Governor Deval Patrick's Budget Recommendation - House 2 Fiscal Year 2013

Governor's Budget Recommendation FY 2013

Search for line item

Go

Introduction


Serving as a blueprint for the activities and obligations of the year, the state budget reflects the Commonwealth’s collective judgment about state government’s role in our society, obligations to serve its people and strategic investments to secure its future prosperity.  Each line item represents a critical service, program or responsibility that the state will perform or provide to families and individuals throughout FY 2013.

The Patrick-Murray Administration’s FY 2013 budget is a balanced, responsible budget that reflects the continuing financial challenges confronting the Commonwealth since the start of the economic recession in 2008. Having already tackled several challenging budget years since the beginning of the fiscal crisis, the Administration is once again submitting a thoughtfully balanced and responsible FY 2013 budget proposal.

Despite continued improvement in revenue growth in FY 2013, the state’s revenue is not keeping pace with the rate of growth for costs in core services such as health care, safety net programs, education, public safety and transportation without difficult cuts.  The Administration’s budget once again reflects difficult choices and fundamentally changes the way we do business across an array of government programs, services and operations. This budget relies on a responsible amount of one-time resources and a modest amount of new revenue, which will assist in preserving crucial state services while maintaining our nationally-recognized fiscal standing.

In addition, the FY 2013 budget invests in core areas of state government: funding for public education to help close the achievement gap, controlling growth in health care costs in order to preserve our nation-leading access to affordable health insurance, job creation and addressing youth and urban violence. The Patrick-Murray Administration is committed to protecting these investments and making difficult choices today that will allow us to uphold our responsibilities to future generations and position us for growth in the future.

The following sections describe the particular challenges facing the state in developing the FY 2013 budget and highlights the measures proposed to bring fundamental change and innovation to the way the state does business. Graphs and tables have been provided to help illustrate many of the trends and factors affecting the state budget. Also included within this document is a user guide and glossary to assist in navigating this budget document.


top of page link top of page