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Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Legislature approved a $259 million supplemental budget for fiscal 2025 on Thursday that makes some modest investments as well as some policy changes for municipalities.
The bill was finalized by the six member conference committee on Wednesday afternoon, and voted on Thursday. Funding in S. 2575 includes:
• $60 million for home care services for the elderly
• $42.9 million for rental assistance for families in transition
• $40 million for the Committee for Public Counsel Services public defender expansion reserve
• $15.5 million for the Department of Transitional Assistance’s electronic benefits transfer chip cards
• $10 million for extraordinary EMS cost reimbursement
• $7.5 million for the Healthy Incentives Program
Notably for local officials, the bill includes technical updates to the tax title foreclosure process, including clarifying that there is only a prospective impact from the recently reduced interest rate on the original sum owed. The fiscal 2025 budget reduced the tax title interest rate from sixteen to eight percent but a Land Court decision later determined this reduced rate could potentially apply retrospectively – at odds with both the legislative intent and a Division of Local Services bulletin last year. Language included in S. 2575 clarifies that the reduced interest rate will only apply to tax title takings that occurred after November 1, 2024.
Additionally, under last year’s changes, a municipality had only 14 days from the final judgment of the Land Court foreclosing the right of redemption to make a determination as to whether to retain or sell the property. S. 2575 includes language allowing for a slightly extended timeline of 30 days.
Since last year’s update to the law, the MMA has been actively working on adding these critical technical provisions. S. 2575 now awaits Gov. Healey’s signature to become law.
Written by Ali DIMatteo, MMA Legislative and Policy Counsel and Adrienne Núñez, MMA Senior Legislative Analyst