All eyes are turning to Governor-elect Deval Patrick in the coming weeks as he not only prepares to host a number of inaugural events across the state—Springfield’s is set for a 6:30 pm speech at Symphony Hall on Saturday, January 6, followed by an 8:00 pm $20 per person celebration across Court Square at the MassMutual Center—but also as he weighs whether to extend the Springfield Finance Control Board, currently set to expire on June 30, 2007. (See Amherst-based blogger Tom Devine’s post from yesterday for his take on how the board is doing.)
Other matters on the table include the interest-free $52 million loan the state gave Springfield around the inception of the board, as well as the labyrinthine matter of state-granted Additional Assistance, which a September Urban Land Institute visiting panel told the city and its state representatives was out of proportion in comparison to that of other Massachusetts cities and towns. Some have advocated that the state might consider forgiving the loan, as well as increase Additional Assistance. Also pressing is the question of the membership of the control board and its staff, if indeed it remains intact.
Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan is hopeful that the governor-elect might opt to extend the control board’s tenure. No private conversation on the matter has yet taken place, Ryan said Monday, but Patrick’s brief speech at last week’s final working group meeting at Springfield’s Basketball Hall of Fame offered what Ryan took as promising words, signaling an intent to let the board continue its work for a while longer.
Patrick’s talk, at the outset, put emphasis on the genuine effectiveness of the 60-odd working group meetings across the state. Then he mentioned the economy. "Above all, we must have jobs," he said. "We must have opportunities for work—and not piece work; careers, a future. Benefits. The opportunity to save for retirement. I’ve been an advocate of what Paul Tsongas used to say: ‘No goose, no golden egg.’"
The governor-elect continued, and this is surely where the mayor’s ears perked up, "Fair, balanced, equitable, private job opportunities: that is going to be the secret to the future of Springfield, and its emergence from its cooperation—I hope cooperation—with the Finance Control Board."
"We can’t be hostile to the importance of growing the private economy," Patrick said. "The job of government, it seems to me, and my job, is to appreciate that there’s more than one bottom line. There’s a profit bottom line; we get that. But there are human, and community, and environmental bottom lines, and they count too. And it’s the job of government to [balance them]." (Fervent applause at the end of his talk made it hard to understand those last two words.)
Early this month, State Senator Stephen Buoniconti sat for an interview with host Jim Madigan on WGBY‘s "The State We’re In." The two spent a significant time talking about Springfield. (The episode was bumped off the show’s podcast list, but if you want to see it, contact the station for a link.)
"Governor[-elect] Patrick has the opportunity, if he wants, to immediately change those three [state] appointees on that five-member [control] board," Madigan said. "Would you encourage him? They’re good people serving, and they’ve done a good job for Springfield, it would appear, but should we have new people?" Madigan pointed out that Springfield City Council President Jose Tosado, of Latino heritage, is currently on the board, and then added, regarding potential new appointees, "Perhaps if they’re not of western Mass, at least should we have someone who looks more like the city of Springfield, someone of color?"
Buoniconti replied, "Yes. But before you get to that, I think there’s a step that has to be taken first, by the governor and with the legislature. The governor can disband them; the governor can extend them for a year; but their term is up in six months, roughly. Any extension has to be talked about with the [state] delegation. The real issue first, and the governor has to get his hands around it, is do we still need the control board or not."
"I think he has to weigh in and come to an opinion about that," Buoniconti continued. "If there is an opinion to keep the control board on for a while, I do think the governor should have the option of putting on people that he thinks are up to the task as well. I’m sure there’s a lot of very capable Democrats. We’d like to see somebody more from a local area. And I do think that there should be a push to have somebody either from a Latino or an African American [background] on the board. There’s a lot of people who feel disenfranchised by the control board. And the only way you can really try to encourage that is to get people who look like the city of Springfield, [which is] a large minority community now."
Madigan asked, "Do you have any feeling at all on whether the recommendation will be: keep, or let Springfield go on its own at this point?"
"There’s a sense that it should be around for a little bit longer. But how much is a little bit longer?" Buoniconti said. "Buried in all this, the million dollar question, isn’t just about balancing the budget for one year. That $52 million zero-interest loan that we provided from the state—they’ve taken roughly half that money out, and so how can they repay that money? We’re going to see what we can do to help the city get on its own feet and start anew. Which would be a huge delegation success."
"First and foremost, can they start afresh? Can the city go on?" Buoniconti asked rhetorically. "I think there’s so many people with different opinions about that, wrapped with emotions and with numbers, and you can always manipulate numbers; we haven’t gotten a firm idea yet. Which means to me that we need to have a strong talk from now through the first of year, and through the first months of the year, to see what is the city’s status right now."
Buoniconti said the state delegation is working on ways to explore forgiving either all or part of the $52 million loan "to give the city a firm chance to start anew." The problem, he said, is that the loan itself was kind of a big deal; forgiveness of the loan could set an uncomfortable precedent for other cities and towns. Be that as it may, Buoniconti said he doesn’t care about precedents. He cares about Springfield "and getting it in the best shape that it can be." The control board’s ongoing success will be a major factor in any possibility to forgive the loan, Buoniconti indicated.
"The concern at the state level is if we forgive the debt, next thing you know, we’re wondering if the city’s going to go back down the wrong path, and they’re going to be back knocking at the state’s door for additional money, or for another control board in five to ten years," Buoniconti said. "We have to be able to make it plain that the city is going to be on decent, solid footing."
Buoniconti said, "The mayor, at some point, whoever that is, is going to have to step up and say that we can actually stand on our own two feet. Before you get that, it makes [loan forgiveness or increased Additional Assistance] a hard pitch. People in Boston are wondering, they want us in, they don’t want us in? We’re hearing from a lot of people that they want to disband the control board. We’re hearing from the mayor that he wants to keep the control board. They don’t know—that mixed message, right now, is causing a lot of confusion about what to do with it."
