Gentile Joins State Reps To Restore Funding To 3 Cut Programs

MARLBOROUGH, MA—Representative Carmine L. Gentile, D-Sudbury, joined his colleagues in the House of Representatives to restore funding to three programs that had been cut from the state budget.

According to an announcement sent by his office, Gentile, whose district includes Sudbury, Wayland, Marlborough and Framingham, took the lead in advocating for these programs on behalf of members of the House to Speaker Robert A. DeLeo.

The first budget item was a $100,000 planning grant for the Treehouse Foundation to create a Treehouse community in Framingham to serve the MetroWest region. These mission driven communities are designed to support foster care and adopted children, as well as the elderly, through the Intergenerational Treehouse Community Model, in which people live in a tight knit, small community, said the release.

“Intergenerational communities supporting foster care and adoptive families not only enrich the life experiences of those involved, they also strengthen our Commonwealth economically,” Gentile said in a statement.

The project would ultimately become a $25 to $30 million-dollar development that would bring jobs, affordable housing and increased social services for children, youth, and families who have experienced foster care, and low-income adults in the region.

The second item was $75,000 in funding to replace the radios currently used by public safety and the Department of Public Works. Sudbury police, fire and public works personnel are limited in that they use separate radio frequencies. The shortcoming can cause logistical problems.

The third budget item was $25,000 toward an agreement with a nonprofit organization to operate a water quality monitoring program in the Sudbury, Assabet and Concord rivers.

Gentile said when the item was vetoed by Governor Baker, he was concerned that this cut would interrupt water quality data that had been collected for 25 years, which is needed for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting.

“The House and Senate are required to balance the state budget each year. The restoration of funding for these programs and the overall budget is fiscally sound,” Gentile said in a statement.

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