BOSTON – The Massachusetts Legislature has come to an agreement on the Fiscal Year 2015 budget, which contains many of Senator Brian A. Joyce’s priorities, 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 upholds the state’s commitment to protect and support vulnerable populations without overreaching on our financial obligations,” said Joyce. “It supports our continued efforts by making targeted financial investments to ensure our continued economic recovery.”
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, several amendments for Milton sponsored by Senator Joyce made the final version of the budget, including:
- $300,000 as partial reimbursement for the extraordinary health care costs related to fully supporting injured Milton firefighter Antonio Pickens;
- $500,000 for maintenance and use of the Trailside Museum and Chickatawbut Hill Education Center, and;
- $250,000 for the geriatric program out of Beth Israel in Milton.
The bill now heads to the Governor.
