Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick unveiled a $36.4 billion state budget proposal today — an increase of $2 billion over last year.
Patrick gave his spending plan measured praise.
"I’m proud of this budget," he said. "It’s a good budget."
It doesn’t contain the type of ambitious proposals Patrick pushed for last year.
“I don’t think we can come back year after year asking for significant tax increases," Patrick said. "So what we have is what we have for the next little while."
Patrick's budget plan would increase funding for education by about $200 million and would give an extra $140 million to the MBTA and Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
The proposal would not increase local aid for cities and towns. But Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer says legislators are unlikely to go along with that.
“It’s an election year," he said. "I think you’ll see a little boost in municipal local aid."
The governor also wants to expand the bottle deposit bill and apply the sales tax to candy and soda — proposals that have been shot down by the legislature year after year.
