State House News Service Weekly Roundup: Blood in the Water

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Fuente del artículo: State House News Service

Author: Matt Murphy

 

The Democratic sharks are circling, sensing vulnerability in a Republican governor with few teammates to protect his flank. But even if Gov. Charlie Baker looks like easy prey to some in a state like Massachusetts, Democrats on Beacon Hill are unpracticed hunters.

“We know he’s a RINO anyway,” joked Sen. Nick Collins during his resurrection of the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day breakfast last Sunday, alluding to the fact that Baker is actually more popular with Democratic voters than Republicans.

Collins brought back the breakfast after a one-year COVID-19 hiatus at a time when his own political ambitions for City Hall, still shrouded in mystery, were ripe for roasting. And while it may have been even less clear if the attempts at jokes landed in the virtual realm, the live-streamed, green-themed breakfast jump-started a week during which good-natured ribbing would quickly give way to intentional and, at times, pointed jabs.

The Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management held its second oversight hearing on Tuesday with a clear objective — challenge Baker’s decision not to rely more on local boards of health for vaccination distribution.

Even as Massachusetts has climbed the state rankings for shots administered, the choice to administer many of those shots at mass vaccination sites instead of through local clinics and municipal public health infrastructure is the hill some in the legislature have chosen to plant their flag.

Democrats accused him of throwing out the playbook right before the big game, and spending millions on private-run facilities when that money could have been used to scale up locally-run clinics.

Baker stood his ground, suggesting he is acting off the same script being used by the BIden administration and pointing out how privately operated mass vaccination sites aren’t even the largest distributors of vaccines in Massachusetts. Hospitals are.

The governor said local disaster plans weren’t developed to deliver a vaccine of limited quantity with very specific cold-storage requirements and a short shelf life. And he and Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said that while some local health agencies, like the ones invited to testify, may have been equipped to administer COVID-19 shots, hundreds of other boards of health were not and made that clear when they didn’t raise their hands to help vaccinate their own first responders or the 75+ population.

The defense didn’t sit well with Baker’s critics on the committee: “What we’re getting from you is, ‘You’re all wrong, we’re doing great, please, we don’t want to hear it anymore.’ And I find that hard to take,” said an exasperated Sen. Cindy Friedman.

For much of the hour, lawmakers monologued and Baker scribbled notes off screen. Some shots landed and others missed the mark, like when Baker had to explain that he didn’t control how many doses go to retail pharmacies.

And at the end of a long day, it was unclear if any progress had been made: “The stark differences between the testimony received demands that we dig deeper and understand better why decades of public investment in emergency preparedness have been shelved in favor of another approach, hastily constructed during a global pandemic,” Driscoll and Comerford said in a post-hearing statement.

While the theme of the hearing was to dunk on mass vaccination sites, the idea of a federally supported site, and the thousands of extra does that come with it, was one that seemed to hold some interest for Democrats.

Rep. William Driscoll appeared very curious to know when exactly the state had applied for one of these FEMA run sites, which was announced in February when the delegation sent a letter of support to the Biden administration.

On Friday, the White House and Baker announced that the newest state-run mass vaccination site at the Hynes Convention Center would be supported with an additional 6,000 doses a day from the federal government, raising the daily capacity of the site to 7,000.

The FEMA sponsorship of the Hynes was one of several good-news announcements about supply this week that also brought word of 40,000 additional doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The J&J increase prompted Baker to launch a locally-supported vaccination program to reach homebound residents.

Everyone agrees the faster the vaccine arrives and gets put into arms, the sooner the state can emerge from the year-long pandemic. That’s why Baker’s hiring of McKinsey & Co. to write a report about the “future-of-work” has generated so much interest.

But Attorney General Maura Healey’s interest in the report this week had nothing to do with her curiosity to learn what the global consulting firm recommends. Healey, who is being watched like a hawk for hints at her political future, went after Baker for hiring McKinsey after her office and others around the country reached a settlement with the firm last month for $573 million over its role in helping Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” opioid sales to turn a profit.

The “future-of-work” contract is one of many the firm holds with the state, and Healey called it “outrageous” that Massachusetts would continue to give them business. One of her opening salvos in the 2022 gubernatorial campaign? Maybe. But even a visit by the attorney general to a picket line in Worcester these days is cause for speculation.

