BOSTON – The Massachusetts Legislature has come to an agreement on the Fiscal Year 2015 budget that includes many priorities laid out by Senator Brian A. Joyce and Representative William C. Galvin including; tracking down and eliminating government overlaps and redundancy, paying down pension liabilities to save taxpayer money in the future, and supporting early childhood education, mental health and substance abuse treatment services, senior home care and veterans’ services.
“The final FY15 budget continues the state’s commitment to protecting and supporting vulnerable populations without overreaching on our financial obligations,” said Sen. Joyce.
“It will fit in with our continued work with targeted investments and watching our wallets to ensure our continued economic recovery.”“This was another difficult budget cycle, the needs of our citizens always outweigh the revenues on hand. Despite this, we were able to increase local aid and deliver a responsible budget on time without raising taxes,” added Rep. Galvin.
The budget boosts school funding by $100 million, reduces the waitlist for early education services, increases funding for substance abuse treatment, and seeks to reduce caseloads at the Department of Children and Families. It also bumps funding to towns and municipalities which is put toward public safety and infrastructure improvement.
Additionally, an amendment that was supported by Senator Joyce and Representative Galvin to provide $500,000 for maintenance and use of the Trailside Museum and Chickatawbut Hill Education Center was kept in the final version of the budget. The budget also included funding for the Mass. Hospital School, the Norfolk County Fire and Rescue Dispatch Center, and the Blue Hills Observatory.
The bill now heads to the Governor.
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