Increase in state aid is welcome news for local officials

For the past few years, city and town officials have been lamenting what they considered meager aid from the state, saying it was a major factor in forcing them to either raise property taxes and fees or lay off teachers and cut town services.

This year, some is relief in sight.

``I think the state -- that means the House, the Senate, and the governor -- were generous with the cities and towns this year," said Newton Mayor David Cohen. ``I believe what we need is more of the same in subsequent years to make up for the losses we sustained in the economic downturn."

Newton is getting about $2 million more than last year for a combined amount of about $18.2 million in education and other aid. That figure is roughly $500,000 more than local leaders expected when they planned the city's budget, said Cohen, so the extra money may allow the schools to hire a few more teachers.

The new state aid figures were included in a budget passed by the state House and Senate, but the budget has not been signed by Governor Mitt Romney .

Technically, the Republican governor could veto the fiscal year 2007 budget approved last week, but the Democrat-dominated Legislature would have the votes to override him.

``I think the communities can count on that money," said state Representative Debby Blumer, a Framingham Democrat. ``I'm really pleased."

The House and Senate passed a $25.7 billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, an increase of 7.5 percent over last year. Much of the increase will go to school districts.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association lobbied hard for cities and towns to win the increases. All communities and school districts will receive more than last year, according to Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the MMA.

``Cities and towns have a ways to go on the path to recovery, but what the Legislature did was press down on the accelerator so we can get there faster," he said.

A couple of cities and towns noted that they are still not back to 2001 levels of state aid.

``It's a good increase," said Waltham City Auditor Dennis Quinn. But at $20.2 million, state aid still lags behind the $21.8 million the city got in 2001, when the economy was booming.

Likewise, Holliston got more money from the state in 2001, according to Town Administrator Paul LeBeau, but he is still pleased to be getting more than last year.

``It continues to be a step in the right direction," he said. ``It's good news that they're continuing to increase the local aid package and getting us closer to where we were five or six years ago."

Michael J. Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a state budget watchdog group, has sounded a note of caution, telling the Globe this month that the budget is far too fat , and its levels of spending cannot be sustained over the long term.

Most town officials interviewed said they were getting a little more money than they had planned for because they had based their budget on Romney's aid proposals. Romney proposed increases that were later outstripped by the Legislature's.

Marlborough's $105 million budget is up about $1 million over last year, about half of which was unexpected money, according to Tom Abel, the city's comptroller/treasurer.

The extra money is helping to reverse cuts in police staffing, he said. Four years ago, the city lost about $2.5 million in state aid. ``Since that time we had to lay off police officers, six to be exact," said Abel. Now, all those positions have been refilled.

Medfield Town Administrator Michael Sullivan was less charitable than most toward the state.

``The whole process has gone awry in my opinion," he said. ``They used to talk about a partnership between the state and the cities and towns. There is no more partnership. We are beggars. And all the new money that comes in gets sucked up by mandated programs."

The state requires local spending, for example, on early retirement incentives and police perks like the Quinn Bill, said Sullivan.

``The money isn't the issue -- the issue is the state should be working cooperatively with the towns, and they are not," he said. ``It is a constant battle to fight back against the mandates."

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@globe.com.