House Chair Warns Of Deeper Local Aid Cuts

There are new concerns about potential cuts in state aid to cities and towns.

House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Brian Dempsey told his colleagues that they should be warning cities and towns of cuts in local aid deeper than those already proposed by the governor. He made the comments before the House defeated a Republican resolution that called for setting minimum amounts of local aid.

Dempsey says with the loss of $1.5 billion in one-time funds, less aid will be available in the next fiscal year.

"We may have to go deeper than what's been proposed in House 1," he said, "understanding the seriousness of what we're dealing with, both because of the lack of federal resources, as well as the reforms that have been proposed."

Gov. Deval Patrick's budget proposes cutting local aid by $65 million but raises local education, or Chapter 70 money, by $140 million, to a grand total of just under $4 billion for education.