Area cities see marginal growth in state aidDate: 7/16/2015 GREATER SPRINGFIELD – Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee will all see increases in their state funding if Gov. Charlie Baker signs the fiscal year 2016 (FY16) budget from the House and Senate Conference Committee, but the boosts are not that dramatic.
As of press time, Baker has not yet approved the budget.
According to Chicopee Auditor Sharon Riley, the city will receive $72.7 million from the state according to the FY16 Cherry Sheet if the budget is approved.
“This is a difference of $2.7 million more than the FY15 Cherry Sheet. Of that $2.7 million increase, $2.3 million is an increase in the School Chapter 70 [funding]. There are smaller increases [and] decreases in other areas.”
James Leydon, the communications director for Mayor Domenic Sarno, said Springfield is receiving $354.5 million, which represents about a 3 percent increase from last year.
Most of that increase is in Chapter 70 school funds.
Leydon said the city would see a boost in unrestricted aid over last year, but a drop in the money allocated for veterans’ benefits because of a decreasing number of applications.
There was also a slight drop in state funds for the city’s libraries.
Leydon stressed that although there was a hike in unrestricted aid, it “doesn’t help fix the city’s structural [budget] imbalance.”
He believes this year’s allocations would push the city closer to the level of state funds it received prior to the economic crash in 2008.
Rory Casey, the chief of staff to Mayor Alex Morse of Holyoke, told Reminder Publications the difference between this year’s and last year’s Cherry Sheet is about $40,000. This year’s amount is $82.4 million.
“We’re essentially flat,” he said.
Casey added Morse has asked state Rep. Aaron Vega to double check on the figures as the original House allocation to the city would have been a $600,000 increase.
He added the figure is down “considerably” from what both the House and the governor originally proposed.
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