Dear Hecate
Our group got the list of budget analysts in the Secretary of Administration and Finance who are developing the Administration's FY 09 Budget from the Public Policy Institute's September Insider Budget Briefing. We've met with a really nice brainiac budget analyst who handles the account that funds our program in November and she told us that we were a priority for the Governor, but warned us that there was a structural budget deficit and it was unlikely we would get what we were asking for. Now we read in the paper every day that the structural deficit is at least 1 billion dollars (on a 30 billion dollar budget) and the Governor may include some revenue options (gaming and closing corporate loopholes) that haven't passed the legislature yet. I thought our state, unlike the federal government had to have a balanced budget?
Baffled in Bridgewater
Dear Baffled,
It really is pretty simple. All of those young brainiacs in the Fiscal affairs Division of the Administration and Finance (who appear younger every year to Hecate) have been burning the midnight oil for weeks doing a fact based analysis of each program and developing a so-called "maintenance" budget for every single state agency.
The Secretary of Administration and Finance adds up all the maintenance budgets and compares that sum to another list of estimated revenues from various taxes and fees submitted by another set of brainiacs and if the total of the maintenance budgets is bigger than the estimated revenues it's called a structural deficit. Now there are a couple of straight forward ways to address a structural deficit that are similar to what every family does, .......cut expenses (maybe not your program, but somebody elses), draw down various "rainey day funds" (your kids college or your retirement savings accounts), or simply plan on some additional revenue streams (a 2nd or 3rd job).
The Governor will be submitting a budget on January 23 that is based on estimated expenses and revenues. First the House and then the Senate will debate the Governor's proposals and come up with their own proposals to solve the structural deficit by either by cutting programs, going into savings or passing the Governor's suggestions for revenue generating measures like gambling, closing corporate loopholes. And yes of course they could come up with their own revenue generating measures. At any rate in the end the Governor has a constitutional obligation to sign a balanced budget.
All of this back and forth can appear to get complex and complicated with at least a dozen ways to explain the same accounting method. You might find it helpful to check out the Mass Budget and Policy Center’s Budget Monitors for straightforward – just - the - facts analysis of the Budget process.
Who is Hecate?
Hecate is a Greek Goddess who served as a guide and coach at the crossroads of Hades, where after crossing the River Styx, Greek souls found themselves facing three choices: the Elysian Fields, abode of the great and heroic; the Fields of Asphodel, for all who had led a blameless but ordinary life; or to Tartarus, a sunless land of punishment for criminals.
Hecate's best known role in Greek mythology was guiding Persephone, the goddess of spring, on her annual journeys between Hades and Earth. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hecate is portrayed as a nurturing and protective guide for Persephone on those annual journeys.
