ANNOUNCEMENT: "Mass Priorities” Launched
News Release: “Mass Priorities” Launches to Ensure Massachusetts Municipalities Invest in Community Essentials Over Risky, Capital-Intensive Projects
--Insists State and Local Governments Prioritize Community Needs Before Unneeded, High-Risk Projects
BOSTON – October 2, 2023 –Today, Mass Priorities Policy Director Christopher Thrasher announced the launch of Mass Priorities, a coalition of concerned Massachusetts residents advocating for smart, responsible use of taxpayer dollars by local elected officials.
“Mass Priorities is a campaign to prevent the misuse of taxpayer money across Massachusetts,” Thrasher said. “We will be working across the commonwealth’s 351 municipalities to educate residents about projects in their communities that would drain municipal budgets without providing real value to communities. Mass Priorities is committed to working with policymakers and local governments to prioritize government spending on real community necessities like fixing our roads and bridges, funding schools and public safety, and upgrading our wastewater management.”
Thrasher continued, “Our campaign is about security and priorities. It's shocking that in some towns, local officials are discussing spending more than entire annual budgets for schools, public safety, veterans, senior services, and town facilities — all on pet projects that residents do not want or need.
“In Northampton, officials for years have pushed a fanciful ‘Picture Main Street’ redesign that would cost the city more than $20 million despite well-founded concerns from the residents and small businesses that will be impacted. This is all happening while Northampton public schools had to tap into emergency funds to fill a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.
“That story echoes across Massachusetts. In Falmouth, officials have proposed spending upwards of $55 million on a risky, unneeded government-owned broadband network; that is more than the entire annual budget for Falmouth schools, 160 times greater than what has been allocated for veterans’ benefits and 95 times more than what is earmarked for senior services.”
“The bottom line,” Thrasher said, “is that we need our elected officials to prioritize critical infrastructure needs like bridges and water-treatment facilities, instead of taking on unneeded, unwanted, and unreliable pet projects like government-owned broadband or unwanted street redesigns.”
Mass Priorities will begin an expansive multi-channel advertising and awareness initiative this week to draw attention to risky projects in communities across the state and urge responsible governance.