Yesterday Maura released her new budget, and we wanted to keep everyone at Team Healey in the loop about what’s in it!
This budget makes historic investments in the infrastructure that our quality of life and economy depend on – stabilizing the MBTA, fixing our roads, bridges and regional transit, and modernizing college campuses, all while creating good jobs.
It specifically prioritizes affordability and economic development – continuing the progress that Maura and Kim have made on child care, college affordability, tax cuts, housing, veterans services and more. It achieves this while still controlling spending, with a 2.6% budget growth rate that is less than the rate of inflation, aligning spending with existing revenue growth.
Maura’s budget:
- Increases funding to cities and towns to pay for essential municipal services, and boosts Chapter 90 funding for local municipal improvements to $300 million per year for the next five years
- Realizes her plan to make historic investments in the state’s roads, bridges and public transportation systems — including moving forward on projects like West-East Rail — and immediately stabilizes the finances of the MBTA.
- Proposes the largest infrastructure investments in Massachusetts’ public higher education system in decades
- Keeps Massachusetts on track for universal Pre-K access in the Gateway cities by the end of 2026, and supports the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Literacy Launch program
- Maintains commitments to universal school meals, free community college, and fare free regional transit
- Gets rid of mandatory brokers fees for renters, helping to reduce the burden of housing and moving costs
- Fully funds the fifth year of the Student Opportunity Act
- Makes our health care system stronger and more accessible by raising the asset limit for seniors on MassHealth for the first time in 35 years and growing primary care spending to 10 percent of total medical expenditures
- Makes sure our veterans get the support they need through implementation of the HERO Act, increasing Ch.115 annuity payments to $2,500, and updating and expanding long-term care facilities
This isn’t a complete list — there’s so much more in Gov. Healey’s new budget, and we can’t wait to see the huge impact it makes for people across Massachusetts.
Later this week we’ll send along some examples with breakdowns on exactly how the budget will address key issue areas, and If you’re interested in checking out the full announcement, you can take a look here.
Maura’s budget takes on some of Massachusetts’ biggest challenges. And it does that by investing in our people, improving our infrastructure, lowering costs, and strengthening our future.
Thank you for being a part of this. Together, we can make sure Massachusetts keeps leading the way.
-Team Healey