Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Senate yesterday approved a consolidated fiscal 2026 supplemental budget bill with funds for several local initiatives, including $100 million to support cities and towns with costs associated with harsh winter weather and the February blizzard.
The Senate bill includes more than $391 million to support cities and towns:
• $232 million for special education costs, including circuit breaker reimbursements to local school districts, of which $32 million would be used to increase reimbursement rates in fiscal 2026
• $100 million to address winter infrastructure damage in cities and towns, as well as snow and ice removal deficits, with $80 million distributed based on road miles and $20 million allocated to communities that experienced extraordinary costs due to extreme weather
• $25 million to incentivize regionalization and shared services in smaller school districts
• $15 million for a literacy launch initiative
• $8 million for rural school aid, with $4 million in fiscal 2026 and $4 million set aside for fiscal 2027
• $7 million for maintenance of unpaved roads
• $2.5 million for school-based mental health support and wraparound services in public school districts
• $1 million for districts implementing bell-to-bell cell-phone-free policies in public schools
• $1 million for municipal grants for the purchase of truck safety devices
“The MMA applauds the Senate’s commitment to our communities through this surplus supplemental budget bill,” said MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine. “The proposed winter recovery funds would provide essential support after a demanding season, helping to repair roads and mitigate overwhelmed snow maintenance budgets. We are also grateful for several additional investments focused on special education costs, regionalization efforts, rural schools, and more. Thank you to Senate President Karen Spilka, Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues, and the Senate for this important action.”
During debate, the Senate adopted several amendments, including one filed by the MMA to extend to three fiscal years the time period over which cities and towns can amortize snow and ice cost overruns.
The Senate also adopted an MMA priority amendment to repeal a sunset clause related to municipal disbursements from the Rideshare Trust Fund. Without legislative action, these per-ride assessments from transportation network company fees are set to end on Jan. 1, 2027.
The Senate bill would program $1.3 billion in Fair Share surtax revenues from fiscal 2025 along with nearly $500 million in general fund investments.
Both the Senate bill and the House’s version, passed on March 18, aim to address several deficiencies across state government, earmark funding for numerous local initiatives, and adjust tax policies to soften revenue impacts anticipated from the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OB3), which was enacted last July.
Without legislative action, tax policy changes included in the OB3 may result in an estimated loss of at least $440 million in state revenues over fiscal 2026 and 2027. The House bill would tie the outcome of the potential ballot measure to lower the state income tax rate from 5% to 4% with corporate tax changes proposed in the legislation. Under the House bill, if the referendum were to pass, the state would permanently decouple the tax code changes from federal tax policies in order to mitigate an estimated $5 billion revenue loss. The Senate bill does not include this proposal.
A House-Senate conference committee may soon be appointed to reconcile differences between the two supplemental budget bills before a final proposal is sent to the governor’s desk.