Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey's 7.4% spending hike in FY26 'certainly gives us pause,' Senate budget chief says

Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald on Jan 30, 2025

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BOSTON — A top Senate Democrat expressed skepticism toward Gov. Maura Healey’s plan to boost state spending by 7.4% in fiscal year 2026 as Massachusetts faces constrained tax revenue growth and increased business costs.

Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues said the 7.4% spending increase Healey wrote into her $62 billion fiscal year 2026 budget proposal “certainly gives us pause.” Revenue growth in the Bay State is pegged at only 2.2% for the next fiscal year and a post-pandemic slowdown has put pressure on Beacon Hill to rein in spending.

The Westport Democrat said the 7.4% bump is “quite a bit” and is “absolutely driven” by a $2.5 billion gross increase in MassHealth, the state’s public health insurance program.

“We have an aging population in Massachusetts,” he told the Herald. “We know as people age, MassHealth is the line item that pays for their health care, pays for their long-term care, their nursing home, and as people age, they use more and more of those resources. So it’s something we need to be prepared for.”

Healey released her fiscal year 2026 spending plan last week, calling it “balanced” and “fiscally responsible.” The proposal attempts to shuttle hundreds of millions to transportation initiatives, eliminate renter-paid brokers’ fees, and relies on surtax dollars for major initiatives.

Her budget also recommends a series of controversial steps to even out spending, including shuttering two mental health facilities, laying off health care workers, cutting eviction assistance benefits, and authorizing tax increases on candy and synthetic nicotine.

Rodrigues, who will release the Senate’s fiscal year 2026 budget later this year, said lawmakers will review the tax increases but “none of them were surprising.”

“We’ve heard about these issues before. Whether or not they’ll be adopted depends on how my caucus and how the Senate in general feels about them,” he said. “But it’s certainly something we’ll talk about.”

The Westport Democrat said Beacon Hill budget writers agreed that revenue would grow by 2.2% in fiscal year 2026 so a 7.4% hike in spending “certainly gives us pause to see how are we going to manage through that.”

“What type of other resources do we have to manage through that? But as you dig deep and realize that by far, the majority of that increase is in the MassHealth line item and you dig deep into caseloads and the fact that our population is aging, it’s understandable,” he said.

Healey last week said her budget proposal builds “on the foundations to ensure further economic success for Massachusetts.”

“I’ll be clear on the fiscal management that informed the preparation of this budget. Costs are up across this country. I don’t have to tell anyone at home that,” she said. “And with that, we’ve seen an increase in the cost of services. So we asked our agencies to take a hard look to make sure that every dollar that is being spent is making that maximum positive impact.”

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