Saturday, August 3, 2019
TARR, ROBERTSON AND GORDON SECURE SUPPORT FOR BUZZELL SENIOR CENTER IN STATE BUDGET
Boston– Wilmington’s legislative delegation, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, Representative David Robertson, and Representative Ken Gordon, succeeded in securing $30,000 in the new state Fiscal Year 2020 budget for necessary repairs and renovations at Wilmington’s Buzzell Senior Center.
“Every time I have come through the doors of the Buzzell Center I’ve found it to be a welcoming and vital place full of active and engaged citizens, volunteers and supportive staff – what they do here makes this place worth fighting for,” said Senator Tarr. “I want to help Terri so that she can keep the center going strong in order that others will always feel as welcome as I do.”
“It was a pleasure working with Senator Tarr on behalf of Wilmington. The Senate and the House have shown an investment in public education by increasing state aide to our schools, which also helps slow the rate of growth of our property taxes, as well as increased the funding for roads and bridges. I especially enjoyed working to help secure funding for improvements to the Buzzell Senior Center kitchen and other facilities, which is not just a special place for our seniors but the entire town,” said Representative David Robertson (D –Tewksbury) “It’s always been a well-used facility and these improvements will go a long way.”
The center, located across from the Wilmington High School at 15 School Street, was the subject of two state budget amendments.
“How extremely fortunate that we have the support of Senator Bruce Tarr and Representative Robertson to offer these amendments to help us with our work,” said Terri Marciello, Director of Elderly Services. “They know how important our senior center is to the community and they have supported Wilmington’s seniors in many forms.”
Representative David Robertson filed, with the support of Representative Ken Gordon (D – Bedford), budget language that would provide $20,000 for the center. The appropriation request was adopted by the House in May.
Senator Tarr authored an amendment, which gained to popular support in the Senate, to raise the funding level for the Wilmington center to $30,000. The Tarr amendment was adopted.
Tarr, as Senate Minority Leader, selected one of the six committee members who worked to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the $43.1 billion budget. They reached consensus recently on a compromise spending plan for the new fiscal year that began on July 1.
Tarr, Robertson and Gordon wrote to the conferees in June urging the panel to include in the final Conference Committee report the Senate’s higher amount.
