Sen. Steven Panagiotakos (D-Lowell), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and Rep. Charles Murphy, (D-Burlington), Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means warned cities and towns on Friday that local aid could be cut by as much as four percent in fiscal year 2011 that begins on July 1.
In a joint statement, the two Democratic leaders said, “Municipalities will receive no more than a four percent cut in their Section 3 local aid in the upcoming fiscal year and all school districts can count on being funded at their foundation level of support.”
This method of determining and announcing a promised amount of local aid is different from prior years in which the House and Senate would typically have a roll call vote on resolutions that would inform cities and towns of the minimum amount of local aid they should expect. The press release issued by the two chairmen simply says that there is “an agreement on levels of support cities and towns can expect in the upcoming fiscal year.” There has been no vote in the House or Senate on this issue.
If the cut reaches the maximum of four percent, cities and towns would lose an estimated $200 million in unrestricted general government aid and Chapter 70 education aid.
“This local aid cut would be extremely painful for cities, towns and taxpayers,” said MMA Executive Director Geoffrey Beckwith. “After absorbing the deepest local aid cut in history last year, communities are struggling to balance their budgets, and a new local aid reduction of this size would certainly trigger widespread layoffs of thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters and other key municipal workers, and it will force deep cuts in essential local services and programs.”
The House’s 16 Republicans have been joined by several Democrats who are pushing to give communities the same amount of local aid as last year. Gov. Deval Patrick included that level funding of local aid when he filed his budget in January.
The House is currently holding hearings on Patrick’s budget proposal. The House will then draft its own version that will be debated and amended on the House floor. The Senate will follow suit with its own draft and a House-Senate conference committee will eventually craft a plan that will be presented to the House and Senate for consideration and sent to the governor.
