Saugus expecting increase in Ch. 90 funding

SAUGUS – Saugus could see a big boost in its Ch. 90 highway funding, according to State Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus).Wong said both the House and Senate agreed to increase Ch. 90 funding statewide by $100 million, which would bring Saugus? highway money from $616,000 last year to $925,000 this year.?We enacted it today and we?re going to send it back to the senate and they?re going to have to enact it,” said Wong. “Then it goes to the governor. We hope that he will sign in. This is the problem.”Wong also said the Senate was set to release its budget Wednesday, which included Ch. 70 education money and local aid.?What we proposed when we sent it to the senate was to get more for local aid and Ch. 70,” said Wong. “But they could always change the number there, but Ch. 90 ? it should go up to over $900,000, which is 50 percent more than we got last year.”Wong said the House and Senate worked together to figure out what the priorities are for Massachusetts? cities and towns.?What the priorities are are the roads and bridges, and we?re trying to put priorities on schools and local aid on this,” said Wong.A press release from Wong states that the Ch. 90 program was created by the Legislature in 1973 to reimburse cities and towns for road and bridge spending. Ch. 90 money may also be used for engineering services related to highway transportation enhancement, and to purchase road building machinery and equipment.In other State House news, Wong said a recent article passed by Town Meeting that changes the vote requirement to extend the Town Manager?s contract from four votes to three is currently being looked at by “House legal.”?I can?t predict how fast it?s going to be because of the budget and everything else,” said Wong. “And don?t forget we have 160 state reps here and they all have articles and bills. It goes to House legal, they look at it, and they can change wording in it and I would have to bring it back to Saugus to make sure they approve of the changes.”Wong also refuted any criticism that he would hold up the article.?At the state level, I would file anything that the town votes on,” said Wong. “It?s not up to me to approve or not approve anything. As long as the town voted for something, I?ll do what the town wants. My priorities right now, because it?s time sensitive, is the budget. That?s bringing money to all my districts.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].