Before Boston voters even get to 2022, they will have to choose a new mayor in the fall and it won’t be Marty Walsh … Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

Wheeling his suitcase through Logan Airport and clutching a cup of Doughboy Donuts coffee, Walsh left Boston for Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, the morning after the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination to lead the Labor Department. He officially resigned as mayor at 9 p.m. on March 22, handing the reins of the city over to Kim Janey, the former City Council president who became the first woman and Black resident of Boston to be able to call themselves mayor.

Whether Janey will seek extend her historic elevation as mayor beyond the next eight months remains to be seen, but given the current field it would appear the long-running hold on the office by Irish and Italian men will soon be broken.

Janey takes over a city where the school department was granted a waiver by Education Commissioner Jeff Riley to delay its return to in-person learning for K-8 students until April 26. Boston was one of at least 60 districts given a reprieve from the April 5 deadline to bring elementary students back to the classroom.

House Speaker Ron Mariano told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that the waiver process was important because ultimately it should be the local districts deciding when it’s safe to return to school.

The speaker has largely sided with the teachers’ unions in their dispute with Baker over classroom safety. But overall, Mariano said the governor has worked “very effectively” with the Legislature through the pandemic, and used his executive powers “extremely well” apart from some well documented “hiccups” with the vaccine rollout.

Baker even put his name this week on a game-changing climate bill that will put Massachusetts on the path to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 after working with lawmakers to make small but important adjustments.

The new climate law also directs another massive 2,400-megawatt procurement of offshore wind power. And that was actually what Mariano wanted to talk to the GBCC about.

The speaker announced that the forthcoming House budget proposal would direct $10 million through the Clean Energy Center to train workers for careers in offshore wind, and he promised to pursue a “large-scale” bonding effort to secure the South Coast’s position as the regional hub of the offshore wind industry.

Mariano also said he wasn’t in any rush to return to debate over raising taxes to pay for transportation, at least not until the pandemic aftershocks subside and leaders can take stock of the MBTA and its new needs.

Besides, he said, there’s $1 billion coming to Massachusetts from the “American Rescue Plan” for public transit and $4.5 billion more in direct aid for state government that changes the calculations.

Walsh’s Dorchester successor in the House, Rep. Dan Hunt, will lead a hearing next week to dive into the pot of gold that is the latest stimulus package, and already Baker has committed $100 million to Chelsea, Everett, Randolph and Methuen where leaders have said federal funding formulas shortchanged those hard-hit cities because of their size.

House and Senate leaders have said they want to exert more control over how this newest round of stimulus gets spent, but Mariano said he agrees that those communities should be supported, and believes there may be more cities and towns deserving.

With unemployment ticking down to 7.1 percent, the House and Senate also agreed that workers unemployed over the last year are deserving of a new tax deduction on their first $10,200 in unemployment benefits.

The more expensive Senate version of the tax break was part of a bill that will limit the hit to businesses of unemployment insurance rate hikes this year and extend additional COVID-19 sick leave to Massachusetts workers.

The legislation was enacted Thursday, along with a piece of the joint rules setting up committees like the Joint Bonding Committee so that a $400 million borrowing bill to rebuild the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home can be advanced.

And while there were few objections to substance, Sen. Diana DiZoglio and Sen. John Keenan again had a few concerns with process.

“State House News knew before the members of this body knew what we were going to be doing,” said a miffed Sen. DiZoglio.

Five Critical Questions To Ask About Your Business

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As the owner of a small-to-medium size business, chances are good that you already spend you time answering countless questions every single day from employees, suppliers, customers, and prospects.

The issue here is this – how much time to you spend asking yourself questions about your business?

According to the Harvard Business Review, “companies often fail to address the tough questions about strategy and execution……are we really clear…about how we choose to create value in the marketplace?” For example, “Can we articulate the few things the organization needs to do better than anyone else in order to deliver on that value proposition?”

Barry Moltz of the Shafran Moltz Group explains that both entrepreneurs and business veterans alike should be asking themselves specific, tough questions in order to both analyze and improve their work, including these five essentials:

  1. What Problem Does Your Business Solve?

While this seems like a easy question at first glance, many business owners struggle to define exactly what the answer is simply because it’s not uncommon for businesses to be launched based on what the founder wants, not the consumer. Think about the ‘why’ involved – why do your clients and customers choose to purchase goods and services from you?

