Moments ago, the members of the state House of Representatives and state Senate voted unanimously to override the Governor’s veto of $177 million in unrestricted municipal aid, restoring local aid to the funding level established by the Legislature in the fiscal 2014 state budget approved earlier this month. Thanks to the Legislature’s vote, cities and towns will receive $920 million in Unrestricted General Government Aid, a $21 million increase over fiscal 2013. The vote by lawmakers finalizes the fiscal 2014 Cherry Sheets and ends the uncertainty over local aid levels that was triggered when the Governor issued his local aid veto. On July 12, the Governor vetoed $177 million from the local aid distribution, which would have slashed aid to every city and town by 19 percent. Legislative leaders immediately announced that they would protect localities and work to override the veto. All of the other local aid accounts had been untouched by the Governor when he signed the budget, securing a $130 million increase for Chapter 70, full funding of the Special Education Circuit Breaker program, as well as increases for regional and vocational school transportation accounts. The vote to restore local aid occurred this afternoon, moments after the Legislature overrode the Governor’s veto of the transportation finance package by wide margins, ending months of debate and enacting $500 million in new taxes as part of a comprehensive $800 million framework to invest in transportation to rebuild and maintain our state’s road and transit systems.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 21:52:47 +0000
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