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 The President's Desk
James Machado,
MPA President
Sergeant – Fall River Police Department
Meeting with Attorney General
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley
with MPA President James Machado
The Work Continues
Current language regarding details takes into consideration collective bargaining agreements and well as local regulations. ( Take note, if you do not have it written in either , it might be a good idea to get it in). This will be sent to the House next week for their consideration. I would like to thank Vice President Ken Scanzio, E-Board member Tim King and legislative committee Chairman Jim Guido for covering the hill this week.
It would have been easier for me to have a physical presence rather than using e-mail james.machado@masspolice.com and a cell phone. I am available as always via cell 508 208-6001 or e- mail. Stay tuned for updates next week
Details... In the Crosshairs
I have been accused of acting like "Chicken Little" always worried that the sky is falling. Well just maybe it has begun.
Governor Patrick joined Senate President Murray and Speaker DiMasi to released a transportation initiative piece which would allow for flagmen at certain construction sites across the Commonwealth. The fact that they could be united in this endeavor is frightening.Recently via the Sentinel magazine, I warned that the topic was simmering and something would happen. Fresh off a defeat of unions on the casino bill, the timing seemed perfect. My fear is like the snowball rolling downhill, other anti police initiatives will gain support.
The only good that has come so far is the education of the media which has finally realized there is no law mandating police on details. It has been our position and quite frankly should be all our positions that details are a local issue and should be regulated and negotiated accordingly. I would advise you to contact your local legislator and advance that position. It is a reasonable solution to some of their concerns.
The web page will be updated with all the latest information
Crunch Time -- March 15, 2008
As I prepare this report today (3/15), I can't help but feel the clock is now ticking against us. With the formal session due to expire at the end of July and budget debates yet to begin, there may not be much time to get things done.
casino gambling In the next week, casino gambling will take center stage. From my perspective, it seems dead on arrival. Although all admit the need for new revenues, they can find no consensus. More importantly, this is a fight between the Governor Patrick and Speaker DiMasi. If you follow the legislature at all, you realize the relationship has been tepid at best.
budgets On that note, Governor Patrick has released his budget. Overall we are very pleased. First and foremost, the Quinn Bill was level funded at $50,202,122. Level funding would normally be a concern but we are confident that any shortfall will be met in a supplemental budget as was promised this past year. Police training was funded at $4,658,066 and Joint Labor Mngmt $573,279. There are increases in Shannon grants to fight gang violence. You may remember last year, Governor Patrick failed to funded this initiative. After lobbying from the MPA and others returned the $11,000,000 from the previous year. We must have impressed him because in this budget he has increased the funding to $15,000,000. This was not the only increase directed at public safety. Patrick also added an additional 4 million to the Municipal Police Grant for a total of 8 million to allow the hiring of new police.
The negative of this is that it only covers year one. Some communities have been relucta nt to take advantage of this program knowing that they may not be able to fund the positions in the future. We still feel this a gain for those that have the ability to increase staffing.The only decrease was in Community Policing. This program was funded at $19,173,086. This is a decrease of about 2 million dollars. In speaking to members of the legislature there is concern that this is a major cut to smaller communities. This argument was made last year in the House. It resulted on funding being restored. We watch carefully as this plays out.
The House will release their version of the budget in mid April with debate taking place on the last week of that month. The Senate should begin their deliberation some time in may with a conference committee made up of members from both chambers working out the final document. We are hopeful that the process will be completed for the new fiscal year. This hectic schedule is the reason for our concern.
Going back to our last report concerning details. There was rumor of a proposal coming out of the transportation committee in February. To this point, we have not seen anything concrete. Knowing the importance of this issue, we have asked the chairs of the committee to be included in any discussions.
compensation Any day, we expect the release of a bill covering regular compensation. As discussed earlier these are the items which are used to calculate your pension. We are involved in talks to be sure that education incentives and clothing allowance remain as part of the calculation. We think we will be successful. On the topic of clothing allowance, we have recently been informed that some retirement systems have not been including clothing as part of regular compensation. You should check with your individual board to be sure that it is included. This can result in an increase ( in some cases $100+) in your monthly pension.
retiree benefits On the topic of retiree benefits, we remind all those retiree that pay taxes to take advantage of the $3000 deduction for healthcare premiums. Check the web page for documents that can be used to take advantage of this benefit.
We continue to work to change the 2% payment on earnings over $30,000. In a perfect world , we would do away with the payment entirely but we have proposed an increase of the figure from the current $30,000 or an indexing the amount. This would result in a savings of $400-$600.
Just yesterday, we were in talks to move H4341 which deals with public earnings after retirement. The bill currently sits in third reading but we are hopeful that by your reading of this it will be on it's way to the Senate. You mat remember we were able to navigate this bill in an informal session ( from August to year end). We don't want to try that again as any object kills the bill immediately.
As always consult our new updated web page for the latest info
Enjoy the warm weather
Fraternally
Jim Machado Jim Guido
contact info:
james.machado@masspolice.com
or sabada2959@aol.com
Office – 1-800-4450911 Cell – 1-508-208-6001
committees:
- MPA President
- Sentinel – Legislative
biography:
Work at Fall River Police Department nights
February Update
As promised work continues on a new and improved web page.
eMail
We hope to have completed the board member contacts and e- mails in early March. Please excuse any hiccups as we work out the bugs. As always there's good old Verizon.
Please call the office 617 720-3477 or my cell 508 208-6001 for immediate attention.
articles
I am encouraging all members to submit articles of interest for possible use on the site. I have visions of having an arbitration corner with rulings from police departments throughout the state. I think this would be very informative. In most cases the problem you solve in your department today will be the problem of another department next week.
stickers and cards
I have received many calls regarding problems with stickers and cards for retired members. I ask local secretaries to be as accommodating as possible. Remember, we'll all be there some day. These folks still take pride in being part of the brotherhood. Should you need more stickers or cards please contact the office or secretary Tim McCusker at timothy.mccusker@masspolice.com
I look forward to hearing from you with any thoughts or suggestions.
Fraternally,
Jim Machado
Problems?
My office 617 720-3477 or my cell 508 208-6001.
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