Senator Tisei on Malden Funds State Budget

It also level funds Additional Assistance at $5.6 million, and retains full Lottery aid at $10 million.
An attempt by Tisei to amend the resolution and provide Malden with an additional, one-time supplemental payment of $1.6 million fell short on a vote of 6 to 31 in the Senate last week.
A similar proposal was also defeated in the House by a vote of 26 to 124 earlier this month.
“The state budget won’t be finalized until this summer, but it’s important for cities and towns to know right now the minimum amount of funding they can expect to receive from the state,” said Tisei. “I am disappointed we couldn’t get the support we needed to expand the local aid package, but the important thing is that Malden and other communities now have reliable baseline figures they can use to build their budgets for next year.”
Tisei had proposed taking $150 million from the state’s Stabilization (or “Rainy Day”) Fund and redistributing this money to cities and towns through the Lottery formula. He said the money should be returned to communities as partial compensation for the three years that Lottery proceeds were capped by the state during the last economic downturn.
The local aid resolution, which passed unanimously in both branches without the supplemental payment, provides for a $223 million statewide increase in Chapter 70 funding, which will bring total state education aid to Massachusetts’ cities and towns to $3.949 billion.
Unlike Gov. Patrick’s budget proposal, the resolution level-funds Lottery aid without making receipt of these funds contingent on the approval of casinos.
Although state Lottery proceeds are expected to total only $811 million in Fiscal Year 2009 — $124 million short of last year’s allocation — the Legislature will hold communities harmless and provide them with the full $935 million they received last year.
Malden’s Lottery aid will be level-funded at $10 million, with $8.7 million funded through Lottery revenue, and the remaining $1.3 million paid for through the General Fund.