Melrose Loses $350K In State Aid As Governor Signs Budget

Local aid to Melrose was cut by more than $350,000 in the state's 2011 budget which begins today, Thursday, July 1.

Gov. Deval Patrick signed the $27.6 billion budget for fiscal 2011 in his office yesterday. City officials counted on a reduction in local aid in compiling this year's budget; Mayor Rob Dolan filed a $61.5 million city budget for fiscal 2011 in the spring that was based on a 4 percent cut in local aid and the mayor securing a citywide wage freeze from all employees, both union and non-union.

The actual local aid cut for Melrose in the state budget is closer to 2 percent and the combination of the wage freeze, which will save $1.4 million next year, more than covers the $350,000 cut.

The biggest local aid cut Melrose faces is in the "unrestricted general government aid" line item, which starting last year combined lottery aid and additional assistance funding into one item. Melrose will receive approximately $180,000 less than it did this past year.

A cut of approximately $133,000 comes from Chapter 70 education aid. The city received $7.39 million in Chapter 70 aid this past year and Patrick, in his proposed budget, actually sought to boost that figure to $7.71 million. The House budget proposal slashed that figure, while the Senate budget proposal level funded Melrose's education funding.

Finally, the conference committee budget approved by both Legislatures and signed by Patrick used the House's recommendation of $7.25 million.

Melrose will also receive less education funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the so-called federal stimulus bill, in this last year of stimulus funding. This past year, the city received $317,346 last year in education funding from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, an account created to hold the $813 million in federal stimulus funds given to the state explicitly for education funding. In fiscal 2011, Melrose will receive $141,985.

Also in the education realm, Melrose will receive approximately $139,000 less in charter school tuition reimbursements than this past year. The state gives cities and towns a 100 percent reimbursement of the increase in charter school costs between the last fiscal year and the current one and, under the new state education bill passed in January, 25 percent of that increase for each of the next five years, for a total reimbursement of 225 percent over six years. Previously the state reimbursed 100 percent in the first year, 60 percent in the second year and 40 percent in the third year, for a total reimbursement of 200 percent over three years.

A silver lining is that the city's assessments are down from this past year, albeit by only $10,000.

To view all the state aid and assessments for fiscal 2011, view the PDF files attached to this article.