Select Board member Elizabeth Dionne has announced her intention to run for state treasurer next fall.
In late November, Dionne announced she would not seek re-election to the Select Board, serving out her term until the town election. Earlier this week, she announced her plans to enter the state treasurer race, focused on accountability, transparency and more efficient government.
“I have had enough of the corruption, cronyism and chaos happening in the treasurer’s office. It’s time for a change,” Dionne wrote in a Dec. 9 press release.
Although Dionne has always had an interest in higher office, it wasn’t necessarily in her plans to run for a state office this year. In fact, she had intended to run for another term on the Select Board, she said in an interview with The Voice. Instead, she was tapped by the Massachusetts GOP to challenge Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, a Democrat from Brookline. Goldberg has held the post since 2015.
In her bid for a seat on the Select Board, Dionne focused her campaign on economic development aimed at easing the tax burden on residential property owners. For as much as the town has managed to accomplish in recent years, from zoning changes to restructuring municipal departments and cutting budgets to the gone, “none of this is enough,” she said. And Belmont, she acknowledged, is faring better than most communities.
“There is a tsunami that is going to hit every city and town in Massachusetts,” Dionne said.
The state treasurer is responsible for the state’s cash and debt management and unclaimed property. That person also chairs the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, the State Board of Retirement, the State Lottery Commission, and the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust.
Referencing a recent report from the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Dionne said while municipalities continue to reduce spending, funding for Unrestricted General Government Aid— the state’s primary source of local aid for municipal services—is 25% lower than it was in 2002, when adjusted for inflation.
“We don’t have a revenue problem in Massachusetts, but we do have a spending problem at the state level,” she said. “There absolutely is one or two billion dollars to return to cities and towns … for safety, education, sidewalks and roads. I don’t see a voice at the state level advocating for that.””
According to Dionne, moving away from Proposition 2 ½ is not the answer, despite a movement to do so.
“We’ve all had the same experience going around talking to voters and having to hear stories…of having to choose between basic needs and property taxes,” she said. “Increasing local property taxes is not the answer.”
Dionne said she has a busy campaign schedule ahead, with a goal of visiting as many, if not all, cities and towns in Massachusetts. She’s hired Timothy Datwyler of AXIOM, a national campaign finance consultant, to serve as her campaign treasurer. She described him as the perfect mix of professional expertise and “a price that made sense.”
“It has been a privilege to serve on the Select Board,” she said. “Each of the colleagues I’ve worked with has been remarkable and I look forward to serving on the select board … through April, but also to continue to serve Belmont in any way that I can after that.”