  1. Are There Aspects Of Your Business That Are Loosing Money?

While you likely know exactly what your bottom line is each month, quarter, or year, do you really know the ins and outs of where that revenue is coming from?

  1. What’s Your Customer Retention Rate?

Knowing where your customers come from is a critical part of your overall success, since it’s far more costly to recruit new clients than it is to keep existing ones.

  1. What Differentiates My Business From The Competition?

Establishing, and maintaining a competitive advantage is crucial to the success of small businesses – what’s yours?

  1. Can My Business Survive Without Me?

While nobody likes to think about the possibility that they may not be able to manage their business due to injury, illness, or worse, the reality is that there may come a time when your role within your business needs to shift unexpectedly. If that happens, can your business survive?

North Central Massachusetts Chamber Welcomes Goulet Back to its Professional Staff

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The North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that Lauren Goulet has returned to its professional staff in the position of Operations Manager. Ms. Goulet had previously served for over ten years as the Office Manager for the Chamber before leaving in 2020 for a new professional opportunity. In this new expanded role, Ms. Goulet will be responsible for day to day operations of the Chamber and its affiliate organizations, including oversite of the Chamber building, database management, grant administration, and providing support around governance and event planning.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Lauren back to our team,” said Roy Nascimento, President & CEO of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. “Her experience with our organization and operations will be a great benefit to our members and the region during these turbulent times.”

Ms. Goulet has deep roots in the community, growing up locally and currently residing in Westminster. She holds a B.S. in Business Management from Fitchburg State University.

Existing members or businesses interested in learning more about the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce can reach out to Lauren Goulet at 978.353.7600 ext. 222 or via email at .

Expert Warns Against Setting Tax Rate in Constitution

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Fuente del artículo: State House News Service

Autor: Colin A. Young

MARCH 24, 2021…..A tax expert who has been involved with Massachusetts tax policy for years suggested Wednesday that lawmakers could scrap the idea of a Constitutional amendment to impose a surtax on household income over $1 million and instead repeal the Constitution’s requirement for a flat tax and impose the graduated income tax rate through traditional legislation.

Democrats on Beacon Hill have been working for years to establish a 4 percent surtax on annual income greater than $1 million by putting a Constitutional amendment to that effect before voters. The process is more complicated than it is for a normal piece of legislation because the state Constitution currently requires that a tax on income be applied evenly to all residents, so the so-called Millionaires Tax would be unconstitutional as a standalone law.

Jane Steinmetz, office managing principal of Ernst & Young, said she thinks it is bad tax administration to enshrine a tax rate into the state Constitution. If the Legislature wants to go forward with a graduated income tax, she said, lawmakers should repeal Article 44 of the Constitution and write the surtax provision directly into Chapter 62 of the Mass. General Laws, which deals with the taxation of income.

“When you have a tax change, there are these unintended consequences,” Steinmetz, who was appointed by then-Senate President Therese Murray to a special commission that studied corporate tax issues in 2007, said. “If we etch this in constitutional stone and there’s these unintended consequences, you can’t just amend the Constitution. It could take four years.”

Steinmetz, who did not stake out her own position on the issue, and Stanford University finance professor Joshua Rauh discussed some of the potential consequences of the Massachusetts income surtax Wednesday during a virtual event hosted by Pioneer Institute and the Mass. High Tech Council.

In June 2019, House and Senate members voted 147-48 in favor of the Constitutional amendment (H 86) that would impose a 4 percent surtax on annual household income greater than $1 million.

That amendment must also win at least 101 votes of support among the 200 state legislators at a Constitutional Convention in the current legislative session in order to go before voters on the November 2022 ballot.

Supporters of the surtax say it could generate as much as $2 billion per year for education and transportation in Massachusetts without dipping into the pockets of most residents. But critics have long said it could prompt wealthy residents to move out of the Bay State and encourage employers to steer clear of Massachusetts.

“Maybe people hear this discussion and think, ‘gee, high-income people, these are millionaires, who really cares if they leave or they reduce their income, does it really matter?’ Well, the fact is, it does really matter,” Rauh, a Newton native, said.

