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Creating a Transparent Budget for Massachusetts
Table of Contents
- Creating a Transparent Budget for Massachusetts
Friday, October 6, 2006
Table of Contents
- Creating a Transparent Budget for Massachusetts
Debates about the Massachusetts budget and the critical policy issues it shapes are often muddied by confusion about basic facts. Is there a budget surplus or not? How much new spending is being proposed and what will it be spent on? What existing programs are being cut? Is the budget addressing long term challenges?
Calling for state government to improve the public's ability to understand the annual budget, the Massachusetts Budget Transparency Project today released its report, Creating a Transparent Budget for Massachusetts. In it, 18 specific reform proposals, many of which have already been implemented in other states, are offered for how state government can enhance the budget process by increasing transparency and improving accessibility for the public.
Participants of the project include non-partisan budget analysis experts and former top budget writers from the state's executive branch and both houses of the state Legislature: Stephen Crosby, former Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governor Paul Cellucci and acting Governor Jane Swift; Katherine Craven, former Policy Director for the House of Representatives; John McGinn, former Budget Director for the Senate Ways and Means Committee; Katharine Gibson, former Vice President responsible for budget and planning at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Michael Widmer, President of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation; and, Noah Berger, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
In conjunction with the release of the report, Crosby and Berger drafted an op-ed that appeared in the October 6, 2006, edition of The Boston Globe. The op-ed can be viewed by clicking here.
Table of Contents
- Creating a Transparent Budget for Massachusetts
