An increase in the meals tax may not be a matter of local option after all.
Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini said Monday night that the Patrick administration’s new strategy may be to impose a statewide tax increase to fund local services.
Speaking at a candidates’ forum sponsored by Team Haverhill, the local chapter of the League of Women Voters and the Eagle-Tribune, Fiorentini said he’d had a chance to talk with the governor at last week’s reopening of the Comeau Bridge. (He also mentioned a couple of times the fact he’s been tabbed by Lt. Gov. Tim Murray to lead a coalition of municipal executives from Massachusetts and Rhode Island dealing with brownfield issues.)
The question to Fiorentini was whether he would move to take advantage of a plan, not yet approved by the Legislature, to allow cities and towns to add a cent or two to the meals tax as a means of raising new revenue. The mayor responded it may be a moot point, since the strategy now, as he understood it from the governor, is to go for a statewide increase with the additional revenue dedicated for local aid.
