Dear Hecate,

Where have you been!! It’s been over a year—13 months actually.  And I’m still trying to figure out the state budget.  How is an ordinary advocate supposed to explain to our members where their tax dollars go? Yes, we have already attended a ONE Mass Connect the Dot training , and yes I know how to go on line to the Governor’s budget  , and yes I know how to go over on the right hand side of that page to On Line Services and click on FY 20010 budget tracking and after about another 100 clicks I can find the vetoes --line item by line item.

Anybody got the whole picture?

~ Bewildered in Billerica

Dear Bewildered,

There are a couple of folk in the bowels (or the heart) of the State House who are going over a full spread sheet for FY 2010 that lists all the expenditures and all the revenues on one page and  includes a line on the bottom indicating the balance – surplus or deficit. But it’s not to be found on any public website – yet.  Partly because it’s a very tough job (excuse me, a very big challenge) to put such a thing together, and partly because ….I really don’t know why. 

Your friends at the Mass Budget and Policy Center don't know why either, but state the case for making such a balance sheet available very well in their newest report Budget Transparency and Balance: The FY 2010 Budget Proposals

Here’s three paragraphs from the overview of a very solid description of what the Governor, House and Senate should be producing for us barely able to understand accounting methods, but who can read a balance statement when we see it. (Note to MBPC -- reading this has been a slog ... any hope for a glossery or one page of recommendations?) 

Section 2 of Article LXIII of the state Constitution reads as follows: The Budget. – “Within three weeks after the convening of the general court the governor shall recommend to the general court a budget which shall contain a statement of all proposed expenditures of the commonwealth for the fiscal year, including those already authorized by law . . . .”

While the budget documents filed by the Governor ultimately contain all of this information, the totals that are described as the “Budgetary Recommendations” on the budget website actually reflect only a portion of the proposed budget, as defined by the state Constitution. ………………………..

In the future, the Administration and the Legislature should provide simple summary documents (similar to the “Sources and Uses” statement in this Brief) that list all spending of state money in the fiscal year as well as all revenue sources, and show how the budget balances.

Read the whole thing (gulp) and sign up for MBPC updates if you haven't already.