Every tax is a pay cut.  Every tax cut is a pay raise.
Citizens for Limited Taxation

Cambridge penny-pinched while others spent in '90s
The Boston Herald Saturday, January 18, 2003
While Boston burned through cash in the go-go '90s, neighboring Cambridge kept a tight rein on spending, state records show.

From fiscal 1994 to fiscal 2002 Cambridge's budget grew just 2.8 percent from $347 million to $356 million, state Department of Revenue figures show.

"We know that the economy is cyclical," said Cambridge City Manager Robert W. Healy. "We tried to keep expenditures down.  We tried to build reserves." ...

The Herald reported yesterday that Boston's budget grew $600 million from 1994 to 2002 - a hefty 50 percent driven by adding 1,900 employees to the payroll....

The flush 1990s were a great time to be a mayor, said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.  Local aid hikes and property tax limits gave city leaders ability to spend without raising taxes, he said....

"The mayors have had the best of all worlds," Widmer said.  "Suddenly, the rug gets pulled out. That's why there's such an hysterical reaction."

In the same time frame of 1994 thru 2002, while Cambridge's budget went up by less than 3%, the town of Framingham's budget went from $89.851 million to $149.032 million.  This represents a 65% jump. Imagine that.

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