State budget a ‘small net positive’ for town

On Monday, July 29, Governor Maura Healey signed a $57.78 billion dollar state budget — one that includes around $20.5 million in money for Wareham. 

There’s still uncertainty about Wareham’s portion of the budget, said Norma Scoggin, chair of the Finance Committee. She said at the moment, the town is still waiting to see if the state legislature will override any of the Governor’s vetoes. 

It does look like the budget is a “small net positive” for Wareham, Scoggin said. 

The estimated Chapter 70 funding for Wareham’s schools sits at $16,294,776 million, a figure that’s exactly equivalent to the number penciled into the Wareham’s town budget, which passed at the spring town meeting. The same is true for the $683,992 estimated for charter school tuition, which is the same between the state’s budget and the town’s budget.

The state budget estimates $428,846 in school choice receiving tuition, an 11.76% decrease from the year before; the town’s budget does not include school choice funding in its education line items. 

The non-school portion of state aid is estimated in the town budget to be $3,031,480. According to the state budget estimates, the town will receive $277,853 in veterans benefits, a 16% increase from the year before. 

The state’s estimated budget puts the town’s non-school state aid at $3,083,292. The difference comes in the $51,812 provided to the town’s public libraries, a line item that isn’t included in the town’s line items for general government aid. 

Overall, the town will receive $20,490,906 in state aid, an 0.62% increase from the year before.