Local Option Taxes

There are a couple of stories in this week's Fitchburg Pride about Gov. Deval Patrick's "Municipal Partnership Act," and most notably the 2 percent meals tax proposal. One of the stories, by Karen Mann, talks to local officials about their feelings on the proposal (by the way, it's the first story we've seen with local Fitchburg reaction. Not bad for followers, hey "Constable").

The other is a piece I wrote looking at the likely minor -- if any -- impact Patrick's plan would have on our property taxes in Fitchburg.

If you haven't already, take a gander at both. If you haven't, just consider that Fitchburg is desperate for money, but officials are cool to adding a meals tax. Politics? Maybe, certainly possibly in an election year, but there are few communities in tighter fiscal straights than Fitchburg, and they officials aren't even giving the "it's something to seriously consider" should be a sign of the viability of Patrick's idea.

Patrick, of course, gets another chance to talk municipal funding improvements and property tax relief when he unveils his budget this week (his budget message -- a mini state of the state, perhaps -- hits NECN live Tuesday at 7 p.m. Other local stations may follow).

As we discussed on "Politically Speaking" this week, part of the drapes/Caddy/wife's chief of staff mayhem was based on the fact that Team Patrick, has been pretty quiet in its first two months. When asked about it -- like in a Globe story a few weeks ago -- Team Patrick says it's very focused on the budget. Well, the results of that hard work hit the light of day this week. It will be very interesting to see what that work has wrought.