Rep. John Keenan to meet with Salem City Council to
discuss state budget
SALEM – State Representative John Keenan will sit down with the Salem City Council on Wednesday February 23rd to discuss with them the upcoming state budget deliberations at the State House. A week after his inauguration in January, Representative Keenan sent the City Council letters expressing his desire to hear from them about items and issues they considered priorities for their respective Wards. On January 27th, the City Council voted to invite the Representative to their meeting on February 23rd to discuss these issues. “In my letters to the Council I expressed my hope for a positive and productive relationship with them,” pointed out Representative Keenan, “This is a great first step, as we will be able to begin a dialogue about what we can do together for the people of Salem. I strongly believe that we can accomplish the most when we work in partnership on issues of common concern.” One of the most important projects for the city in the coming fiscal year’s state budget will be funding for the long overdue courthouse renovations. House 1, Governor Mitt Romney’s initial budget proposal, was released on January 26th with a line item for $3 million for the project. “I’m certainly optimistic about the future of this project,” said Representative Keenan, a member of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, “Clearly the Governor understands the importance of the courthouse project to Salem and the region.” In addition to the court, Representative Keenan expects to discuss the budgetary goals for other capital projects of importance to Salem, including the proposed MBTA garage at the Salem commuter rail station and the Salem Harbor study. Also likely to come up are the Governor’s proposed changes for local aid to Salem. House 1 recommends a total local aid package for Salem of $17.8 million, an increase over the previous fiscal year’s allocation by 3.6%. “It is encouraging that the Governor has moved to restore some of the cuts to local aid that were enacted over the previous few budgets, but we’re still not out of the hole just yet” said Representative Keenan, " Despite some small improvements in revenue forecasts, the state is still operating in a deficit and we have to keep that in mind. It may take some time before we return to the fiscal picture we saw in the late 1990s. Obviously, I hope we can make progress on all of the items of importance to Salem, but it’s going to take a united front from all of Salem’s elected and public officials to get that done. We need to highlight the most important priorities and really try to pursue those, rather than spreading ourselves too thin over dozens of competing requests. I look forward to working with both the Council and Mayor on this extremely important matter.” Representative Keenan is slated to meet with the new House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Robert DeLeo on March 10th to explain in more depth the budgetary priorities for Salem and make the case for their support.
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