THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2005

Provost, local leaders tell lt. gov. cities, towns need help from state

City and town officials on Tuesday shared their economic woes with Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey during the first Local Government Advisory Committe meeting of the year.

Several municipal officials shared stories about problems with staffing reductions, more fees for municipal services and mounting *health-care and insurance costs.

Somerville Alderman at Large Denise Provost said the city is up against its Proposition 2 1/2 limits. Increased health insurance, fuel costs and a $400,000 snow and ice removal bill have all contributed to the city's financial problems.

"I appreciate that you are talking about real problems'' Healey said. She added that the state's economy is "improving fiscally, not dramatically, but improving." She said the administration is addressing local aid concerns in its 2006 budget, by including a 4 percent increase in local aid funding; an increase in payments in lieu of taxes from $12.5 million to $15 million; and expedited distribution of Chapter 90 transportation funds, which assists localities with road maintenance and construction.

"The governor's proposal was a step toward the restoration of local aid loss, but for many, many of the preponderance of municipalities, it would take more than 10 years under that approach to get back to our local aid levels of 2002," Kelliher told the News Service after the meeting.

Healey also underlined the governor's new health insurance proposal which aims to provide expanded, affordable choices to help small businesses and individuals get insurance. She added the state plans to continue its "aggressive outreach" to some 60,000 of the estimated 100,000 Massachusetts residents who are eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled.

"Offering to offer better insurance to the uninsured is an important social goal, but it is a long an indirect road to lowering health-care costs which are double-digit budget-busters in almost every community," Provost said afterward.

Municipal officials are also worried about $93 million in unpaid snow-removal costs that accrued this past winter. When asked if the state would foot the bill, Healey said she "could not speculate" and asked the commission to put together a history of expenditures over past storm years and outline the cities and towns most seriously affected by the winter storms.

"We need relief; otherwise we are just going to be passing these deficits on to future fiscal years and further digging ourselves into a hole," said Kelliher.