Tewksbury Budget/State Budget

As I, and my fellow Tewksbury residents, prepare to approve the FY2015 Budget at our Annual Town Meeting on Monday night, I certainly have taken notice of the Budget discussions at the State level. After all, every vote at the state level has an impact on our town.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association, which exists to support the taxpayers in our towns and cities, has provided us with a recap of the House approved budget.

1) The MA House approved an increase of $25 Million in Unrestricted Local Aid to Towns and Cities.

2) The MA House approved an increase of $99 Million in Chapter 70 Aid which goes to the schools in Cities and Towns.

 1) The passage of the $25 Million increase came after the defeat of a Republican-sponsored amendment increasing local aid by $75 Million. The increase of only $25 Million is spread amongst our 351 cities and towns and represents .07% of the total state record budget of $36 Billion. To put that into perspective: If the total State Budget was $1000, the local aid increase that was passed by the Democrat-controlled legislature would equal 70 pennies, which would then be split between 351 towns and cities.

2)      In regards to the increase of Chapter 70 Aid for our schools, that equates to approximately $25 per student.

Once again, I’ll remind my fellow residents that there are record revenues pouring into the MA State Treasury. More money than they have ever seen in the history of our state. The implication of the Democrat-controlled legislature not making local aid a priority impacts our property taxes, excise taxes, town services, public safety, school aid, etc...

I think the residents of Tewksbury should know that, as part of the budget negotiations, The Democrat Leadership proposed not allowing any amendments to only two areas: Local Aid and Welfare Reform. Our two Tewksbury Representatives did weigh-in on this: Rep. Jim Miceli voted in favor of not allowing any amendments to local aid and Rep. Jim Lyons voted against not allowing any amendments to local aid.

With those limitations, our Republican Rep. Jim Lyons along with his colleague, Republican Rep. Marc Lombardo from Billerica sponsored a $253 Million Property Tax Relief Amendment (#615) that would have meant  $970,474 in targeted property tax relief to all Tewksbury residents. That was not Unrestricted Local Aid but was targeted as property tax relief. The Democrats in the House defeated that amendment, despite record revenues in the state treasury.

I want to say thank you to Representative Jim Lyons for fighting for increased local aid and property tax relief for all Tewksbury residents. The more representation we get at the State level, the better off we are going to be long-term as a community.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Tewksbury taxpayers send approximately $45 Million in taxes to the State of MA and receive only $15 Million in Town and School Aid. As a point of reference, Lawrence, which has 77,000 residents or 2 ½ times the population of Tewksbury, located just a few miles from us, receives $190 Million in local aid which is 12 ½ times the amount that Tewksbury receives.

Finally, I just want to let the residents of Tewksbury know that we have been contacted recently by a few businesses that are interested in looking to relocate or develop in Tewksbury. I’m not a very patient person and I want things to happen now but I know these things take time. Please know that there are some great things happening in our town.

Disclaimer: I was a resident before I was elected to the Tewksbury Board of Selectmen; I am a resident while a member of the BOS and will be a resident when I leave the BOS. My comments are not to be construed as a representation of the beliefs of any member of the BOS except my own.  While I talk to my colleagues on a regular basis, they are quite capable of speaking for themselves.