Day Announces Funding For Stoneham In House Budget

State Representative Michael S. Day announced today that he successfully secured direct appropriations of more than $7.9 million in the fiscal year 2018 (FY18) House budget for the town of Stoneham. Representative Day won approval of $25,000 of funding earmarked specifically for Stoneham that will enable it to purchase and install wayfinding signage that will increase safety and spur the revitalization of Stoneham’s downtown area.

“I sincerely thank my colleagues in the House for supporting my efforts to pass this appropriation,” said Representative Day. “Stoneham has expended a significant amount of time and energy in the hopes of revitalizing our downtown and making Stoneham a destination, not just a pass-through town. The wayfinding signage will build on these efforts and is one of the key items that town leaders and the Chamber of Commerce has highlighted to me when we’ve discussed impactful ways to help the Town. These funds will help us expedite the revitalization process, and I am very happy to be able to deliver this win for Stoneham.”

Representative Day also successfully carried an amendment, joined by more than 30 of his colleagues, to provide an increase funding of $1.2 million specifically for the Student Awareness Fire Education program (“SAFE”).

“The SAFE program is a hugely successful initiative that provides direct funding to our local fire departments to enable them to offer fire and life safety education programs to children in our schools,” said Representative Day. “I know the Stoneham Fire Department has benefitted directly from this program and that they do a great job with it because my children come home from it and immediately change out the batteries on our smoke alarms and have us running fire drills. I was proud to sponsor this amendment and earn the unanimous support of my colleagues for it.”

The House budget totals $40.3 billion, which is $80 million less than the Governor’s original budget proposal. In addition to maintaining its commitment to not raise any taxes or fees, the House increased the state’s stabilization fund and funding for pension liabilities.

“I voted for this budget because we were able to limit our overall spending while still devoting the resources necessary to fund important government services,” said Representative Day. “The House budget continues to keep Massachusetts on firm financial footing without asking our taxpayers to do more than they already are.”

The funding appropriation for Zoo New England, the organization that operates and oversees management of the Stone Zoo and Franklin Park Zoo, was initially level funded at last year’s $4 million under Governor Baker’s proposed budget. The House budget increases operational funding for the Zoos to $4.5 million. “I am very happy with this increase in a difficult budget,” continued Representative Day. “Great things are happening at Stone Zoo, and this increase will allow the Zoo to devote more private funding to capital improvements.”

Augmenting these specific appropriations, the FY18 House budget includes an additional $106.4 million statewide for education compared to FY17, and allocates increased levels of local aid funding for Stoneham, including over $4.2 million in Chapter 70 education funding and over $3.7 million in unrestricted local aid that the town can utilize for its own spending.

“We are facing a tight year financially as revenues are still sluggish, so I am particularly gratified with the increases in direct assistance coming back to Stoneham,” Representative Day continued. “This budget reflects my commitment to provide our town with increased state assistance and financial flexibility, and I appreciate the willingness of House leadership to engage and work with me towards those goals.”

The FY18 budget now moves to the Senate for their recommendations and approval. Once the Senate passes its budget, the two chambers will reconcile any differences before sending a final budget to the Governor. For more information or to view the full text of the FY18 House budget, you can visit the following link https://malegislature.gov/Budget/HouseBudget.