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| WESTFIELD Don Humason, Jr., Westfield's State Representative, announced today that late last night the House of Representatives agreed upon a consolidated local aid amendment that would boost Westfield's local aid. "As you may know the House of Representatives has been debating the FY07 state budget all week," Humason said. "And all week long we have been fighting with House leadership about their Chapter 70 education aid numbers. But a compromise was finally reached at midnight last night." The House Ways and Means budget number for Westfield's Chapter 70 education aid was originally $31,135,689. Governor Romney's number was better at $31,593,729. After the vote last night, Westfield's Chapter 70 number is $31,768,390. That's an increase of $632,701 over the Ways and Means version and $174,661 over the Governor's number. It's also an increase of $2,123,754 over last fiscal year. "With Speaker DiMasi agreeing to go along with the Republicans' proposal to fully uncap the state lottery aid to cities and towns, our lottery number is $7,682,345, an increase over last year by $1,595,792" Humason said. "Obviously I am pleased by the $3.7 million increase and I wanted to share the good news. Increasing Westfield's local aid has been a priority of mine especially now that the Commonwealth's financial picture is brighter," Humason said. When the final budget vote is taken by the House the bill will go to the Senate for their deliberation and vote sometime in May. |