HOUSE EYES BOOST FOR METCO, DRUG PROGRAMS

Hoping to draw a contrast with Governor Mitt Romney, House Democratic
leaders will unveil a budget plan this week that would boost spending on
substance abuse services and on the program that buses city-dwelling
minority children to suburban schools.

Representative John H. Rogers, the Norwood Democrat who chairs the Ways and
Means Committee, said the House proposal also would send more money to
cities and towns with large amounts of tax-exempt state property. "Budgets
are not ledgers, whereby we balance revenues with expenditures. Budgets
are, quite frankly, a definition of who we are as a society," Rogers said.
"We still have an opportunity and an obligation to help our most vulnerable
citizens, achieve racial balance where we can, and help our cities and
towns." Beacon Hill has been consumed by the gay-marriage debate since
Romney presented his fiscal plan in January. Now that lawmakers have
concluded those deliberations, and a competing budget is on the table, the
spending debate will begin in earnest.

Rogers released only good-news details as a prelude to this Wednesday's
formal presentation of the roughly $23 billion House budget for the next
fiscal year. He wants to raise spending on substance abuse services from
the current $33.2 million to $35.6 million next year; increase spending for
the busing program known as Metco from the current $13.6 million to $15.6
million; and expand payments in lieu of taxes from $8 million now to $10
million.

Romney's budget would cut substance-abuse services to $31.7 million and
maintain current spending levels for the other two programs.

Rogers said the extra money for substance abuse, Metco, and payments in
lieu of taxes are balanced by administrative savings in various state
agencies, though he would not provide details.

Romney also sought to highlight spending increases in anticipation of the
official release of his plan: The governor advertised his proposed $5.5
million boost to foster care before he formally presented his budget, while
neglecting to preview cuts to areas such as substance abuse services.
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom declined to comment on the details of the
House budget.

The Senate hasn't yet proposed its plan, and the final budget for fiscal
year 2005, which begins in July, will be an amalgamation of all three
proposals. Advocates for the three programs praised the House's proposal.

John Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission,
said Romney's proposed cut in substance-abuse spending would put
Massachusetts in danger of forfeiting more than $9 million in federal aid.
The state is struggling with an epidemic of heroin use, and previous budget
cuts have slashed the number of treatment beds for people urgently needing
detoxification from 1,000 a year ago to 420 now. "When people come looking
for drug treatment, they get turned away," Auerbach said. "This is very,
very good news to hear that the Legislature is proposing an increase in the
actual amount of the funding, both because it increases the overall funding
and [because] we won't lose the $9 million from the feds." The state spent
$45 million on substance-abuse programs in 2001, but health and human
service agencies have been hit especially hard by the budget crisis of the
past three years: Excluding Medicaid, the agencies have lost $326 million,
a 14 percent decrease, since fiscal 2001. The Department of Public Health,
which oversees the state's substance-abuse services, has been cut by 27
percent. Participating school districts have expressed alarm at state cuts
in Metco spending, which declined from $15.3 million in fiscal 2002 to
$13.6 million this year. Several days ago, a dozen suburban superintendents
wrote a letter to Romney in which they warned that "some districts may be
unable to sustain this commitment if the Commonwealth continues to pass off
the actual costs of maintaining the program to districts which are dealing
with increasingly restricted budgets themselves."

The districts are receiving $2,456 per student, compared with the state's
per-student spending standard of $7,332, according to Metco. Cities and
towns that rely on state payments as compensation for tax-exempt properties
also have been lobbying against Romney's proposed cuts. Several years ago,
the state paid out a total of $18 million, and it would have to reach the
$27 million mark to fully compensate communities for lost revenue and
police and fire services they must provide, according to Representative
Stephen Kulik, a Worthington Democrat who represents 16 towns in Hampshire
and Franklin counties. Many of them have state parks or forests, and, in
several of them, state-owned property comprises close to half of their
total area. "It's a great burden to the communities in terms of public
safety and the maintenance of roads in and out of the forests," Kulik said.
"It will definitely make a difference. Going from $8 million to $10 million
is a small but significant step. Communities have been feeling that this
program was something that could disappear for lack of political support."