Gov. Maura Healey has the next 10 days to review and act on the $63.4 billion budget that lawmakers sent her Wednesday, the first day of the new fiscal year the budget covers.
The compromise (H 5555) that cleared both branches Wednesday with just a handful of dissenting votes features $63.42 billion in line-item spending, an increase of $2.37 billion or 3.9% over the budget Healey signed last July and roughly $54.3 million larger than the fiscal year 2027 budget she proposed in January.
The budget includes $2.7 billion in spending supported by revenue from the state surtax on household income above about $1.1 million, split roughly 64% for education and 36% for transportation. It includes no tax or fee increases and projects to deposit about $50 million into the state’s primary savings account by the end of the budget year.
MassBudget Reference:
The compromise budget allocates $122 million for caseworkers at the Department of Transitional Assistance, which the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center said would be a nearly $21 million drop compared to expected funding in fiscal 2026. The funding level would translate into 150 caseworkers being laid off, MassBudget said while citing an analysis from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
“Instead of cutting, the state should be increasing this funding and adding even more DTA caseworkers,” MassBudget said Wednesday. “Failing to address the shortage of caseworkers is also likely to have serious consequences for federal funding moving forward.”
