A number of local initiatives were cut on Monday as GOP Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed a $320 million swath of the Democrat-controlled Legislature’s $40.2 billion budget, before signing a $39.4 billion package and revising this year’s tax revenue projections downward by $749 million.
Legislators can override Baker’s vetoes by a two-thirds vote in both houses before the session ends on July 31.
Overall, the signed budget accounts for a $652 million spending increase over last year, or 1.7 percent. Tax revenues are projected to grow by 3.4 percent. “Despite slow revenue growth, this year’s budget contains historic investments for local schools, critical funding for our cities and towns, workforce development and programs to fight the opioid epidemic,” Baker said in a statement.
The governor’s cuts eliminated 500 of 600 local earmarks that legislators had designated for specific district projects and priorities. Among the initiatives to get the ax, the Mattapan Integrative Care Partnership pilot program’s expected $50,000 to be spread between the Mattapan Community Health Center, Inc., Mattahunt Community Center, Mattahunt Elementary School, and the Wheelock College social work department. The funds would have provided for a behavioral health practice at the Mattapan Community Health Center and supported a full-time licensed social worker “to bring mental health care to the community’s youth and to improve the coordination of care.”
A $25,000 allocation to the Roxbury-based Boston Scholar Athletes program was vetoed, as was $50,000 set for Youth and Family Enrichment Services, Inc. to provide after-school academic enrichment for area youth. Also scrapped was $25,000 meant for The South Boston en Acción, Inc. for leadership development training, English for speakers of other languages and vocational skills instruction; and immersion language training.
Baker also nixed $135,000 for the Gang to College Pilot program, which helps youth from high crime areas in the city of Boston enroll in college pathway programs, and $200,000 assigned to a JFK Library Foundation civics education program focusing on underserved communities across the Commonwealth.
Much of the budget conversation has been consumed by Baker’s proposal to help pay for growing MassHealth expenses. He included in his bottom line $200 million in new employer fees and MassHealth reforms that lawmakers laid aside during budget deliberations. On Monday, the governor asked lawmakers to hold a public hearing on those proposals within 30 days and approve them within 60 days.
Without those reforms, administration finance officials say, the budget is vulnerable to a $350 million hole that might require other spending changes and cuts.
