Politics & Government
How the Governor's Budget Proposal Will Affect Reading and North Reading
The new budget will affect state aid in both towns.
Last Wednesday, Governor Patrick submitted his $34.8 billion budget to the Legislature. The proposed income tax hike is part of a comprehensive package aimed at investing in the state's infrastructure and in driving growth, Patrick said.
Take a look at how the numbers affect both Reading and North Reading:
Reading
FY 2013
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Cherry Sheet Estimate
FY 2014
Find out what's happening in Readingwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Gov. budget ($)
Difference ($) Education Funding Chapter 70 state education aid 9,903,70210,011,427
107,725
Total education aid 9,930,333
10,040,18
109,855
General government Unrestricted general government 2,742,082
2,742,082
0 Sub-total, All general government 3,098,039
3,115,638
17,599
Total Aid (minus state assessments) 12,380,617 12,511,457 130,840
According to Assistant Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Chapter 70 funding state-wide was increased by 5.4 percent, but Reading only saw a 1.1 percent increase.
"General government state-wide was increased by 3 percent state-wide in a new annual formula local aid line item, which is based on the wealth of the community and ‘ability to pay’. Reading saw an increase of 2.9 percent or $79k," LeLacheur said. "In FY13 our initial local aid (excluding school lunches and library aid which directly fund those purposes) was scheduled to be $12,985,784, so last fall we used $13 million as our assumption for FY14 local aid. Unfortunately the Governor’s budget, which is predicated on increases in tax revenues, provides only $133,041 more in local aid than our $13 million estimate."
North Reading
FY 2013
Cherry Sheet Estimate
FY 2014
Gov. budget ($)
Difference ($) Education Funding Chapter 70 state education aid 6,562,1006,625,625
63,525
Total education aid 6,571,852
6,634,400
62,548
General government Unrestricted general government 1,501,819
1,501,819
0 Sub-total, All general government 1,682,467
1,766,386
83,919
Total Aid (minus state assessments) 8,063,269
8,194,766
131,497
"Much of the Governor’s budget proposal is based on tax increases. As a result, I am cautious about any of the State Aid amounts listed for FY 2014," Town Administrator Greg Balukonis said.
*The Cherry sheets for both towns are attached to this post.
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