We're not ready to say "New New Appalachia," but fill out those census forms today, kids, because Massachusetts is falling apart!

News in the Globe today reveals a brand-new $295 million hole in the Massachusetts budget that's going to need to be filled with further reductions to the state's already ravaged services. The gap was attributed to the unexpected costs of MassHealth, the joint federal-state health care program for the poor. (When in doubt, blame the poor.)

Some budget officials say that the gap could be as "small" as $195 million, but the reality is that we're due some mid-fiscal year budget cuts. Governor Deval Patrick cut the budget four times last year to manage declining revenues, which means that many programs are already severely underfunded. Further cuts aren't just going to sting; they are going to burn.

Couple that with news that 500 bridges across the state still require repairs to fix structural deficiencies, and it's not a jolly Friday. (Counterpoint: The Mass DOT ran a blog post about the "Patrick-Murray Administration's unprecedented $3 billion, eight-year Accelerated Bridge Program to reduce the Commonwealth's backlog of structurally-deficient bridges." It features the above photo of Patrick in a hard hat.) The bad news gets worse: The state estimates that it will have 700 structurally deficient by 2016.

High taxes, low services, and crumbling infrastructure? Give us 300 more days of sunshine, and we might as well be in California! Fill out those census forms like the T tells you to, kiddos, because it might not be long until nobody lives here.

Filed in News and tagged bridges, Deval Patrick, holes, Mass budget apocalypse, Mass DOT

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