House Speaker Ron Mariano forged doubt on efforts to funnel extra state {dollars} to the shelter system, which is housing hundreds of native and migrant households, together with a plan to shuttle surplus revenues to the struggling assist community.
The Quincy Democrat didn’t instantly tackle whether or not he agreed with Gov. Maura Healey’s plan to cowl the state-run emergency shelter system’s $224 million price range hole in fiscal 12 months 2024 with leftover funds from the pandemic period.
But he did categorical hesitancy with handing the system extra money as state revenues proceed to face headwinds.
“I mean, obviously, it’s a concern as revenues continue to bottom out and flatten. It becomes harder and harder to support some of these things,” he mentioned after a personal assembly with House Democrats.
Healey submitted to the Legislature in mid-December an in depth plan to faucet $700 million in surplus {dollars} to make ends meet this fiscal 12 months and pay down an almost $1 billion shelter tab within the subsequent, Mariano mentioned he “hasn’t seen anything” and the proposal is “news to me.”
Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz and Housing Secretary Ed Augustus specified by an in depth report submitted to Michlewitz’s committee a blueprint for paying for the shelter system.
While she has not filed laws on the matter, Healey mentioned she needs to direct $148 million in surplus {dollars} to shelters and associated companies, $67 million to assist college districts and unhoused Okay-12 college students, and $10 million for immigration and refugee well being helps.
Healey additionally advised spending $150 million on housing manufacturing and preservation initiatives she included in a housing bond invoice filed final 12 months.
In a follow-up assertion later within the day, a spokesperson for Mariano mentioned despite the fact that there are bi-weekly experiences from the Healey administration, “there’s currently no legislation before the House, which is what the Speaker was referring to with his comments.”
“The House will wait to see what the administration files before moving forward on this issue,” the spokesperson mentioned in a press release.
House price range author Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, a North End Democrat whose committee obtained the report final month, mentioned the Healey administration offered a timeline for a way lengthy shelter system funding accredited within the fall would final.
“But other than that, I don’t think we really have had too many extensive conversations on exactly what a new bill would look like, what are new spending? How much would it be? What would it look like? We really haven’t had those conversations yet,” he mentioned.
Michlewitz mentioned when the governor information one thing official, he’ll check out it.
“When they file that, we’ll have to certainly take that into consideration and see what it is,” he mentioned.
Mariano additionally mentioned Wednesday that he agreed with Healey’s transfer to slash $375 million from the fiscal 2024 state price range as Massachusetts expects to gather $1 billion much less in revenues than initially anticipated.
Healey’s choice to chop the price range has drawn criticism from progressive corners of Beacon Hill, together with amongst some state lawmakers who’ve seen native tasks lose funding. But Mariano backed the transfer, saying “yes, I do,” when requested if he thought cuts had been the right path ahead.
“I think that the primary thing that we’re responsible for is submitting a balanced budget,” he mentioned. “We have to keep that balanced no matter what the economic conditions are and we have to respond accordingly.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”