Category Archives: Budgets

MMA Suggests Solutions to Declining State Aid

Posted on December 11, 2025 | Leave a comment

GET THE FULL ARTICLE VIA THE LINK BELOW:

Navigating the Storm: Charting a Course Toward Fiscal Stability

State aid – Unrestricted General Government Aid, or UGGA – to Medfield has declined for decades, and today is at less than half the level of our real estate property tax revenue that it was in 2007. The declining state aid has increasingly moved municipal services from being funded by the state income tax to the local property tax.

Thanks to Steve Callahan, Chair of the Warrant Committee for circulating the link to the Massachusetts Municipal Association piece that Assistant Town Administrator, Brittney Franklin shared with him.

Thanks too to the Massachusetts Municipal Association for focusing on this issue of inadequate and declining state funding.

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Posted in Budgets, Financial, Legislature, Select Board matters, Warrant Committee

Town’s Buildings Require $100m in Repairs in Next 5 years

Posted on December 11, 2025 | 1 comment

 https://town.medfield.net/DocumentCenter/View/9333/Medfield_CapitalPlan_DecarbonizationStudy-1

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Posted in Budgets, Buildings, Financial, Select Board matters, Town Meeting, Town Services, Warrant Committee

Black Out at Budget Workshop

Posted on December 3, 2025 | 2 comments

MEDFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT photo –

The Warrant Committee’s joint budget workshop with the Select Board and School Committee last night was ended by this tree on the wires along Main Street that turned off the electricity to the Medfield High School library, putting the meeting into darkness – the MHS’s emergency generator failed to come on. The meeting proceeded in the dimness for a short time illuminated only by the light from the computer screens and cell phones, and apparently was still being broadcast on backup power.

The workshop discussion will be re-scheduled and the discussions will continue.

Issue = only an additional 1.2% budget monies are available for spending increases for FY27, so even level funding is not possible. Plus large capital expenses required:

  1. $120 m. required to repair town buildings over the next 20 years.
  2. $100 m. required in next 5 years for priority building repairs – roofs and building envelopes.
  3. Dale Street School must be replaced.

Overrides seem needed, unless residents want fewer services.

Thank you to the Warrant Committee for starting the discussion!

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Posted in Budgets, Financial, Medfield High School, Police Department, Schools, Select Board matters, Warrant Committee

Massachusetts losing $3.7 billion to Trump policies, per state dashboard

Posted on October 8, 2025 | Comments Off on Massachusetts losing $3.7 billion to Trump policies, per state dashboard

From the Globe –

New dashboard shows exactly how much federal funding Mass. is losing out on under Trump

Many Massachusetts residents are at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage, SNAP benefits, and more under the cuts.

Massachusetts is losing about $3.7 billion in federal funds due to actions by the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. Suzanne Kreiter/Boston Globe

By Ross CristantielloOctober 7, 2025 | 11:24 AM

Massachusetts officials launched a new online dashboard this week designed to clearly show how federal funding cuts are negatively impacting Massachusetts under the Trump administration. All told, the state has lost about $3.7 billion due to President Trump and a Congress beholden to him, according to the dashboard.  

From Massachusetts state website –

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Posted in Budgets, Federal Government, Financial, State

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Causes $650 m. Hole in Mass State Budget

Posted on October 5, 2025 | 1 comment

  Read Online

New tax provisions brings a $650M state budget hit with the shutdown adding to the woes

  Sam Drysdale share on facebook   share on twitter   share on threads   share on linkedin

Just three months into the new fiscal year, lawmakers learned about a new wrinkle caused by the One Big Beautiful Bill: federal tax law changes within the new law that could remove $650 million in state tax revenue supports that are holding up the $61 billion annual budget.

The sweeping federal legislation, signed the same day as the state budget, could siphon hundreds of millions from Beacon Hill’s coffers, a development disclosed at an economic roundtable. The news is forcing lawmakers to rethink core assumptions and scramble for possible fiscal workarounds. Add a full-blown federal government shutdown to the mix, and the state’s economic footing looks shakier by the day.

