Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee released a fiscal 2012 budget recommendation today with roughly the same $30.5 billion level of total spending that was recommended by the governor in January and passed by the House last month.
The budget plan would fund the Unrestricted General Government Aid, Chapter 70, PILOT, and Regional School Transportation accounts at the same level proposed by the governor and approved by the House. (The amounts are also in line with the local aid resolution approved by the Senate on April 14.)
Unrestricted General Government Aid would be cut by $65 million (7 percent) to $834 million, but the state appropriation for Chapter 70 school aid would increase by $140 million, to $3.99 billion.
The proposed cut to Unrestricted General Government Aid (formerly Lottery and Additional Assistance) would mark the fourth year of cuts and result in a total loss of $481 million (about 37 percent) since fiscal 2008.
The Senate budget bill would level-fund the Cherry Sheet Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes Account at $25 million and the Regional School Transportation account at $40.5 million.
Funding for the Police Career Incentive Pay Program would be $2.5 million.
The budget bill includes a small reduction ($1.7 million) to the Charter School Reimbursement Account compared to the House level.
The most significant difference from the budgets proposed by the governor and the House is that the Senate plan would provide $30 million less for the Special Education Circuit Breaker program, making this a municipal priority during the Senate budget debate and conference committee deliberations.
Senators are in the process of filing amendments to the budget, which must be submitted by noon on Friday, May 20, with budget debate commencing on Wednesday, May 25. The Senate is scheduled to finish its budget deliberations by Friday, May 27.
On its website, the Division of Local Services has posted updated preliminary Cherry Sheets for individual cities, towns and regional school districts based on the Senate Ways & Means Committee’s fiscal 2012 state budget proposal.
Except for restoring $2.5 million in funding for the Police Career Incentive Pay Program, and reducing proposed appropriations for charter school reimbursements ($1.7 million), regional library aid ($350,000), and smart growth reimbursements ($364,000), the estimates are essentially the same as the estimates based on the budget bill approved by the House.
The DLS reminds local officials that the local aid estimates are still preliminary and are subject to change as the legislative process unfolds.
For questions regarding the updated local aid estimates, contact Lisa Juszkiewicz, Donnette Benvenuto or Jared Curtis at (617) 626-2384 or databank@dor.state.ma.us.