HILLTOWNS – State Sen. Adam G. Hinds was feeling pretty upbeat after helping the Senate wrap up the budget at 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 19, when they unanimously passed a $46 billion budget for fiscal year 2021 (FY21) after adding $36.1 million in targeted investments over the course of two days of deliberations.

A Conference Committee will now convene to reconcile the differences between the Senate budget and the version passed by the House of Representatives last week, before it goes to the governor to sign.

For one, the Massachusetts State Senate adopted Hinds’ budget amendment to provide $250,000 for Hilltown small businesses and nonprofits in Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden Counties.

“As we head into the winter months we need to find a way to support our small businesses and nonprofits,” said Hinds “Some businesses have shared with me the challenges they foresee during the slow months ahead of just paying rent, I hope this will help.”

$250,000 in funding will go to the HIlltown CDC general catchment area, with $100,000 earmarked for the Greater Shelburne Falls Business Association. The Hilltown CDC will be the fiscal agent and will create an application process for businesses, non-profits, and individuals to use.

Hinds said the funding will be a distinct source for hilltown businesses, and is incredibly flexible.  “We need to layer as many funding sources as possible to get money to the hilltown businesses,” he said, adding that the CDC can be creative in awarding them.

Michele Kenney, economic development coordinator for the HIlltown CDC said flexible funding is good, because earlier funds had expressed purposes, or required a certain number of employees or certain income levels, which made them hard for some small businesses in the hilltowns to access.

“This is the type of money that we’re pretty confident will end up on the governor’s desk,” Hinds added.

Another reason Hinds was feeling good is that the Senate adopted his budget amendments to increase funding for the Rural School Aid grant program by $1.5 million, raising the total appropriation for this account to $3 million in the FY21 Senate Budget.

“A child’s zip code should not determine the quality of their education,” said Hinds. “Rural school districts experience fiscal uncertainty every year because of the unique and substantial obstacles they face to provide their students basic school services. My hope is that with this additional $1.5 million is that DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) to provide fiscal relief to even more school districts in rural areas across the Commonwealth charged with providing quality education to students.”

Hinds said rural schools are getting more funding than they got last year, although DESE will still have to finalize the amount allocated to each tier.  “My anticipation is that they’ll get more,” Hinds said.

“The fact that Sen. Hinds was able to get rural school aid in the Senate version of the budget, and then increased it from $1.5 to $3 million, is certainly good news,” said Gateway Regional Superintendent David B. Hopson. “But I won’t be counting on any of that until the joint budget committee agrees to an amount and the Governor signs the budget. This is the current year’s budget (FY21) they are working on, so if that line item makes it into the final version, it will be good as we anticipated this as part of our revenue for the year,” he added.

Hinds said the Senate did not count on receiving more federal assistance in the budget deliberations. “We didn’t count on it. This year we’re going to manage to level fund the budget, and increase many line items over last year. All of that is without the federal assistance,” he said, adding that the 30 billion in federal PPP loans and 15 million in assistance to individuals already received helped with the revenue for the state.

“Ultimately, this budget reflects an effort to make sure our communities and our families have what they need to get to the other side of the pandemic. It’s going to take a step by step approach to make sure we’re there to support each other,” Hinds said.