There is a lot that I like about the budget proposal that will be on the Senate floor shortly, but I hope we can add more funding for the MBTA as the process continues.
The House has voted on their FY26 budget and the Senate will vote before Memorial Day. Both branches have already voted on “supplemental” budgets that deploy revenues from the high-income tax towards education and transportation. The supplemental budgets are part of the funding picture for FY26.
The Senate budget does speak to most of my stated priorities:
- Increased education aid to municipalities
- meets 5th year commitment for expanding Chapter 70 aid under the Student Opportunity Act
- strong minimum aid increase which benefits three of the communities that I represent (Boston, Belmont, and Watertown)
- full funding for special education circuit breaker — 75% of both tuition and transportation
- Strong support for critical human services
- MassHealth
- mental health, including youth mental health
- services for people with disabilities
- strong support for people re-entering society after prison sentences
- Strong support for safety net programs
- Food security, including Healthy Incentives Program
- Increased support for families in deep poverty
- Assistance for people experiencing housing instability
- Strong support for Department of Conservation and Recreation
With permission, I’ve attached a summary prepared by our Senate Ways and Means Committee which provides both additional program details and an explanation of larger budget trends.
The single major area where I especially hope that we are able to make further improvements as we work through the process is long-term funding for the MBTA. Since last fall, I have consistently identified improving MBTA funding as my top priority. The MBTA is a personal passion of mine — it was my ticket to freedom growing up and I am still a frequent rider. My senate district is among those with the highest transit ridership and I know how important reliable public transportation is for people who depend on it.
The current senate budget proposal does provide sufficient additional funding for the coming fiscal year, but I’d like to see us put in place a more stable longer-term structure that allows the MBTA to engage in longer-term system planning and assures that we will never return to the era when the T was chronically underfunded and unreliable. I do hope and believe that over the weeks to come we will reach a resolution for this year that contributes to longer-term funding certainty for the MBTA.
Thank you for your continued effort to keep us informed about the State Budget. I am concerned however, having just been made aware by a recent article in the Globe that the GIC is currently severely underfunded and likely unable to pay their share of medical bills for Commonwealth employees and retirees until a supplemental or a new budget is passed. I was extremely upset to hear about this, and wonder what efforts are underway to address the issue. The article mentioned that over expenditures regarding drug coverage has been a major factor.
The GIC bill was filed in April. It is not “stalled” as the Globe implied. I’m virtually certain there will be no disruption to GIC patient services.
This piece from the Mass Retirees offers helpful background.
Will you be spending another billion catering to violent illegals alien criminals?
I don’t buy into the framing of the question, but spending on emergency shelter is way down.
Don’t forget education!!!
All levels of education — early, elementary, secondary, public higher education — are well served in the senate budget.
I started riding Boston busses more frequently and I notice drivers waving teenagers through even when they try to be responsible and pay (even if for show) yet they make older people- I mean seniors- stand at the fare box and put their bills in. This is infuriating, because $55 is nothing for me to sneeze at.
Paying one’s own way teaches reponsibility and money skills. If this is a coordinated welfare program at least protect the dignity of these kids by privately encoding these benefits in a proper Charlie Card and make some token payment so they don’t learn the wrong lessons about their role in society. I’m sure most kids appreciate the responsibility of paying their way but instead by getting waved through they’re just as stigmatized. Paying your way teaches you to be an adult and this “kindness” is cruelty.
Boston high school students receive an unlimited Charlie Card to travel to school and school related activities (rather than a yellow bus transporting them), so they are paid for, whether you see them swiping or not.
I hope the DCR funding includes provisions for ridding our parks of those loathsome Canada geese!
No specific orders on that, but I know that is a priority in Fenway.
I deeply appreciate your support of funding for MBTA. I gave up my car in August of 2022 and have been a bus and T rider ever since. No one my area of Coolidge Hill Road close to Mount Auburn Street has a garage. When I had a car, there was always a struggle to find a place to park on the street, especially during snow emergencies. While I am grateful not to have to move a car during snow emergencies, I miss the freedom having a car involves. Now I am a regular, daily rider of buses #71 and #73, and the RedLine, I hope that the bus drivers are generously reimbursed for their dedication to the jobs and that the repairs that are needed are speedily completed.
I share these sentiments. My husband and I moved to West Cambridge several years ago. We had given up our car in our previous state and have relied exclusively on the MBTA. Despite the challenges the T faces, we are so appreciative of the men and women driving the busses that supplement our commute. I’m happy to see the budget considerations for continued financial support to streamline MBTA repairs and services. Giving MBTA reliable funding for planning is something I would also support to keep the hard work being done consistent and services reliable. I see the small improvements and want them to continue as I know repairs will be a lengthy process.
Thanks for the info, Will. I hope this all gets through quickly so we can have Healthy Incentives Program funding for as much of the farmers’ market season as possible.
I’ve heard that there is a few weeks of lead time for DTA to update the code for to make the change back to 2024 levels, and that they will only increase the benefit on the first of a month. The market season is typically June through October, so any delays could cost people benefits for a good part of the season.
— hs
…and thanks for supporting HIP!
Thoughtful. I agree with your positions
On MBTA.com, it states” The MBTA currently makes about $30 million each year from advertising. These funds are used for a lot of different things, including keeping fares low and paying for key capital improvement projects (like new Red Line trains). Without this money from advertising, the MBTA would be required to identify funding from other sources, including fare increases or higher taxes.” Does the budget include this?
It’s all part of the mix — see this great summary graphic from MassBudget to appreciate the complexity of the funds flow.
There’s a mess in each MTBA subway station, dirty and bad odors everywhere, etc.
It’s great to funding MBTA but the cleanlines is a priority and they have to spend the budget in the right way!!
Where are our tax and transportation fares dollars?
Cleanliness is a high priority. Feel free to reach out offline with specific concerns that we can draw to the attention of T management.
I agree with Carlos. Have you seen the Symphony stop? It’s filthy, Have you seen the Arlington St stop with the “brown liquid “ stains on the ceiling? You need a shower after riding.
Thanks for all this information, Will. I support your priorities with one caveat. While the DCR does many terrific things, I do not support their continued program of logging in our public forests. Logging reduces the carbon sequestration and storage by our forests and forest soils, inhibits the forests’ beneficial impacts on the water cycle and destroys forest ecosystems. Logging is in direct contravention of the state’s climate goals and current science. Even the administration’s Climate Forestry Commission said the best way to maximize climate mitigation by forests is to leave them alone. We need our public forests preserved as no logging, wild areas.
Until the T stops making buses phantoms when we rely on them to get to work on time, I will not be happy. I don’t know if the T is regularly using regular T buses for the endless shuttle runs or not, but if they are then we should be informed and secondary schedules (fewer but REGULAR buses) should be made and posted so that we don’t waste our time getting a stop on time only to find that there is no bus. And I am not buying the whole “due to traffic” reasons when we do get on the road and there is…no significant traffic. Ever.
Whatever happened to having regular bus drivers on routes at least for the duration of a given season? With one exception, I haven’t seen that on my morning 71 route for many years, long before COVID. It’s always a revolving bunch of drivers.