[ad_1]
ATTLEBORO – Members of the state’s Gateway Cities Legislative Caucus traveled to Attleboro on Monday, visiting and listening to officials explain some of the city’s funding needs.
Lawmakers came to the city after stops at New Bedford and Fall River, which are also considered gateway towns.
According to a press release, the aim was “to gather information on the specific economic development needs of Gateway Cities and on the response and recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic”.
There are 26 Gateway Cities in Massachusetts. They are defined as “medium-sized urban centers that anchor regional economies… (where) manufacturing jobs (have) slowly disappeared… (and lack the) resources and capacities to rebuild and reposition themselves… (and) have been slow to attract new economic investment. “
Among the tour participants were Caucus Co-Chairs, Representative Antonio Cabral D-New Bedford and Senator Eric Lesser D-Longmeadow.
State Senator Paul Feeney, D-Foxboro, who organized the visit, said the effort isn’t just for the show; it will help to develop policies.
“It’s a very real exercise,” he told officials at the end of the day.
The needs in Attleboro include funding for the state’s housing development incentive program, schools and hospital services.
A downtown tour was taken by Mayor Paul Héroux and Director of Economic Development Catherine Feerick on a GATRA bus, which included looks at the Union Street block between Park and Mill streets and the old Briggs Hotel on Main Street South.
Both need HDIP funding for renovation projects related to the city’s downtown revitalization efforts.
After the tour, the group was transported by bus to the Newell Shelter in Capron Park to hear from the others.
These included State Representative Jim Hawkins D-Attleboro, School Superintendent David Sawyer, Sturdy Memorial Hospital CEO Joseph Casey and Chief Medical Officer Brian Patel.
Hawkins said state funding formulas are not working well for Attleboro schools.
“We haven’t done very well in the Student Opportunity Act,” he said. “This year we got $ 200,000 and we were supposed to get $ 2 million.”
Sawyer also spoke about the need for more money for the school.
He said Attleboro is currently underfunded by $ 10 million.
Sawyer called Attleboro a “pre-teen” community, which means that under current state funding formulas, it is not poor enough to get more state aid and not rich enough to make up the difference. between what is needed and what is provided.
He said the state stopped funding to deal with inflation years ago, which means spending has gone up but not income.
While the city started funding above the minimum net school spending several years ago and now exceeds that amount by around $ 2 million, it is not enough.
“This is really a pittance compared to what we need and what other communities are getting,” Sawyer said.
Another issue that could impact next year’s budget is the declining number of students.
Attleboro has been at around 6,000 for years, but this year the number has dropped to 5,850.
State funding is based on the student body, and declining numbers will exacerbate Attleboro’s budget woes.
Sawyer also spoke of some efforts to direct more money to regional vocational and technical schools and away from comprehensive high schools like Attleboro.
Meanwhile, Casey said a large number of patients with behavioral health issues or psychiatric issues occupied many beds in the emergency room at Sturdy Hospital and stayed there until beds were seated. ‘are opening in mental hospitals elsewhere.
This puts a strain on nurses and other caregivers who are doing jobs for which they are not trained and for which they “have not registered”.
“It really puts a strain on our staff and causes some nurses to leave,” he said.
The state should consider providing more mental health training and more mental health hospital beds, he said.
Patel said that up to half of the 32 emergency room beds are occupied at some point by psychiatric patients, and that number has risen to 80% at times.
He said emergency rooms are not good for psychiatric patients.
They are too bright and there is too much going on.
In addition, they do not receive psychiatric treatment for the problems they have and this delays the care of other patients.
“It’s not sustainable,” Patel said. “We cannot provide good quality care. We can put the beds in place but we cannot staff them.
Georges W. Rhodes can be reached at 508-236-0432.
[ad_2]
Source link