EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Massachusetts made dramatic progress toward a more transparent budget process over the past year. In the wake of an October 2006 report from the Massachusetts Budget Transparency Project (MBTP), and involvement of MBTP members with the new Governor’s transition team, far more information was made available, particularly via the web, to those interested in understanding and following the budget’s development.

Budget transparency means providing, in a clear, accessible, and timely manner, enough information for the public to be able to understand changes in spending and revenue levels, differences among particular budget proposals, and the purposes for all spending. The most important improvements in transparency made during the FY 2008 budget process are the following.

• A budget tracking tool on the Governor’s website provided line item appropriation numbers for the FY 2007 budget and each FY 2008 budget proposal as it was released, allowing for easy comparison of proposals with each other and with the prior year.
• Historical spending levels for the past four fiscal years were provided on the Governor’s website for each line item in the budget and historical government employment levels over the same period, along with FY 2008 projections, were included for each state department and agency.
• A departmental information link on the Governor’s budget site provided information for each department and agency such as mission statements, goals, organization charts, and links to departmental sites.
• A budget navigation guide on the Governor’s website provided a brief introduction to reading and interpreting the state budget, a particularly useful tool for individuals new to the budget process.
• Downloadable budget files were available on the sites of the Governor, the House, and the Senate and were updated in a timely fashion. Of particular note, the Governor’s site contained a downloadable line item appropriation spreadsheet that was updated with each new budget proposal.
• Updated amendments were posted to the House and Senate sites as floor debate proceeded.

• Provide a comprehensive statement of revenues and expenditures with each budget proposal, and throughout the year as new supplemental budgets are passed. Such a statement would include spending that is accomplished through transfers as well as that which is appropriated in line items and would differentiate between revenue and expenditure items that are one-time and those that are ongoing. This is the single most important improvement remaining to be done.
• Accompany each budget proposal with a spreadsheet of all revenues by source. Because revenue numbers change from one budget proposal to the next, this information is necessary to fully understand the differences between two proposals. Such a spreadsheet already exists; it is simply a matter of publishing it along with budget proposals.
• Publish a spreadsheet summarizing differences with previously released proposals and prior year budgets with the release of each proposal;
• For each line-item, explain whether the proposed funding level is the amount projected to be needed to continue providing the current level of services or it includes increases or decreases in funding that represent new policy choices.
• Expand the accomplishments in the FY08 budget, to include program descriptions and goals for each line item in the budget;
• Publish detailed information regarding the long-term fiscal obligations of the state for retiree benefits and debt repayment as well as an examination of fiscal risks facing the state.
• Publish printed copies of the budget when the budget is released and make them available to the public at libraries around the state. Given the size of the budget document, interested but non-professional readers can find it easier to navigate and understand the structure of a printed report than to view one screen at a time. Printed budget documents also recognize that on-line access, while a wonderful tool, is not yet universal.

The Massachusetts budget process will be fully transparent when the state publishes, with each budget, detailed information on the assumptions and estimates, such as caseloads and expected price increases, used to determine appropriation amounts for each line item. Without this detail a nominal increase in funding cannot be analyzed to understand whether it provides for an increase in services, the future cost of providing the same level of services, or a decrease in services masked by higher future costs.