A 2012 referendum in California raised the top tax rate for the state’s highest earners, Rauh said, which was followed by “a big spike in departures of high-income people.” Compared to the rate of departures before the initiative passed, he said, the rate of departure doubled following the tax rate hike.

“The other thing we found that had maybe even more of an economic consequence was that for people who stayed in California who were high earners, the income that they were reporting to tax authorities really leveled off compared to the income growth that we saw from taxpayers who were located in other states but who were comparable to these taxpayers who were in California,” Rauh said, citing his own research. “And on balance, what we found was that within a couple of years around 60 percent of the state’s expected windfall revenue gain from this tax increase was actually eroded away by this combination of people leaving and also high-income earners apparently reporting less income to the state.”

A previous Pioneer Institute event looked at how remote working opportunities made popular during the COVID-19 pandemic could encourage people to leave Massachusetts for low-tax states like Florida and New Hampshire, but Steinmetz said Wednesday that the Congressional response to the pandemic and its economic impacts — especially the appetite for federal tax increases among Congressional Democrats and the White House — also bears consideration.

“We’re talking about this 4 percent surtax, but when individuals are thinking about their tax bill, they’re thinking about it in totality. So as these tax proposals move forward at the federal level, the Mass. Legislature has to really watch them and analyze how those potential increases might impact what a surtax could do here in Massachusetts,” she said.

Steinmetz also pointed out that Massachusetts is not exactly hurting for revenue at the moment. Fiscal year 2020 ended about $120 million short — “which is close to breakeven, but it’s still a shortfall,” she said — and fiscal year 2021 “seems to be doing fine,” with the state having collected $1.123 billion more from taxpayers in the first eight months of the budget year than it did the previous year.

On top of that, she said, is a deluge of billions of dollars in federal funding, some of which comes to the state under the restriction that it not be used to directly or indirectly offset a tax cut.

“We’ve gone on this crazy rollercoaster ride through COVID-19 and now we’re coming out of it and there’s largely a reset button being hit,” Steinmetz said. She added, “So it’s a real important decision for the Mass. Legislature to make about do we move now, or do we kind of pump the brakes a little bit and move forward maybe 12 months from now and see how this reset worked itself out because it would be hard to adjust taxes on a go-forward basis. ”

Rep. Jim O’Day, the House sponsor of the amendment, expressed a desire to take the issue up sooner rather than later this session and said he has no reason to believe that the 19 new members of the Legislature this session will significantly alter the support for the measure.

“I’ve not heard anything overwhelming at all from any of my new colleagues other than asking if we were doing the amendment again,” he told the News Service in February. “If anything, the newer members have been interested in being able to sign on to that.”

Senate President Karen Spilka has until May 12 to convene a new Constitutional Convention.

5 Questions Your Mortgage Broker Wants You to Ask

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The home buying process can be lengthy and at times confusing, and you’ll likely be spending a lot of time working closely with your mortgage broker. Because buying a home is one of the most significant financial decisions you’ll ever make, it’s important to make sure that you are informed every step of the way. Here are five questions that your mortgage broker wants you to ask.

Which Type of Loan Should I Get?

Hopefully you’ve spent a little bit of time researching the different types of home loans that are available, but until you know exactly what you qualify for, it’s hard to comparison shop. Your broker will evaluate things like your credit score, buying history, and the region in which you’re interested in purchasing to determine which loans products you’re eligible for.

How Do You Handle Rate Locks?

Rate locks can be a bit of a gamble, and some brokers prefer to play the odds. In some cases, you may ask the broker to lock a certain rate at a certain date, and they may tell you that the rate is locked. Some brokers may secretly delay locking the rate in hopes that rates will drop before your closing date.

If the rates take a dip, the broker can then lock the lower rate. However, if the rates rise, the broker may tell you that something was wrong with the paperwork and that it’s impossible to close your loan before the rate lock expires.

Talk to your broker about how they handle rate locks, and make sure you get a loan commitment letter from the lender to ensure that there are no unwelcome surprises down the road.

What Fees Do I Have to Pay?