The shutdown became official on Wednesday. Federal offices closed. Economic data streams went dark. Gov. Maura Healey didn’t mince words: “It’s terrible for our country.”

She blasted Congressional Republicans for “driving us over a cliff.”

Roughly 45,000 federal workers who live in Massachusetts could be facing furloughs, and state officials began preliminary planning last week to keep key programs afloat while federal dollars are paused.

The U.S. Department of Labor also confirmed that Friday’s national jobs report would be shelved, sidelining data that influences economic, government and business decisions.

On Tuesday, Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder dropped the news about the $650 million exposure that occurs because the state is “coupled” with many federal tax provisions, creating ripple effects.

“This is one of the more challenging times that we’ve faced from a fiscal perspective,” said House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, noting that while several options are on the table, few are ideal.

Budget leaders are now weighing, at a minimum, whether to dip into reserves, revise revenue forecasts mid-year (a decision due by Oct. 15), or decouple state tax law from specific parts of the federal code.

Administration and Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz was blunt: “There’s a lot of uncertainty, and there’s a lot of things we have to consider in managing that.”

Pressed on whether midyear budget cuts might be necessary, Gorzkowicz said simply: “I don’t know.”

The state does $860 million in unallocated funds built into the budget, perhaps with some foresight of what was coming but possibly also due to the common legislative tendency to pass supplemental budgets.

Sen. Michael Rodrigues, however, signaled restraint around the state’s over-$8 billion reserve fund: “We have other tools available. I’d be hard-pressed to suggest dipping into the Stabilization Fund right now.”

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Posted in Budgets, Federal Government, Financial, Legislature, State

State Flush with $, but not Sharing

Posted on June 7, 2025 | Comments Off on State Flush with $, but not Sharing

From the Statehouse News Service Weekly Roundup (that former Medfield resident John Nunnari faithfully continues to share with me weekly, despite being gone 5+ years) –

“State tax collections continue to cruise, putting the total haul with just one month left in the fiscal year more than $2.8 billion ahead of last year’s pace”

Yet the state is not sharing so much with Medfield this year. Current Cherry Sheet estimated increases for state revenue sharing with towns over last year are modest.

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Posted in Budgets, Financial, Legislature, State

Senate Budget #s – similar to House & Gov

Posted on May 29, 2025 | Comments Off on Senate Budget #s – similar to House & Gov

The Senate released its cherry sheet budget numbers today, and the Senate’s money for Medfield tracks the House and Governor’s budget amounts fairly closely – meaning that the town will not likely see much increase in state aid next year.

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Posted in Budgets, Legislature, State

Senate Ways & Means adds less than $40K for Medfield

Posted on May 6, 2025 | Comments Off on Senate Ways & Means adds less than $40K for Medfield

Looks to be a lean year for Medfield’s state aid, as the Senate Ways & Means Committee added less than $40K to the House budget numbers for Medfield, which were already only small increases. All the state $ must be going for the $25m. parking garage in the Speaker’s district:

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Posted in Budgets, Legislature, State

Draft State $

Posted on April 22, 2025 | Comments Off on Draft State $

DRAFT CHERRY SHEETS – legislature proposes level funding UGGA (state aid – line 21 below)

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Posted in Budgets, State

More on CDC cutting already promised $

Posted on March 27, 2025 | Comments Off on More on CDC cutting already promised $

Follow up today from MASSterList on CDC $ Feds cut –

READ IN BROWSER

CDC pulls COVID response grants

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulled about $11.4 billion in Covid-19 pandemic response grants allocated to state and community health centers on Wednesday. The Department of Health and Human Services said the agency will “no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.” In a statement released Wednesday, Gov. Healey said the grants are expected to bring nearly $100 million to Massachusetts over the next year, but that “much” of the funding has already been obligated in the state — the Trump administration is moving to eliminate the unobligated parts of the grants. Healey condemned the federal decision, calling it “yet another example of President Trump and Elon Musk undermining the health and wellbeing of the people of Massachusetts and people across this nation.”

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Posted in Budgets, Federal Government, health