FY25 Enacted Budget Summary

On July 29, 2024, Governor Healey signed the FY25 Budget into law. This comes 29 days into the new fiscal year and ten days after the Legislature passed the Conference Committee budget. The $57.8 billion budget, which is $317 million less than the Conference Committee’s budget, is a $1.97 billion, (3.5%), increase over last year’s final budget. The budget includes level funding for the District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) program, Senator Charles Shannon Community Safety Initiative, and Grant Assistance Program (GAP). It also includes a crucial technical fix to the FY24 budget, which would allow RPAs to use FY24 GAP funding for state and federal grants.

This is the second year that Fair Share surtax revenue is available, which is again split between education and transportation. However, Fair Share revenue is even more weighted towards education than previous budgets. The bill provides $762 million (58.5%) for education initiatives and $538 million (41.5%) for transportation programs and policies.

What comes next: The House and Senate will then have until July 31^st to override any of the Governor’s vetoes. They will need a 2/3rds majority to do so.

 

Line Item:		FY24 Final Budget	MAPC’s FY25 Request	Governor Budget (H.2)	House Budget (H.4601)	Senate Budget (S.2800)	Conference Budget (H.4800)	FY25 Final Budget
8100-0111	Senator Charles Shannon Community Safety Initiative	$12.8 million	$13.4 million	$12.8 million	$12.8 million	$12.8 million	$12.8 million	$12.8 million
1599-0026	District Local Technical Assistance	$3 million	$3.4 million	$3 million	$3 million	$3 million	$3 million	$3 million
	Community Compact Grants	$0	$2 million	$6 million	$0	$0	$0	$0
	Efficiency and Regionalization Grant	$600,000	$2 million	$2 million	$600,000	$0	$600,000	$600,000
	Grant Assistance Program	$2 million	$2 million	$0	$0	$2 million	$2 million	$2 million

A summary of other some of our other key priorities is below. The full text of the FY25 budget can be found here when it is published.

 

LOCAL AID

UGGA

Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) (1233-2350) is set at $1.3 billion. This is in line with the Senate and Governor’s proposal and $25 million more than the House’s proposed budget. UGGA is a crucial tool for cities and towns that funds non-education portions of municipal budgets.

Chapter 70

The Senate proposal continues to move towards implementation of the Student Opportunity Act obligations with $6.86 billion for Chapter 70 (7061-0008). The budget set per pupil minimum aid at $104 per student in line with the Senate and House budgets. Amendments adopted in the Senate to raise the minimum aid to $110 per student and to create a Chapter 70 task force to study and make recommendations for updating the calculation of required local contributions were not included in the Conference Committee’s recommendations or the enacted budget.

Universal School Meals

Universal School meals are included in the budget and are split between two-line items. The first is $170 million in Fair Share funding for reimbursement to schools. This is $1 million more than the Governor’s budget but $20 million less than the House’s budget. The second is $5 million for the School Breakfast program (7053-1925). This is $500,000 more than the Governor’s proposal and in line with the Legislature’s proposal.

McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Transportation

In alignment with the Legislature’s and Governor’s budget, the enacted budget included $28.6 million for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Transportation program (7035-0008).

PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY

Healthy Incentives Program (HIP)

The Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) (4400-1004) funding is set at $15 million in line with the House’s budget and a 33% decrease from the Senate’s budget.

SAPHE

The enacted budget allocated $9.1 million for Grants to Local Boards of Health (4512-2022). This is $1 million less than the Conference Committee budget. Both the Governor and the House's proposal include $9 million for the State Action for Public Health Excellence (SAPHE) grant program, while the Senate’s budget increased this funding to $12.5 million. The SAPHE Grant Program strengthens local public health services and protections to residents in 91% of Massachusetts’ cities and towns through cross-jurisdictional sharing.

HOUSING

Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP)

The MA Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) (7004-9024) is funded at an increased level of $219 million, an increase of $40 million (22%) over FY24 and in line with the Governor, House and Senate’s FY25 proposal. Through a combination of project-based vouchers and mobile vouchers, MRVP helps to move homeless families and individuals out of motels, off waiting lists, and into decent homes they can afford.

Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT)

The Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program (7004-9316) is funded at $197 million, a 4% increase over FY24 and in line with the Governor and Legislature’s FY25 proposal. This program provides rental, mortgage, utility, and relocation assistance for those at risk of losing their home to prevent and address displacement and foster housing stability among housing insecure households.

Emergency Assistance Family Shelters and Services

The need for Emergency Assistance Family Shelters and Services (7004-0101) has increased over the last few years with estimates spending eclipsing $900 million in FY24 and FY25. The budget sets funding at $326 million; $800,000 more than the FY24 budget. In FY24, this line item was increased through multiple supplemental budgets. The legislature allocated $250 million for the shelter crisis in the supplemental budget that was signed into law in December of 2023 and an additional $251 million was included in the supplemental budget the Governor signed in April.

TRANSPORTATION

MBTA & Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs)

The MBTA (1595-6369) is funded at $314 million, a 68% increase over FY24 and $1 million less than the House proposed. RTA funding (1595-6370) was funded at $94 million; this is in line with the Legislature and the Governor’s proposal.

Low Income Fares
The enacted budget sets aside $20 million for a low-income fare program. This will not fully fund the low-income fare program as proposed by the MBTA and there is no included language to make the program permanent. This is also $3 million less than the Senate proposed and $25 million less than the Governor proposed.

