Governor Swift Files FY 2002 Supplemental Budget

Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift filed a supplemental budget for the end of the 2002 fiscal year that closes the $689 million deficit and includes appropriations totaling $370.8 million, according to an April 26 article in The Governor's Report.

Among the needs dealt with in the Governor's bill are:

• $297.1 million to fund required Medicaid payments
• $11.7 million for snow and ice control at the Massachusetts Highway Department and the Metropolitan District Commission
• $10 million for the state employee health insurance premiums through the Group Insurance Commission
• $7.5 million for certain county sheriffs
• $7.1 million for the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction to reimburse regional transit authorities for prior-year expenses
• $6.8 million to meet debt service obligations for convention center bonds
• $6.6 million for the Department of Transitional Assistance to continue paying benefits under the Emergency Assistance to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children program
• $5.6 million for public safety costs, including state police overtime and National Guard expenses related to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
• $2.5 million for the Department of Social Services necessary to re-hire recently laid-off social workers, to avert further layoffs, and to pay an arbitration settlement agreement with the SEIU, Local 509.

The Governor's bill also includes no-net-state-cost increases in several accounts, such as the Commonwealth's worker's compensation program, the Information Technology Division's computer services chargeback, and the Bureau of State Office Building's Hurley Building maintenance chargeback.

There are also outside sections that will allow the state to achieve FY2002 savings and fiscal balance. These include reducing the Commonwealth's pension payment in FY2002, transferring $351 million in reserve funds to the General Fund, and transferring $23 million from the Capital Needs Investment Trust to the General Fund. Swift urged the Legislature to the give the bill prompt attention.