The homebuying process comes with numerous hidden fees that go beyond the down payment and closing costs. For example, depending on your credit score and the current interest rates, you may have to pay one-time fees called “points” at closing. For every point you pay, your lender will decrease your interest rate by one percent. This lowers your monthly payment and can significantly reduce what you’ll pay over the life of the loan. Ask your broker if you will be required to pay any additional fees at closing.

Do I Have to Pay for Mortgage Insurance?

Generally speaking, if you are putting a down payment of less than 20 percent, you will be required to pay for mortgage insurance until your loan-to-value ratio falls below 80 percent. Mortgage insurance premiums can be rather expensive; in some places, they may cost up to $100 a month for every $100,000 borrowed. However, not all mortgages require mortgage insurance. For example, USDA and VA loans are two loans that do not require a down payment and do not require that you pay for mortgage insurance. Ask your broker whether you should expect to pay this additional cost.

What Should I Avoid Before Closing?

You’ve found your perfect home, your offer has been accepted, and your loan has been approved; nothing can cause the purchase to fall through, right? Not so fast. Any changes to your spending habits, your credit-to-debt ratio, or your employment could delay closing or even derail it entirely. Talk to your broker about how you can ensure that you are able to close on your home on time.

Throughout your home-buying process, your mortgage broker is one of your best allies. By keeping them in the loop on every decision you make and asking the right questions, you can ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Send us your news!

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We want to hear about the great things happening with our members. Have you hired any new employees? Have you expanded? Has your business celebrated a new milestone or received an award?  Do you have a special event coming up? Have you supported a local community group?

Send us your announcements, news, events and press releases and we will post it in our members news section and share it on our social media. This is one of the many great perks that we offer members. The Chamber has a high-traffic website and strong social media presence. Our social media channels boast over 20,000 total followers and garners an average of 167,365 impressions monthly and over 2 million impressions annually. The Chamber’s multiple websites have become a go-to resource for local stakeholders, business professionals, elected officials, visitors and groups in our region, averaging 10,000 monthly pageviews.

If you want to increase your exposure, send all business news and events to .

North Central Mass Development Corp Provides Financing to Black Hydra Tattoo in Fitchburg

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(North Central, MA) – The North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation (NCMDC) – the economic development arm of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce – recently approved a $35,000 loan to Emily Shortsleeves, Matt Gallagher, and Brad Touchette, owners of Black Hydra Tattoo located at 68 Airport Road in Fitchburg, MA.

Black Hydra Tattoo, a new tattoo and piercing shop, opened in early summer of 2020 in Fitchburg.  Black Hydra Tattoo offers a modern approach, full-service body art destination, providing high-end original artistry.  Emily, Matt and Brad are locally grown artists from the Fitchburg area and each have over 10 years of experience as tattoo artists. The studio has six individual stations for five tattoo artists and one piercer.

The $35,000 loan helped with start-up cost associated with opening the business and created 5 full-time positions.  NewVue Communities assisted the trio with their business plan and projections.  For more information on Black Hydra Tattoo visit them online at https://www.blackhydratattoo.com/.

As a microloan lender, NCMDC can provide loans to small businesses up to $150,000 for working capital, equipment, inventory, expansion and working with our banking partners to provide gap financing for the final piece of a project.

DOR Unilaterally Delays State Tax-Filing Deadline to May 17

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Fuente del artículo: State House News Service

Autor: Colin A. Young

Citing powers it can use when the president declares a disaster, the Department of Revenue on Friday unilaterally moved the Massachusetts tax filing deadline to conform with the postponed federal deadline of May 17. DOR said Massachusetts individual personal income tax returns and payments for the 2020 tax year that would have been due April 15 are now due May 17 under an extension automatically granted. On Thursday, Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ronald Mariano announced that they would effectuate a delay in the filing deadline to May 17 in legislation. That now appears to be a moot point and tax preparers will not have to wait for a bill to be passed and signed to get certainty on the state deadline. “[I]n the case of a Presidentially declared disaster, the Commissioner of Revenue … may disregard a period of up to one year in determining whether certain taxpayer actions were performed timely, including the filing and payment of individual personal income tax returns and taxes,” DOR wrote in a technical information release. “On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States issued an emergency declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in response to the ongoing 2019 novel Coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic, triggering the Commissioner’s authority.” Even after May 17, individual taxpayers will be eligible “for an automatic extension of time to file their personal income tax returns as long as the amount required to be paid for a valid personal income tax extension is paid by May 17,” DOR said. The announcement from Spilka and Mariano that the House and Senate leaders had agreed to insert the tax filing deadline extension into wide-ranging legislation Thursday upset some senators who complained of learning about the addition from the News Service rather than Spilka and about not having enough notice of the change.

