Legislature overrides playground veto

Legislature overrides playground veto


Anne Gobi
Rebecca Leonard


TEMPLETON — Almost three weeks after the beginning of the new fiscal year, the funding for the Gladys I. Salame Memorial Playground has been restored.

State Sen. Anne. Gobi announced recently that she and the rest of the state Legislature voted to override several budget vetoes made by Gov. Charlie Baker. One of these vetoes was for the $85,000 for the new Templeton Playground.

"These programs are incredibly important to my district," said Ms. Gobi. "The budget process can be long, and ushering programs through can be difficult. Along with my staff and the local delegation, we were able to work diligently to assure that these projects made it to the finish line."

Last year, the town received an $85,000 grant from the state to build a new playground at Templeton Center School, with the requirement that the work be completed by the end of December. The playground was already completed and the money spent by February when the grant funding was removed through a round of mid-year 9C executive cuts ordered by Mr. Baker to close the shortfall in the state budget.

 "That cut has really caused financial dislocation for us," said interim Town Administrator Bob Markel when the town was struggling to make up for the loss of funds.

Throughout the year, many options to pay off the debt were thrown on the table and quickly taken off again.

By late June, town officials had agreed to juggle around accounts in order to balance out the amount for the playground, resulting in budget cuts that were felt at the end of the fiscal year.

"We would have had to pay one way or another," said Board of Selectman Chairman John Col­umbus.

According to Mr. Markel the money that will be restored will help the town in many positive ways.

"This money will be helpful, and we will attempt to use it in FY ’16, perhaps for our OPEB (Other Post-Employment Ben­efits) obligation or perhaps for capital purchases," he said.

With the help of Ms. Gobi and her colleagues a weight has been lifted from the shoulders of town officials.

Mr. Markel is extremely grateful for her work and Mr. Columbus remarked that "it could have been easily been forgotten if not for her."