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The select board urged state officials in a June 17 letter to conduct a “comprehensive review” of the decades-old distribution formula for local aid, which is largely funded by the state lottery system.
Lottery tickets worth $3.3 million were sold in Wellfleet in fiscal 2025, the letter says, yet only $72,000 came back to the town as Unrestricted General Government Aid, or UGGA. Although the state formula was never meant to give back to towns what was collected in them, that ratio of ticket sales to local aid — 2.17 cents per dollar — “exemplifies the disparity” in the state’s formula, the letter says.
The letter, written by clerk Sheila Lyons, was addressed to the chairs of the House and Senate ways and means committees as the two chambers negotiated a budget compromise.
MassBudget Reference:
The lottery sold $5.9 billion worth of tickets in fiscal 2025, resulting in a $1.07-billion profit, according to a news release from the state treasurer. In the following fiscal year, UGGA payments to the 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts totaled $1.36 billion.
The formula used to distribute these funds was originally based on the total assessed value of property in each town, with the idea being that less wealthy towns would receive a greater share of aid. Since fiscal 2010, however, the formula has been frozen.
These “frozen” proportions have long been scrutinized by researchers and advocates. Phineas Baxandall, policy director at the Mass. Budget and Policy Center, analyzed the UGGA allocations in a September 2025 report. He told the Independent that the relationship between financial need and local aid is often loose and inconsistent.
