From the Corner Office

State Treasurer Timothy Cahill

Massachusetts State Treasurer Timothy Cahill was the featured speaker at Thursday’s Greater Boston Chamber Government Affairs Forum. Treasurer Cahill focused his remarks on the state’s economic indicators and the need for caution with state spending and borrowing. 

1 On the Massachusetts economy:
“Our economy and the way we are addressing the challenging issues before us are solid, and we are taking extra caution and care with every single tax dollar that is entrusted to us. We are taking care of today’s needs, tomorrow’s needs, and those needs that will come after us, because it does matter.”

2 On state spending:
“As much as we need to fix bridges, we also need to fix the roads that lead to those bridges, we need to fix school buildings and other capital projects, we need to make investments in public higher education — and I am all for that, but we need to do it in a fiscally responsible way.”

3 On state transportation:
“For those of you who lived through the Big Dig, you realize that if you don’t put constraints on capital, if you don’t put restraints on borrowing for projects, a $2 billion project can easily become a $15 billion project. So what we wanted to do was not only structure the debt wisely, but also cap it.”

4 On public pensions:
“Regardless of what you read about public pensions, in Massachusetts we are doing a very, very good job of making sure we have the assets to meet future liabilities. We’ve doubled the size of the fund over the past five years. We’re beating the market by 300, 400 or 500 basis points, and we’re beating our peers as well.”

5 On casino gambling:
“This may be the most challenging and difficult debate we will have, but if you do it right, if you put these in the right places, if you have the right management team, and if the state benefits in the right way financially, it can be an addition, and can be seen as a positive instead of a negative.”

Coming up at the Chamber
Massachusetts State Senate President Therese Murray will be at the Hyatt Regency Boston on June 12. For more information or to register for these events, visit bostonchamber.com.