State House News Service Weekly Roundup: A Very Important Date

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Fuente del artículo: State House News Service

Author: Matt Murphy

 

MARCH 19, 2021…..Runners won’t be lining up at dawn in Hopkinton, and there will be no crush of spectators on Boylston Street to see the elite racers sprint to the finish.

The Bloody Marys won’t be flowing at local brunch spots, revelers packed elbow-to-elbow, and the city the day after the race won’t be crowded with tourists sporting their newly earned Boston Marathon jackets.

But there will be morning baseball played at Fenway Park on Patriots’ Day this year. And there will certainly be a buzz in the air. Gov. Charlie Baker made sure of both things this week.

The governor on Wednesday – St. Patrick’s Day – announced that by the time the next holiday on the calendar rolls around on April 19 everyone 16 and older will be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine.  Call it a date to set a date. Because of course, you’ll still have to score a coveted appointment.

Buoyed by assurances from the White House that increased vaccine supply is on its way, Baker laid out a timetable this week for everyone not yet eligible to receive a vaccine to become eligible. The news from Washington was so encouraging, apparently, that the governor did a double take.

“I called a number of other governors and said, ‘Did you guys just hear what I heard?’ And I think for the most part many of us are really enthusiastic about where this is going…,” Baker said.

The expansion starts Monday with anyone 60 or older and certain workers, including restaurant, retail and transit workers, able to start booking appointments. Residents 55 or older and those with one qualifying health condition will become eligible April 5 and the general public will become eligible April 19.

Monday is also the day that Massachusetts will advance into Phase 4 of the governor’s reopening plan, meaning large venues like Fenway can open at 12 percent capacity, wedding dances are back on the program and overnight summer camps can start booking reservations.

Baker is also making the state’s travel “order” and “advisory” without fines and giving the fully vaccinated a rhetorical passport to cross state lines (though some states are considering actual passports).

All of this is being made possible by improving infection and hospitalization trend lines that continue to be balanced on the head of a needle as new variants become more dominant, creating great unknowns for epidemiologists.

The state crossed the 1-million-vaccinated threshold this week, and the administration’s goal is 4 million by the summer.

While for most residents their vaccine eligibility date can’t come soon enough, one date people probably don’t mind seeing pushed back is the tax filing deadline. After the Internal Revenue Service postponed by a month the April 15 deadline for the second straight year, the Legislature and administration moved quickly to follow suit for state taxes.

The Senate added the extension to May 17 to an unemployment insurance and tax relief bill that Democratic leaders are attempting to rush through before the end of the month. It was announced in a manner rarely seen over the previous 12 years, but in what is now a regular occurrence — a joint statement from Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka.

This “agreement” appears more likely to hold up than the one pronouncing a deal on “targeted” tax relief for low-income workers. The Senate altered the way the House structured a tax break on unemployment benefits, and removed the House’s proposed $50 million cap, driving the cost of the total bill to $350 million.

Now businesses waiting to learn how much they will owe in unemployment insurance for the first quarter will have to wait to see if the branches can quickly resolve this difference.

All differences appear to have been resolved over major climate legislation that landed back on Gov. Baker’s desk for the third time. This time — after a veto and returning the bill with dozens of amendments — Energy Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said the governor is “very pleased” with many of the amendments adopted, and even okay with some of the elements that seemed make-or-break just a few weeks ago.

Theoharides wouldn’t say for sure that Baker will put his name on the bill, which will commit Massachusetts to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but it sure seems like that’s the case.

A win for all parties on major climate legislation could come at just the right time for Baker, who has seen support for the job he is doing managing the state and the coronavirus pandemic erode since the summer.

A new UMass Amherst/WCVB poll out this week showed the governor with a 52 percent approval rating, down from 78 percent in August and basically on par with the public’s approval of the Legislature, which, no offense to lawmakers, isn’t really where you want to be if you’re thinking about running for a third term.

