The worst part was hearing the press give Deval Patrick a hard time for what is one of the most sensible ideas in a long time. Increase local aid with some of it going to property tax relief. Then one of the panelists said something to the effect of “can’t do that because cities and towns have budget authority”.
Bunk. State does that all the time. It gives cities and towns education funding under Chapter 70 and from the Commonwealth’s website…
“The Chapter 70 program is the major program of state aid to public elementary and secondary schools. In addition to providing state aid to support school operations, it also establishes minimum spending requirements for each school district and minimum requirements for each municipality’s share of school costs.”
There is a funding formula which bases aid on what a town should spend, how much it can afford to spend, etc…
Same thing happens with road money. From the state Chapter 90 law … “For expenditure, under the direction of said department, for maintaining, repairing, improving and constructing town and county ways and bridges, sidewalks adjacent to such ways and bridges, bikeways and other projects eligible for funding as a transportation enhancement project as described in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, P.L. 102240”. By the way, Towns can lose Chapter 90 funding if they do not abide by state roadway regulations.
Cities and towns have to get their tax rate certified by the state under the Prop 2.5 formula. Why not offer them some money on the basis that they remain X dollars below their levy limit? I think Deval is right on with this suggestion.
Maybe we need a spin room for after the debate to help the press understand what they heard. Like Healey hoping to abolish local school committees through Charter Schools.
Chap 70 has to go to schools and Chap 90 has to go to the roads, but in the end it’s all a wash because we also generate a large amount of money in local receipts and almost nobody spends as low as the “foundation level” that Chap 70 obligates you to spend on schools. So if we were to get an add’l 50k of Chap 70 but we really just wanted another cop, easy, that 50k goes into the schools and 50k less of local receipts goes there. We’ll still be way over foundation.
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What Patrick’s suggesting would require a new act of the legislature and funding formula, but if you tied it to property tax reductions based on where the town actually is, not some mythical “foundation” (be below 10 million dollars per parcel or else!), then it will work as intended.
Gergin spoke at my college graduation. I would rather have listened to teeth get drilled