ENVIRONMENT

Department of Environmental Protection

The Governor, Senate, and House proposed roughly the same budget for DEP (2200-0100). The House and Senate proposed a budget of $54 million, while the Governor proposed a budget of $54.5 million. Ultimately, the budget allocated $54 million.

Department of Public Utilities

The Governor and Legislature both proposed roughly the same budget for DPU (2100-0012). The House and Senate proposed a budget of $20.5 million, which is where the enacted budget landed.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Childcare Grants to Providers

The budget includes $170 million for Childcare Grants to Providers (1596-2410). This is in line with the House and $25 million more than the Governor’s and Senate’s budget. The funding is provided by Fair Share surtax funding and a Senate amendment was included that would allow Head Start and Early Head Start programs to be recipients of this funding.

MassReconnect

The enacted budget offers $117.5 million for the MassRecconnect program (1596-2501 and 1596-2418) in line with the Senate’s recommendation while both the Governor and the HWM budgets propose funding the MassReconnect program (1596-2418) at $24 million. This program provides free community college to students over 25 years of age.

Rate Increase for Early Education and Care

The budget included $65 million in Fair Share funding for a rate increase for early education and care (1596-2434). Funding is used to subsidize salaries, benefits and stipends for professional development of early educators.

NEW REVENUE

FY25 is the second year that the Fair Share Amendment, which establishes a 4% surtax on annual personal incomes over $1 million, is available to support education and transportation. The budget allocates $1.3 billion in funding to the Education and Transportation Fund where transportation proposals receive $538 million (41.5%) and education proposals receive $762 million (58.5%) for education initiative and. This is a more uneven split than any of the Governor, House, or Senate’s budgets.

Fair Share Transportation Funding ($538 Million):

• $50 million for MBTA physical infrastructure
• $10 million for MBTA climate adaptation and resiliency projects
• $20 million for a MBTA low-income fare program
• $66 million for RTA operational enhancements
• $30 million for grants to RTAs for fare free programs
• $10 million for grants for RTAs to increase connectivity
• $4 million for grants to support expanded mobility for older adults, people with disabilities and low-income riders.
• $7.5 million to support ferry grants
• $36 million to address safety and workforce issues
• $45 million for municipal roadway reconstructing
• $10 million to establish a pipeline of skilled MBTA workers
• $250 transfer to the Commonwealth Transportation Fund

Fair Share Education Funding ($762 Million):

• $175 million for the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grant program
• $15 million to reduce the waitlist for income-eligible early education and care programs
• $5 million to expand Pre-K
• $65 million to increase early education and care providers salaries and benefits
• $18 million to expand eligibility to childcare financial assistance to families with incomes that are 85 per cent of the state median income
• $2.5 million expansion of early college, workforce, technical and innovation pathway programs
• $20 million for an early literacy program called Literacy Launch
• $170 million to reimburse schools for universal free meals
• $10 million for a grant program for schools to install clean energy infrastructure
• $5 million to develop a statewide birth through higher ed mental health and behavioral health framework.
• $37 million to increase per pupil minimum aid by $74 to $104 per student.
• $80 million to provide financial aid to students in public higher education
• $117 million for MassReconnect
• $10 million for a scholarship program for student pursuing in-demand profession
• $15 million to assist private fundraising by public higher ed institutions--$10 million is specifically for the UMass system.
• $14 million to provide wraparound supports and services to improve outcomes for state universities’ most vulnerable population
• $2.5 million to help students at public and community colleges address transportation, food security, short-term housing, and childcare costs that may keep them from attending school.

Surtax Revenue Trust Fund Clarification:

The enacted budget creates an annual transfer of $250 million of Fair Share surtax revenue directly to the Commonwealth Transportation Fund. But unlike the House budget, it does not stipulate where the funding should go. The House budget allocated the same amount but required that the funding go into 3 accounts, $127 million for MBTA operating expenses, $63 million for debt service on bonds, and $60 million for MassDOT operating expenses.

Outside Sections of Note

Disaster Relief and Resilience Fund (Section 58): Creates a fund to provide emergency disaster relief after a natural or other catastrophic event.

Environmental Justice Fund (Section 58): Creates a fund for the restoration of any natural resource or the remediation of environmental pollution or harm. These projects must benefit the community health or well-being. The fund will be seeded primarily from settlements received by the Attorney General’s Office

GAP “And State” Technical Fix (Section 174): This technical fix to the FY24 budget would allow RPAs to use Grant Assistance Program funding for state and federal grants instead of just federal grants.

FY25 Gaming Fund Distributions (Section 194): All three budgets made changes to outlays by the Gaming Mitigation Fund. While the Governor reduced the percentage of revenue that fund would receive, the House reduced that amount to zero in FY25 and the Senate reduced that amount to zero permanently. Ultimately, the Conference Committee sided with the House, which will allow for contributions to the fund again next fiscal year. The Governor did not make changes to this section.

Vetoes of Note

Municipal Regionalization Reserve: The Governor vetoed $925,000 from the line item that houses DLTA and GAP. However, this is not anticipated to impact either program as the line item has historically included a surplus.

Grants to Local Boards of Health: As noted previously, the Governor reduced the SAPHE line item to $9.1 million. The Governor cited other revenue sources, particularly State Fiscal Recovery Fund resources, that can offset this cut.

Regional Economic Development Grants: The Governor reduced this line item by $500,000 to $1.5 million. This is still $500,000 more than the Governor’s initial FY25 budget.