For Immediate Release

January 10, 2010

Contact: Elizabeth Broda

(617) 722-1415

KNAPIK AND KANE URGE GOVERNOR TO RESTORE SOLDIERS’ HOME BUDGET CUTS

BOSTON - Senator Michael R. Knapik (R-Westfield) and Representative Michael F. Kane (D-Holyoke) are circulating a letter to addressed to Governor Deval Patrick urging him to reconsider the nearly $1 million cut he made to the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke in October.  They plan to offer other legislators from western Massachusetts the opportunity to sign the letter and then deliver it to the governor on Monday.

In October, the governor cut $894,404 from the Home’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget, which resulted in the cessation of all outpatient services effective December 1, 2009.  Since then, all outpatient care at the Home has been cancelled, and veterans must look elsewhere for services including general medical treatments, dermatology, hematology, ophthalmology, optometry, ear, nose and throat, podiatry, minor surgery, proctology, nephrology, and urology

The cut, a result of declining state revenue collections, left area veterans with the challenge of securing convenient, affordable medical care in other settings.  In recent weeks, however, the forecast for the state’s tax collections has improved, and the governor has restored some funding to previously reduced accounts.

“Governor Patrick’s cut to the Home’s budget had a disproportionately negative effect on veterans who relied on the facility for outpatient care,” said Knapik.  “I can’t think of a group more deserving than local veterans, who could benefit so much from what is truly a very modest appropriation in the bigger picture of the state budget.  In light of the improved revenue outlook, restoring money to the Soldiers’ Home should be the governor’s top priority.”

The governor announced this week that his administration has increased its revenue projection for Fiscal Year 2010, which began in July, by $181 million.  The estimate was downgraded by $600 million in October, but recent collections and one-time tax settlements have resulted in more optimism for this fiscal year.  As a result of the revised projections, the governor recently appropriated $42 million for homeless services this year, and restored $18 million to Regional School Transportation and $14 million Transitional Aid for Families with Dependent Children. 

“I am pleased that these other accounts have seen some funding restored, but we would like to point out to the governor that veterans in western Massachusetts are equally as deserving of our support,” said Kane.  “These men and women, whose youth was spent in harm’s way in defense of our country, now have to travel farther for more expensive health care than they received at the Home.”

Veterans are expected on Beacon Hill on Wednesday, January 13th, when they will participate in a “Save Our Services” rally at 9:30 a.m. in front of the State House to protest the governor’s cuts to the Soldiers’ Homes in Holyoke.

Knapik and Kane were instrumental in securing a $500,000 appropriation for the Home in a November supplemental budget, but that money was vetoed by Governor Patrick.  .  The governor has unilateral authority to bring spending in line with revenue projections throughout the fiscal year.

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