Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced a hiring freeze this week just months after giving cabinet members a raise and a hiring spree that created new positions and filled vacancies left by the previous administration.
The Democratic governor is now taking heat from the state Republican Party and a nonprofit organization that advocates for transparency and fiscal responsibility.
“Gov. Maura Healey spent the last year and a half, completely unrestrained in her hiring spree, with the taxpayers footing the bill. Like a child taking their parent’s credit card to the mall for the first time, Gov. Healey hired every position imaginable, created new positions, and then let overtime costs go completely unchecked,” Paul D. Craney, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, said in prepared remarks.
Mr. Craney said Ms. Healey not only filled positions left vacant by her predecessor, but created new positions such as Climate Chief and Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities among others. All the positions pay six-figure salaries.
“Now the governor wants a pat on the back for showing the faintest hint of fiscal responsibility after figuratively maxing out the taxpayer’s credit cards,“ said Mr. Craney. ”The public shouldn’t buy into this false sense of restraint. The governor has been completely reckless with the taxpayer’s money.”
Ms. Healey’s hiring freeze comes months after she gave cabinet members a $15,000 raise, with state Republicans calling out the governor for what they see as hypocrisy.
“Months ago, Governor Healey granted members of her cabinet a raise of approximately $15,000. These raises were substantial to start with, but when considering that some salaries were already at $181,750 before the raise, and now stand at $196,550, it becomes even more absurd,” MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale said in a prepared statement.
Mrs. Carnevale said that when businesses are in trouble, “Democrats love nothing more than to bash high-paid executives.”
MassGOP is calling for the raises to be returned to taxpayers.
Massachusetts has been experiencing a revenue slump, and the governor’s hiring freeze was announced as the Department of Revenue was unsure if the state would have a revenue shortfall for the remaining few months of this fiscal year.
The self-declared “sanctuary state” has experienced a ballooning budget due to its spending on illegal immigrants. The Boston Globe reported that $395 million was spent last year on sheltering illegal immigrants as of Feb. 22, with $8 million spent on support and $21 million spent on intake sites and a Cambridge shelter improvement.
The state’s new budget shows it expects to spend $932 million this fiscal year for illegal immigrants.
The state’s fiscal woes could also be connected to the mass exodus of residents, which is at its highest in 20 years. According to the most recent United Van Lines Survey, Massachusetts was cited as one of the top states for outbound migration, coming in seventh. Last year, of those leaving the state, 57.8 percent earned $150,000 or more.
It’s been questioned in local media reports if the outward migration is in part due to the governor signing into law a “millionaire’s tax,” which imposed a 4 percent surtax on those earning $1 million or more. That tax went into effect in 2023 and increases annually for inflation.
“The millionaires’ tax was merely a ploy to siphon money from homeowners and small business owners, channeling it into the coffers of politicians on Beacon Hill and their union allies who backed Question 1,” Mrs. Carnevale told The Epoch Times.
“Home and business owners rely on their most valuable asset to secure their retirement, while young families seek refuge from the mismanagement plaguing our cities, aiming to settle in suburban homes. The millionaires’ tax only exacerbated both situations, driving up costs,” she added.
Mrs. Carnevale said when an additional tax to homes valued at $1 million is added, it is devaluing the home. Middle class residents purchase a property and then fix it up, intending to make a profit one day, and that helps people move up in society and also retire, she said.
“Democrats are essentially saying ‘To make housing more affordable, we need to make it more costly for existing homeowners.’ It’s outrageous.”
Still another tax may be on the table as Ms. Healey is pushing to get her Housing Affordability Bond Act passed, which she indicated would help the housing crisis in Massachusetts.
If signed into law, the act would allow local municipalities or regional housing commissions to levy a real estate transfer tax on the seller, between .5 and 2 percent on the purchase price of a property of $1 million.
“Gov. Healey is proposing a plan that would raise a tax on home sales to fund affordable housing. If that doesn’t make any sense to you, you are not alone,” Mr. Craney told The Epoch Times. “This is nothing more than a scheme to raise taxes on homes that are over $1 million. For a lot of people, their home appreciation value is their nest egg and Gov. Healey is trying to mug the taxpayer at every step of the way.”
Ms. Healey’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
