The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ budget allocates state resources for the operations of state government and for cities and towns. Massachusetts’ fiscal year begins on July 1st and ends on the following June 30th. A budget passed into law during this calendar year appropriates funds for the upcoming fiscal year.
Fiscal Year 2012 Budget
On July 11th, the Governor signed the FY12 budget into law. The Governor did not veto any line-item appropriations or any language put forward by the Legislature, which passed a $30.59 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2012 aimed at increasing government efficiency, cutting costs and shielding essential services. The budget reduces the state’s FY12 Stabilization Fund draw by $15 million and closes a $1.9 billion budget gap with funding reductions, ongoing revenue initiatives and one-time revenues.
View FY12 Conference Fact Sheet
View FY12 Children and Families Budget Highlights
Important highlights:
- The budget includes no new taxes while preserving services for some of the neediest residents of the Commonwealth by focusing limited resources for the Department of Mental Health, early intervention services and public safety initiatives.
- The final budget also includes a provision that would return up to $65 million in FY11 Budgetary Reversions for use as onetime, non-recurring local aid payments to close the gap left by painful but necessary cuts.
- The budget also includes three new initiatives that will provide state agencies with resources necessary to aggressively pursue and recoup unnecessary expenditure of funds and instances of fraud or overpayment. A new auditing and program integrity grant program for state agencies; a line item to support MassHealth auditing and recoveries; and a new unit within the Operational Services Division to conduct vendor audits. The investments will generate revenue and protect government resources;
- A municipal health care proposal that provides strong incentives for municipalities and employees to come to a mutually agreed upon solution on health care benefits. The language builds on the plan adopted by the House of Representatives by adding protections to ensure the integrity of the negotiation process while protecting retirees, specifying that any cost-savings proposal from a municipality must also include a plan to mitigate or cap the impact of changes on subscribers, specifically retirees, low-wage workers, and heavy users of health care.
- The municipal employee health reform plan does not alter collective bargaining rights associated with premium splits. Furthermore, as a local option proposal, cities and towns will not be required to implement plan design changes for employees. Rather, municipalities will have the option to implement or abstain from plan design changes.
- The Office of Oral Health was funded at the House level of $1.3M, down from $1.4M in the FY11 budget. The budget also includes language that would require the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) to “report annually to the house and senate committees on ways and means on the percentage of MassHealth recipients receiving dental care in emergency rooms, community health centers or dentists offices, and the number and types of procedures performed.” While this is not as specific as the language I originally advocated for, it is still an important acknowledgement of the impact of the cuts by the legislature.
- Included in the Juvenile Court budget, the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program was funded at $335, 361. This figure is a 3.7% reduction from the FY08 funding level, which is the last year this program received state funding. CASA programs recruit, screen, train, and supervise community volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in the court system.
Below are some helpful links to assist you in understanding and tracking the state budget.
Please visit the “Legislation Information” section to view budgetary accomplishments in the Legislature.
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