Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Westfield Mayor Mike McCabe,left, discusses the importance of transportation funding included in the Senate’s surplus supplemental budget bill for local road and culvert projects during a Local Government Advisory Commission meeting on May 13 at the State House in Boston. Also pictured is Clare Kelly, director of intergovernmental relations for the city of Boston.
A six-member conference committee has convened to reconcile differences between House and Senate versions of a $1.3 billion supplemental budget bill that would primarily allocate surplus surtax funds from fiscal 2024.
The House and Senate bills would allocate surplus collections from the state surtax on annual incomes over $1 million that exceeded the estimate used in the fiscal 2024 state budget. By statute, these funds can be used only for education and transportation programs.
Because various uses of these funds would be effective for fiscal 2026, this supplemental budget bill is likely to follow a similar time frame as the fiscal 2026 state budget negotiations over the next month-plus.
House bill
The House’s bill, passed on April 9, would designate $353.5 million for education investments and $828 million for transportation.
The following are highlights of the House bill (H. 4010):
Transportation
• $400 million for MBTA workforce and safety investments
• $300 million for the MBTA’s savings account
• $60 million for MBTA physical infrastructure
• $10 million for a pilot program to provide grants to municipalities for the repair and maintenance of unpaved roads
Education
• $248 million for Special Education Circuit Breaker reimbursements ($190 million to complement funding in the fiscal 2026 state budget and $58 million for needs in the current fiscal year, using funds from the Student Opportunity Act Trust Fund)
• $15 million to support regional school transportation costs
• $10 million for Green SchoolWorks to decarbonize and increase efficiency in schools through clean energy projects
• $10 million for Universal School Meals
Senate bill
The Senate’s bill, passed on May 8, would designate $617 million for education investments and $670 million for transportation. The bill includes important transportation and education investments under a theme of “regional equity.”
For cities and towns, the Senate bill includes supplemental funding for the Chapter 90 local road and bridge maintenance program, the Special Education Circuit Breaker, and school construction cost relief.
The following are highlights of the Senate bill (S. 2514):
Municipal infrastructure
• $190 million for shovel-ready transportation improvements, which includes:
– $165 million for supplemental funding for Chapter 90, with half of this distributed through the current formula, and half distributed based on road mileage
– $25 million for municipally owned small bridges and culverts
Transportation
• $105 million for regional transit initiatives, which includes:
– $50 million for capital improvements for regional transit authorities
– $25 million for RTA workforce recruitment and retention
– $20 million for ferry infrastructure improvements
– $10 million for micro-transit shuttles and Last Mile grants to support a multi-modal transit system
• $200 million for the MBTA deficiency fund
Special education
• $248 million for Special Education Circuit Breaker reimbursements ($190 million to complement funding in the fiscal 2026 state budget and $58 million for needs in the current fiscal year, using funds from the Student Opportunity Act Trust Fund)
School construction
• $50 million to support cities, towns and school districts experiencing extraordinary school project increases due to inflation
The proposed funding for municipal governments would either require compliance with the MBTA Communities Act or add preference to municipalities taking “meaningful steps to produce new housing.”