The Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard (2GHG) unit in Newtown will be spared from state budget cuts, State Representative Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) told to The Bee Wednesday afternoon in an email confirming the “great news.”

The state budget passed just prior to midnight, Wednesday, June 3. Previously Rep Bolinksky and others had been struggling for a means of financially supporting the more than 200-year-old militia unit, which faced a loss of funding from the state. His email indicated that the budget items, Section 218, lines 8577 to 8585 were “confirmation of what [the Newtown delegation in Hartford] accomplished for the next two years …”

The specific language securing 2GHG funds came via last-minute “amended language,” Mr Bolinsky said. He then highlighted section 218 that states that the sum of $90,000 — $45,000 for each of the two horse guard units, the first company is in Avon, “shall be transferred from the community investmen act …” The sum is “for the purpose of providing funding” for each of the units for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2016 and June 30, 2017.

In past months, Mr Bolinsky had been among many in the community, including Friends of the 2GHG, which had launched a fundraising drive, to grow concerned that state budget cuts threatened to eliminate funding for the 2GHG. He had said in early May that, as in past years when funding was restored at the last minute, “Never say never. Things can change quickly in Hartford.”