Fund our local schools and communities

As chair of the City Council's Finance Committee, I have a deep understanding of the financial “perfect storm” facing our cities and towns. And right now, the numbers don't add up anywhere. Most communities in the 5th Middlesex District have had to ask voters for the difficult choice to pass an override in the past year, just to maintain basic city services. The deck is stacked against local government budgets, threatening our schools, parks, libraries, roads, sidewalks and first responders. We need leaders who will work fix the local budget crisis at the state level. That includes:

• Secure changes to the Chapter 70 school funding formula's broken local share requirement, so that it reflects a community's ability to pay

• Advocate for local economic development support and grants for communities in the district, including leveraging state-owned property

• Support the Mass Municipal Association's "Navigating the Storm" agenda for more financial tools for cities & towns

• Propose a commission to develop an equitable formula for unrestricted local aid, which has had no formula for decades

  • Base funding on current population

  • Consider how much commercial property a community has, a key driver for local tax income

  • Help reward communities meeting the state's housing goals, to address the costs communities take on

• Modernize Proposition 2.5, the state's property tax law; for example, in times of of high inflation, there should be more flexibility

• Ensure communities have a seat at the table for state decisions on transportation, MBTA, housing and development that affect them; ensure that there are ways to address costs that local communities have to take on to move forward in these areas.

• Close the charter school land grab loophole - in Malden, a charter school has purchased tens of millions of dollars in property not used for classrooms, decimating the tax base in a key commercial district