The roughly $58 billion plan for fiscal year 2025 remains in legislative conference committee as representatives of the Massachusetts House and Senate hash out a final compromise draft. It will likely result in the continuation of a 14-year late budget streak.
“It's always frustrating to not have a budget done on time. I mean, cities and towns across the commonwealth, their fiscal year starts on July 1st, no matter what. Having an idea what those local aid numbers are going back to them makes a big difference from a budgeting standpoint locally," said Democratic 3rd Berkshire District State Representative Smitty Pignatelli, who has represented the Southern Berkshires on Beacon Hill for over 20 years. “During COVID, we had 30 consecutive months of exceeding our revenue projections. This current fiscal year, we had about eight, almost nine consecutive months of failing to meet our revenue targets. So, I think there was some hesitancy that hopefully things would turn around. The one thing that state legislature hates to do, unless it's a real problem, is cut budgets.”
Pignatelli, who is not seeking re-election in November, identified at least one legislative sticking point between the House and Senate as the budget deadline and end of formal session looms.
“The free community college that the Senate was pushing for everybody is kind of a concern on our side," Pignatelli told WAMC. "We want to take it in kind of baby steps, incremental. That's just one issue. But we have a lot at play. As you know, we have to be done with all of our work by July 31st, so there's a lot of things in play.”
Democratic State Senator Paul Mark of the Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire District says June revenue numbers are going to play a major role in the eventual final budget.
“In Massachusetts, we have to have a balanced budget," he explained. "It’s not like in Washington, where if you want to just spend a bunch of money that doesn't exist, you can go for it. We can't do that. We have to be in balance. And so, when we see if numbers are coming in stronger and it looks like the projections for fiscal year ‘25 are going to meet or exceed targets, then both the House and the Senate offered a lot of good suggestions, and if revenue is strong, then we can meet more of those more of those suggestions. If revenue looks like it's coming in weak, then I imagine the final budget that's going to go to the governor will be pared back.”
Mark says Massachusetts officials are keen to avoid 2023’s mid-year budget cuts that were triggered by the run of below expected revenue months.
“I feel a lot better than I did when the governor put out her first proposal in January," the state senator told WAMC. "When she put out the proposal in January, that was right on the heels of the mid-year unilateral cuts that, there were a couple organizations in my district that got their funding cut in half. And that's never helpful, it's never popular. They had to scramble to find ways to make up the difference, in some cases. And so, when the budget was first proposed in January, I was pretty worried. I was pretty worried that it was going to be a lean year. And I think we've moved on from being a lean year to being a smart, in moderation year, a year of looking forward and trying to invest in the right places.”
With the clock ticking down, the legislature has enacted a stopgap measure to continue funding the government through the delayed budget delivery.
“Yesterday, the House passed a 1/12th budget so that we don't miss a beat going into July," said Democratic 2nd Berkshire District State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier. "We understand that the conference committee on the budget is working away and the process is going very well. So, I would think that we're going to see something in a week, or maybe a little over a week, on the budget, and we'll keep Massachusetts chugging along."
Last year, the $56 billion Massachusetts budget was signed into law by Democratic Governor Maura Healey on August 9th, missing the deadline by more than a month.
