Tax, fee revenues $26m short

Kevin Landrigan reports in the Nashua Telegraph that state revenues at the end of September are short of the budget plan, but not as bad as they could have been.

Administrative Services Commissioner Linda Hodgdon said she took some solace September was a big revenue month, and the state’s revenue shortfall of $8.5 million was smaller than the one in July and August combined.

“We knew going into this we were going to see some negatives at the beginning of the year, and hopefully, we will see more positive going into the next calendar year,” Hodgdon said.

Senate Republican Leader Peter Bragdon, of Milford, said the shortfall will be a challenge for lawmakers but is smaller than had been feared to this point.

“We still take issue with the last minute decision when they put this budget together to raise revenue estimates by $75 million. I think we need to get later into the year to know for sure whether these estimates will hold up or not,” Bragdon said.

In the Concord Monitor, Shira Schoenberg says the state budget is showing some encouraging signs.

Colin Manning, spokesman for Gov. John Lynch, attributed the fall-off from predictions to the economy. "Revenue numbers from September show the economy continues to struggle, which is why we have to continue to watch revenues and spending very closely," Manning said.

But overall, the numbers were positive for the state.

Last month, Republicans raised alarms when revenue predictions fell $17 million short in a month that was expected to bring in just $111 million. But this month, even Senate Republican Leader Peter Bragdon was satisfied.

"Next month, October is supposed to be another high month and if that kind of performance can repeat, things will look on a better footing," Bragdon said. "It's certainly a very positive sign."

SEA leaders urge defeat of state contract

Leaders of the State Employees Association are urging their members to reject the contract negotiated with state officials last week. James Pindell has reaction at NH Political Report.

"After serving in Iraq, in the fight against terrorism, I didn't appreciate coming back and being terrorized by the Governor and the Legislature," said Chapter 22 President Bruce Vanlandingham.

In the Union Leader, Mark Hayward reports that the bargaining unit is more concerned with the furloughs for 10,000 state workers than with the 750 possible layoffs if no deal is reached.

"It's not a good contract. It's not a good deal for the employees," Barwell said, minutes after 162 members of the bargaining senate voted last night. He said the voice vote was overwhelming, but not unanimous.

Barwell said the contract will be mailed on Thursday to members, and they can begin discussing it.

Diana Lacey, the head of the bargaining team, said the cuts do not provide enough job security for state workers and affect all public services provided by the state.

In the Concord Monitor, Shira Schoenberg gets reaction to the recommendation from the Governor's Office.

Colin Manning, spokesman for Lynch, said he still hoped union members would ratify the agreement.

"We continue to believe that it's important that state employees be allowed to vote on a contract that could save hundreds of jobs," Manning said.

"It is our hope that they approve this contract and that we can implement a well-structured furlough program and avoid laying off hundreds of state employees."

If the full union membership rejects the agreement, both sides could return to the bargaining table, or Governor Lynch could begin making layoffs to reach the $25 million in savings mandated by the state budget.

New union deal has one more furlough day, higher health benefits

Mark Hayward reports in the Union Leader reports on the newest tentative agreement between state negotiators and the State Employees Association .

Agreed to late in the afternoon, the proposal will go to the bargaining senate of the State Employees Association on Monday. The 250-member body will decide whether to forward it to members for ratification and whether to recommend passage, said Diana Lacey, chairman of the collective bargaining team for the SEA.

The agreement ends days of intense negotiations between the two sides. On Wednesday, Gov. John Lynch cautioned that layoffs of 750 workers would begin if no deal were reached by yesterday. The SEA contract covers 10,200 state workers, the union said...

Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said the union has agreed to an additional day of furlough in order to avoid any changes to the health care plan. The deal calls for 19 days of furlough over two years, he said.
Manning said the agreement would not provide higher pay for corrections workers, as the SEA had wanted.

Contract reached, SEA says

Shira Schoenberg reports in the Concord Monitor that the State Employees Association claims it has reached an agreement with the Governor's Office to avoid 750 layoffs.

"As of 6 p.m. this evening, talks were completed between the SEA and the governor's office," SEA spokesman Mike Barwell said last night. "We have addressed all outstanding concerns in a tentative agreement."

Colin Manning, a spokesman for Gov. John Lynch, sounded more cautious, noting that the final language must still be worked out.

"Both sides are going back to the table tomorrow to hopefully come to agreement on the final language," Manning said. "We're hopeful there can be agreement so that employees will have a contract they can vote on."

Time, as it often does, will tell.

State Contract Talks Frustrating to Both Sides

The Concord Monitor and Union Leader update ongoing negotiations between the Governor's Office and the State Employees Association.

In the Monitor, Shira Schoenberg reports that both sides have narrowed down the areas left to decide.

Diana Lacey, lead negotiator for the SEA, said it was the responsibility of the governor's office to accept a deal.

"The $25 million has been on the table for months," Lacey said. "At this point we're wondering, is the governor going to choose to take the million-dollar deal or choose to go forward with 750 layoffs?"

But Manning said the union has backed away from an existing deal.

"The union's walking away from major provisions of the tentative agreement," Manning said.

Both sides agree that the sticking points are health care and pay for corrections officers, which relates to a plan for furloughs. (more)

In the Union Leader, Jim Fennell writes that both parties are taking a day to look at the other side's latest ideas.

Lacey said the state's negotiating team left the table with the intent of using today to review a counter proposal the union offered up Friday. Lacey said it's good a sign that the state is willing to consider compromise, but she thinks time was wasted by waiting four days to start the review process.

