. Cuts to these programs would total about $3.4 billion.
• After making the basic assumptions, all other accounts would be subject to an “across the board” cut of about 63 percent, according to the MMA simulation. This includes two main municipal aid accounts – Additional Assistance and Lottery distributions – which together would be cut by $822 million.
• Across-the-board cuts in school transportation, the special education “circuit breaker” program, reimbursements for charter school-related losses (though funding for charter schools themselves would be unaffected), and a wide array of school grant programs...
• State contributions to municipal and school projects, including Chapter 90 road projects, would be eliminated or sharply curtailed.

We really can't afford this.