Wakefield Delegation Secures $145,000 for Local Priorities

BOSTON—State Senator Jason Lewis and State Representatives Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Donald Wong are pleased to announce that they have secured $145,000 for various local priorities in Wakefield as part of the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Massachusetts state budget.

The FY25 state budget, totaling $58 billion, received final passage by the House of Representatives and Senate on July 19, 2024, and was signed into law by Governor Maura Healey on July 29, 2024. This budget delivers significant levels of investment in early education and childcare, K-12 public schools, public higher education, housing, healthcare, transportation, workforce development, and more, as part of a comprehensive strategy to make Massachusetts more affordable and equitable for all.

Within the budget, Senator Lewis and Representatives Lipper-Garabedian and Wong secured funding for the following Wakefield local priorities:

• $50,000 for the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library for the installation of a new staircase.
• $35,000 for public safety improvements.
• $10,000 for the Wakefield Chamber of Commerce for the design, purchase, and installation of new decorative and promotional banners in the downtown.
• $50,000 for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Stoneham and Wakefield to purchase a mobile food trailer.

“This budget will deliver substantial resources to our communities, and make our state more affordable for working families by helping to address the high costs of housing, healthcare, childcare, and college,” said State Senator Jason Lewis. “I’m especially pleased that Representatives Lipper-Garabedian and Wong and I were able to also secure funding for some important local Wakefield priorities.”

“I am proud to have joined Representative Wong and Senator Lewis to secure $95,000 in earmarks for the Town of Wakefield,” said State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian. "This key funding in Wakefield will go towards making essential upgrades to the Lucius Beebe Library steps to improve safety when entering the building and to the Chamber of Commerce to aid with downtown banner installation. Additionally, among the many critical and responsive statewide investments in the budget, I am thrilled to see historic funding in early education and childcare as well as critical policy reforms like making the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) direct-to-provider grants permanent, a top priority for which I advocated."

“By working together with the State delegation and our local government, we are able to make progress to secure funding for our Town,” said State Representative Donald Wong.