LEGISLATURE ENACTS FINAL FISCAL 2019 CLOSEOUT BUDGET WITH FUNDING FOR MANY MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTS Lawmakers Strike Compromise to Meet Comptroller’s Deadline Final Version Includes Supp. Funding for Municipal & School Programs $20M in Additional Chapter 90 Funding $23.9M for Water Infrastructure, Including $14.85M for PFAS $5M More for Charter School Mitigation Payments Additional Funds for Reg. Sch. Trans, SPED Circuit Breaker After weeks of negotiations, House and Senate leaders reached agreement on a supplemental budget bill to close the books on the state’s fiscal 2019 budget. Acting in response to a deadline set by the state Comptroller, the bill emerged late in the evening on Wednesday, Dec. 11, and was enacted by lawmakers shortly after midnight this morning via a voice vote. Fiscal 2019 tax collections ran approximately $1.1 billion ahead of projections, and after accounting for increased spending in other mid-year budget bills, the year-end surplus was estimated at about $870 million. The final closeout bill, H. 4246, shifts $587 million to the state’s stabilization account (also referred to as the “rainy day” fund), a much larger savings number than any of the previous budget versions. The remaining supplemental appropriations are therefore significantly smaller across the board than the closeout budgets passed by the House and Senate in October. While the final appropriations are smaller for most programs, passage of the bill is good news, since none of this funding would have materialized otherwise, with the Comptroller sweeping all of the funds into the state’s rainy day fund instead. Key Municipal Capital Programs in the Legislature’s Final FY19 Closeout Bill $20 million for grants to cities and towns for the construction and improvement of municipal ways as a supplement to the Chapter 90 program. (While this additional Chapter 90 appropriation is certainly appreciated, this is lower than the $60 million originally passed in the separate House and Senate bills, or the $40 million filed by the Governor last fall.) $10.65 million transferred to the Clean Water Trust to assist in the remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in local water systems. $9.05 million transferred to the Clean Water Trust to help finance improvements to local water systems via the State Revolving Fund. $4.2 million to help cities and towns test for local drinking water contamination related to PFAS. Key Municipal & School Aid Funding in the Final FY19 Closeout Bill $5 million for charter school reimbursements to school districts, bringing the final fiscal 2019 appropriation up to $95 million. $2.5 million for student transportation in regional school districts, which would bring state funding a bit closer to the full funding mark in fiscal 2019. The bill appropriates $5.188 million to the account, and sets aside $2.6 million of this for use in funding the fiscal 2020 appropriation. $2 million for the special education circuit breaker program, to bring fiscal 2019 to full funding for the state’s share of this important program. $2 million for student transportation reimbursements for homeless students under the federal McKinney-Vento Act. $1.17 million for the Municipal Regionalization Reserve to help cities and towns develop best practices in vital areas, such as cybersecurity. The final budget bill also requires early voting in the Presidential Primary, with $625K available to fund a portion of the costs and $1.5M to increase voter awareness, and also sets September 1 as the date of the State Primary Election. The MMA will be advocating for full reimbursement of the expense of new early voting requirements. As is customary, the budget bill includes a number of earmarks for local programs. Please click here for a link to H. 4246 (https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/H4246), to review the status of any local projects or appropriations you have been tracking.