The budget proposal packs increases to local aid while seemingly avoiding any massive cuts. More local aid is good, he says, but as budgets get hashed out, securing more will be vital on Beacon Hill. Property taxes hit everybody: they hit people who are renters, because their rent is reflected in those property tax increases. Rural school spending also got a proposed boost — totaling $20 million in the governor’s proposal, up from $12 million in last year’s final budget. It included funding changes that meant rural communities with miles of road saw state funding rise by as much as 75-90 percent in some cases.