He’ll also have to try to smooth over some of the frustration city and town leaders are feeling about the state’s plan to fund public education and the Student Opportunity Act. A decline in enrollment recorded last October of roughly 35,000 students led to the formula for state aid delivering less than many school districts were anticipating.

Local officials believe many of those students will be returning in the fall, and fear their budgets could be undersupported by the state to the tune of $120 million.

Superintendents and school committee members raised the issue with House and Senate budget writers at a hearing the same day UMass President Marty Meehan announced he would seek a tuition freeze for the 2021-2022 school year thanks to federal stimulus funding. Elementary and secondary schools are also in line to receive substantial support from the relief bill, which will be the subject of a legislative committee hearing on Beacon Hill in two weeks.

Not that they necessarily want his job, but the state’s Congressional delegation, and especially South Boston’s Rep. Stephen Lynch, were not shy about weighing in on some of the decisions Baker is making, especially after they delivered on billions in relief through the “American Rescue Plan.”

Lynch was particularly fired up about cuts in service and staff at the MBTA and commuter rail, and on Friday the T backtracked on plans to furlough 40 workers and promised Lynch no layoffs.

Thomas McGee didn’t need to get laid off, He announced he’s giving up his job voluntarily, and adding another “former” to his biography in the process. The former senator and former Democratic Party chairman will now be the former mayor of Lynn at the end of the year because he’s not running for reelection.

He’s one of a number of mayors to give up their seats this cycle, but so far it hasn’t sparked the stampede of legislators seen in past years eager to trade the State House for City Hall.

February Massachusetts Home Sales Hit 17-Year High

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Fuente del artículo: State House News Service

Author: Michael P. Norton

[DOR Division of Local Services]

Single-family home sales last month sold at a pace not seen for 17 years in Massachusetts and the median sale price has now sat above $400,000 for a year.

The Warren Group on Thursday released its latest market snapshot and reported that sales in February were up nearly 13 percent over February 2020, the last month not marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 3,026 homes sold last month were the most for any February since 2004.

Sales last month surged in particular in the Cape Cod communities of Barnstable County, where 293 homes were sold, up 55 percent from the 188 home sales recorded in February 2020.

Massachusetts home prices have been going one way — up — and that also continued in a big way last month. The median sale price for a single-family home surged 17 percent on a year-over-year basis to a record $445,000, up from $380,000 in February 2020.

Property tax bills for single-family homes in Massachusetts are going up too, but not at the same rates since increases in those bills are limited by law.

[DOR Division of Local Services]

The median single-family tax bill for fiscal 2021 is $5,537, an increase of $175, or 3.3 percent from fiscal 2020, the Department of Revenue reported this month. A cluster of communities mostly west of Boston feature average tax bills of more than $10,000 per year.

Basing its conclusions on data submitted by 322 of the state’s 351 cities and towns, the DOR’s Division of Local Services also reported the average value of a single-family home in Massachusetts is $468,034, an increase of $14,866, or 3.3 percent from fiscal 2020.

The combination of high demand and low inventory has been a constant in the Massachusetts market, leaving sellers in a strong place but requiring buyers to compete with each other, driving up sales, and prices. On the inventory side, government officials are working to implement a new housing production law.

“Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer, a retiree looking to downsize, or looking to your ‘forever’ home, good luck, because the competition is fierce, and prices reflect that,” Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement accompanying the latest data.

The arrival of COVID-19 last March caused a temporary setback in sales, but the market has roared back. Compared to the pre-pandemic months of January and February 2020, year-to-date home sales in 2021 are up 10.7 percent and the year-to-date median home sale price is up more than 15 percent.

Condo sales have not been as brisk but Warren said “we could be in for a surprise in the coming months.”

“With stage four of Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening plan scheduled for March 22, the Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins starting to allow fans back into games, and almost a million people vaccinated against COVID-19, a return to normalcy in major metro areas is on the horizon, which will make condos much more appealing to buyers again,” Warren said.

Year-to-date, there have been 3,161 condo sales, an 8.1 percent increase from the first two months of 2020 with a median sale price of $410,000, a 2.5 percent increase. Condo sales in February were up 3.9 percent over February 2020 and the median condo sale price of $419,000 was a record for that month.

Details: Town Sales | County Sales