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| C | Massachusetts |
• Population (rank): 6,437,193 (13)
• Average per capita income (rank): $30,686 (4)
• Total state spending (rank): $39,880,324,000 (11)
• Spending per capita (rank): $6,195 (10)
• Governor: Deval Patrick (D)
• First elected: 11/2006
• Senate: 40 members: 35 D, 5 R
• Term limits: None
• House: 160 members: 140 D, 19 R, 1 Vacant
• Term limits: None
This past January, after 16 years of construction, and unimaginably large budget overruns, Massachusetts officially completed the Big Dig, the mega-project that rerouted Boston's main urban highway into a 3.5-mile tunnel under the city. Total cost: $15 billion.
A sigh of relief is not in order. The state is going to have to come up with an additional $15 billion to $19 billion over the next two decades for maintenance on existing transportation assets. Massachusetts believes that a proposed consolidation of its hodgepodge transportation management into a single MassTrans agency will trim down that tab. But for the moment, the huge bill stands.
Non-transportation infrastructure is hardly in better shape. State buildings received a complete assessment in 2001. "We documented over $1.2 billion in needs," says Hope Davis, the director of Facilities Maintenance, "but we didn't get a lot of money subsequently to repair those needs." That number has since grown by an estimated $1 billion, but the state can't know for sure because it does not perform annual condition assessments.
If Massachusetts did decide to make infrastructure a top priority, it's hard to know where the money would come from. The state's total outstanding debt already exceeds $18 billion — the highest in the nation per capita — and the Massachusetts budget for next year already faces a $1 billion shortfall.
Part of that budget hole owes to the commonwealth's ambitious health care program, adopted under former Governor Mitt Romney. Initial estimates of 140,000 enrollees proved low, which will leave the program an estimated $245 million over budget this year. Governor Deval Patrick's proposed budget for fiscal 2009 expects 225,000 enrollees by this June, for a total cost of $869 million — nearly $400 million more than was budgeted last year. To plug the numerous gaps, Patrick's budget request would tap revenues from the rainy day fund, tweak the corporate income tax and license casinos in the state.
The Human Resources Department is seeking an upgrade in its computer system. "If we had data, that would give us a fighting chance," says Director Paul Dietl. A better handle on personnel information, such as the time it takes to hire new employees, would give Dietl a better vantage from which to improve the state's human capital planning.
One human resources advance already in place is the state's evaluation of supervisors. They are no longer eligible for performance raises unless they complete evaluations of their subordinates.
Those evaluations are one of the few performance measures Massachusetts has. A new financial-management system gives the state a better handle on its cost information, but Massachusetts lacks both a strategic plan and a performance-budgeting system to guide those expenditures. Although the budget office has begun looking into rectifying this, Michael Widmer at the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation says, "Any notion of performance-based program budgeting has never really grabbed hold here."
The beleaguered Corrections Department has recently seen an epidemic of inmate suicides brought on by mismanaged mental health treatment and lack of prisoner programs. Massachusetts leaders are optimistic that the new corrections commissioner, Harold Clarke, who has been a national champion of reentry and early-release programs, as well as performance measurement in prisons, will be able to implement accountability.
A source of fiscal pride for the state has been its decision — relatively rare among the states — to begin earnestly addressing the huge liabilities it faces for retiree health care. This year, the state will pay about $760 million (including $343 million from the general fund) to put money aside for this obligation in advance. Over the actuarial lifetime of the payments, prefunding will cut the state's total 30-year cost from $13.3 billion to $7.6 billion.
For additional data and analysis, go to pewcenteronthestates.org/gpp.