Romney Loves Local Aid

At a meeting with the Mass. Municipal Association (on Friday afternoon it was the top story at Boston.com) today, Gov. Mitt Romney said his 2007 budget will include a 17 percent increase in local aid.

The AP story didn't get into details as to whether or not this would cover lottery aid and education aid, how that 17 percent would be split between the two, or if it would be a blanket 17 percent increase or formulaed out to different communities at different levels (and yes, we just made up "formulaed").

Here's the basics: According to the state Department of Revenue, Fitchburg received $44 million in state aid in 2006, after charges were taken out. Romney's increase would give Fitchburg $51.5 million in 2007. From our research (and we had been slowly working on a larger post regarding state aid), that would be the highest level of state aid for Fitchburg ever, easily topping the $49.92 million from 2003.

Obviously, this would be good news for Fitchburg, and really, how much complaining could there be if this happens? Also in the obvious category: The devilish details aren't available, and the House and Senate would have to approve all this (although before the last few years, the Legislature traditionally increased aid in its budget).

So, what does all this mean? Definitely optimism, a little good news, and certainly something to watch in the near future as the budget process goes forward. Certainly, we fully expect local lawmakers to be on board.