Together We Can... Wait

While nothing is certain until he rolls out some legislation that reflects a major policy decision or his budget, the early line on Gov. Deval Patrick's campaign pledge to help out cities and towns is somewhat empty.

Patrick sold the state a campaign of hope, and hope is about all municipalities have as they watch the news roll out of the State House.

Speaker Sal DiMasi said this week state revenues will be up only marginally. Other corners of the State House are delivering the same message of tight fiscal times. Patrick is ordering department heads to cut 5 to 10 percent out of their budgets. As Patrick tries to move some of his campaign priorities into action, can he lop off two or three or four smaller items, or concentrate on the large-ticket item of municipal relief?

Patrick's biggest move on municipal funding so far has been to throw out the idea of local-option taxes, which would allow communities to create a meal tax and other taxes. If your Fitchburg, struggling to keep up in general in the region, how is a meal tax a viable option? If Fitchburg instituted a meal tax, and Leominster didn't, doesn't that put Fitchburg at a great disadvantage? If Leominster did it, wouldn't Fitchburg gain the upper hand by not? What's the right answer here?

Throughout the campaign, the most strident Patrick opponents said he was saying "yes" to everyone, and he would never be able to pay the bill. Patrick often talked about property tax relief and help for cities and towns -- two items that come with enormous price tags.

Maybe Patrick has a plan. Maybe those department cuts are going to be targeted to property tax relief and local government. Maybe Patrick underestimated just what he was promising, and he is realizing he oversold his reforms. Maybe we just don't know yet. But we're going to find out a lot about Deval Patrick and his adminstration in the next four or five months, and how he handles ignoring some of his campaign pledges -- and there's no way he won't -- will be an indication of the next four years and how much help Fitchburg can rely on from the state. Mayor Dan Mylott, a Republican, was critical of the Romney administration for the last four years. Lord knows what will happen with a Democrat in office.

UPDATE: The Globe's Scot Lehigh says some similar stuff today. Probably should have read that first.