Union leaders, meanwhile, will spend part of the day hearing a presentation on the point-of-service health plan the state wants all employees to be enrolled in. (more)

Contract talks continue; layoffs loom

Daniel Barrick reports in the Concord Monitor that state and union negotiators came away from contract talks last night with no agreement and different perspectives.

While an SEA spokesman described yesterday's talks as "productive," a spokesman for Lynch expressed frustration and warned that layoffs were imminent if a final deal is not reached soon.

"We had put plans for layoffs on hold because we had reached a tentative agreement," said Colin Manning, Lynch's spokesman. "Unfortunately we're going to have to resume those plans. This is an unfortunate outcome."

The tone from union representatives yesterday was strikingly different.

"We had some very productive talks," Mike Barwell, a spokesman for the SEA, said last night. "Everything's up in the air, but we had productive discussions."

Talks fall apart between state, union workers

The Governor's Office has fired back at SEA chief Gary Smith's allegation of bad faith, saying that the union is responsible for talks breaking down by bringing last minute demands to the neogtiating table. Kevin Landrigan reports on Lynch spokesman Colin Manning's comments in the Nashua Telegraph.

The eliminated overtime has been paid to correction officers for more than 12 years but legislators nixed it to preserve some correction jobs Lynch called for laying off with the closure of the minimum-security prison in Laconia.

Manning said union negotiators came to the table with these last minute demands that weren’t part of the delicate talks that produced a tentative agreement last month.

“Unfortunately in the last several sessions, the union has begun to walk away from provisions agreed to in the tentative agreement and to demand additional items not contained in the tentative agreement,” Manning said.

Weekend Roundup

Lots of budget talk in this weekend's political columns.

First, Kevin Landrigan writes in the Nashua Telegraph that Fred Tausch and his group, Stimulating The Economy Without Assumulating Record Debt (STEWARD) is examining how the federal stimulus bill with impact New Hampshire:

On Monday, the group will release results of an economic analysis study done by Brian Gottlob, who has his own Seacoast consulting business and produces an ongoing report on economic trends.

In the report, Gottlob identified more than $920 million in stimulus money already headed to New Hampshire. That total is incomplete, he wrote, because it doesn't include what competitive grants New Hampshire projects may win in the coming months. Here's how Gottlob gets to this massive number:

• Education: $258 million.

• Medicaid: $250 million.

• Transportation: $129 million.

• Individual income support: $79 million.

• Environment: $63 million.

• Energy-weatherization: $61.7 million.

• State fiscal stabilization aid: $36 million.

• Housing: $33.5 million.

• Health care: $9.3 million.

Gottlob noted the two largest pools of money would be used to help pay for the next two-year state budget.

Landrigan also reports that budget writers are working to restore the $83 million in building aid that the House Finance Committee killed:

The House Finance Committee decided that since Lynch wouldn't put it in his state budget, the House panel wouldn't either, and the Senate can decide where it fits in its priorities.

Lynch press secretary Colin Manning said the governor is committed to making sure it finds a home.

"It's got to be somewhere,'' Manning said.

House Finance Committee Chairman Marjorie Smith, D-Durham, noted state law makes clear that school building aid is "subject to appropriation,'' which is legal speak for anywhere up to 100 percent, depending on how much the Legislature has on hand.

Landrigan also goes department by department to identify the winners and losers in the House Finance Budget.

In the Union Leader, Tom Fahey pens his weekly Under the State House Dome column and looks ahead to this week's budget debate in the House:

On a party-line vote last week, the House Finance Committee passed a budget much like Gov. John Lynch's plan. Both versions maintain a roughly $50 million reserve, or Rainy Day Fund, after they tap it for about $40 million in June. They both have a tobacco-tax increase, a gambling tax and a hike in the Rooms and Meals tax.

But there are some key changes. For one thing, new taxes on estates and capital gains were nowhere in Lynch's plan. The House added $16 million to cut down the wait list for services to the developmentally disabled; $2 million for cancer prevention, $1 million for HIV-/AIDS programs and money for catastrophic illness victims and suicide prevention.

Lynch's plan to give the state Liquor Commission more business clout fell by the wayside. Liquor has more work to do before it can start closing marginal stores and setting up liquor sales in private stores, the committee said.

In the Concord Monitor, Lauren Dorgan's column points out that even those who wrote this budget don't like it very much. Dorgan says the budget news is much grimmer than when Lynch gave a somber budget address in February:

Now we know that we didn't know from grim. House budget-writers backed two taxes on the wealthy, an estate tax and a capital-gains tax, on top of keeping most of Lynch's cuts in place (while adding back a few social programs, like cancer prevention).

The worst part: Even then, the budget still didn't balance, leading budget-writers to call for an additional 1.25 percent across-the-board cut, leaving agencies to decide where to find the money. (The Republican alternative budget did more than that, including a 13 percent across-the-board cut at many state agencies.)

List of Court Closures

Colin Manning, Governor Lynch's Press Secretary, has provided the list of eight District Courts that would be closed under the Governor's Budget submitted this morning:

Hillsborough
New London
Plaistow
Claremont
Milford
Hooksett
Keene
Colebrook

According to Manning, the list of underperforming liquor stores to be closed has not yet been finalized.

Here are the source documents for the budget:

Governor's Operating Budget
Governor's Capital Budget
Governor's Executive Budget Summary
Complete Operating Budget