LowellDeeds

Governor Romney gave his State of the State address last night. Mostly he talked about education issues, but he also mentioned closing the $1 billion deficit by eliminating more waste in government but without raising taxes. However they choose to deal with the deficit, this office really can't afford any more cuts. Our budget has been level funded at $1.3 million for the past four years. Since our costs certainly haven't stayed constant or decreased during that time, "level funding" really constitutes a significant cut. It's not like the registry is a financial drain on the state: last year alone Middlesex North collected nearly $27 million in fees, thanks to the refinancing boom and to the big hike in filing fees back in March. Another reason for watching the governor last night was in case he said anything about the weather. Yesterday afternoon, as news spread that hundreds of schools had cancelled classes for today due to the cold, the registry was abuzz with the rumor that the governor would declare a state of emergency. But, since the registry falls under the Secretary of State, it's up to William Galvin to close registries, so a gubernatorially declared state of emergency really wouldn't effect us. We are open today, despite the minus-14 degree temperature and significant wind chill.