Massachusetts state budget (2011-2012)

Note: This article was last updated in 2012. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances.

This page summarizes key events in the fiscal year 2012 budget process in Massachusetts.

On October 5, 2011, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted to approve a supplemental budget and on October 28, 2011, Governor Deval Patrick signed the bill into law. The supplemental budget provided for a deposit of $350 million into the state's Rainy Day Fund. At the time, Massachusetts was one of only four states in the country with a Rainy Day Fund in excess of $1 billion, with a balance of $1.4 billion as of 2011.

The supplemental budget also provided for $169 million in spending, including giving cities and towns $65 million in promised local aid. Additional spending included:

• Nearly $20 million in aid for a series of natural disasters
• $39 million on the MassWorks Infrastructure Program
• $9 million for collective bargaining agreements
• $10 million to allowing substance abusers to be committed by the courts to a treatment program for up to 90 days
• $12 million in new assistance and $8 million in retained revenue to the trial court system
• $3 million for adult basic education programs
• $850,000 for adult immunization and vaccines

Fiscal year 2012 budget

Governor Patrick signed the fiscal year 2012 $30.6 billion state budget into law on July 11, 2012, after the state operated under a stopgap budget for ten days. The state legislature reached a $30.6 billion budget agreement on June 30, 2012 and voted to approve that plan on July 1.

Legislative proposed budgets

With both the House and Senate budgets complete, a conference committee worked to reconcile them and send them to the governor.

The Senate passed its $30.5 billion state budget on May 26, 2011. The plan dipped into the state's one-time savings accounts for $440 million to help close an estimated $1.9 billion spending gap without additional federal stimulus dollars.

The Massachusetts House approved a $30.4 billion budget for fiscal year 2012 on April 28, 2011, which was $94 million less than Patrick's proposal. The House's budget used $103 million that otherwise would have been transferred into the Rainy Day Fund, in addition to the $200 million they proposed withdrawing from the fund. It also cut $800 million from MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program.

The House budget agreed with the governor's proposal to cut $65 million in local aid. The House plan included $337 million in revenue initiatives, such as postponing for one year a tax deduction for certain businesses.

Governor's proposed budget

Overall, the governor's proposed budget relied on cuts and savings to close $1.3 billion of the budget gap, and also relied on $360 million in temporary revenues, such as using $200 million from the state stabilization fund, and anticipated $244 million from modest tax reforms and other revenue initiatives.

Patrick's spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 withdrew $200 million from the Rainy Day Fund, leaving $569 million in cash reserves.