News:
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September 2006
Dear Neighbor,
I am pleased to relay that the 2007 budget provides an 11 percent increase in education aid for Milton over last year’s! An estimated $8,716,445 of your hard-earned tax dollars will be returned to Milton for your schools, police, fire, and Council on Aging, and to keep pressure off local real estate taxes.
The final budget includes $3,770,098 in education funding for Milton – an increase of $374,892 over last year’s – and ensures that all lottery proceeds go directly to communities across the Commonwealth, including $2,715,374 to Milton. This is very good news for Milton’s school children and property taxpayers.
The budget also includes more funding for the state’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes program (PILOT). The PILOT program reimburses cities and towns for their tax loss (in revenue) as a direct result of the state owning land in that town. In 2004, I authored a change to state law that, for the first time ever, made communities with a portion of Blue Hills Reservation land eligible for PILOT funding. This new source of revenue for Milton will total $508,125 in FY07.
We also provided $25 million in MWRA rate relief over the Governor’s veto, which will cut the announced rate increase for Milton ratepayers in half. The budget also funds the newly implemented comprehensive health insurance reform, including $63 million in funding for the Prescription Advantage program for seniors’ premiums, co-pays, and gaps in coverage in Medicare Part D.
Several significant public safety initiatives were funded: $21 million in community policing grants; the creation of a new $1 million re-entry initiative to reduce inmate recidivism rates at the Department of Corrections; and $2.5 million for new fire safety equipment. Initiatives for Milton include: a $75,000 for staff and equipment for maintenance and management of the Neponset Reservation; $130,000 for state police patrols along the Neponset River to address safety needs at the multi-use trail; $45,000 for state police patrols at the Blue Hills Reservation; $375,000 for the Trailside Museum; and $100,000 for the planning and construction of a new Blue Hills Observatory and Science Center to serve as an educational center for area youth and tourists.
I am also very happy to announce the passage of legislation that will give thousands of Massachusetts seniors and disabled adults a greater voice in how they receive long term care services. I first filed An Act Regarding Choice of Long Term Care Setting in 2001 after I experienced firsthand the importance of enabling a loved one to choose her setting of long term care – in this case, the ability to stay at home. Not only is this bill compassionate, but it will also help save taxpayer’s dollars and ease already strained state Medicaid budgets. MassHealth presently pays roughly $51,720 per member annually to house long-term care clients in nursing homes. This legislation will allow the same elders to remain at home for approximately half the cost.
We also approved a measure that could provide property tax relief for Milton seniors. Under the terms of the property exemption passed in the fiscal year 2007 budget, municipalities would have the option to exempt low-income senior citizens who are at least 70 years old and who have lived in Massachusetts for at least 10 years from property tax amounting to 5 percent of the average assessed value of all residential parcels in their city or town. The terms of the measure must be accepted by the Milton town meeting. Under the exemption, the property tax for a $500,000 home would be $4,802 rather than $5,075 – a savings of $273.
Additionally, we passed an economic stimulus package in a comprehensive bid to spur private development and to create jobs by making targeted investments in growth sectors of the economy – life sciences and technology, tourism and culture, workforce development and training, and regional public infrastructure.
For Milton, funded initiatives within the supplemental and economic stimulus package include over $2,000,000 in funding for projects and initiatives designed to promote healthy economic growth in Milton. Among the funded projects are:
- $1,000,000 toward economic revitalization targeted to the Central Avenue Business District. This significant funding will allow for infrastructure and road upgrades and for sidewalk, lighting, safety and aesthetic improvements, and it will tie-in very nicely with our recently passed overlay district!
- $1,000,000 toward improvements to the Blue Hills Parkway, including infrastructure, road, signalization, sidewalks, lighting, safety and aesthetic improvements. Blue Hills Parkway is an important link between the Neponset River and Blue Hills Reservations – two major DCR facilities that provide Milton residents with walking and biking trails and much natural scenic beauty – and also has the entrances to two schools and a senior housing facility
- $100,000 toward implementing Phase V of the clearing and dredging of Pine Tree Brook to prevent serious flooding problems in surrounding neighborhoods
- $100,000 for the Blue Hills Trailside Museum
I hope you find this letter interesting and informative. Please feel free to contact me with any feedback.
Thank you for allowing me to work for you.
Warmest regards, 
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