By CHRIS COLLINS
(undated) – Massachusetts now has a temporary budget in place. The House and Senate and House Ways and Means committees have announced agreement on a $16.5 billion interim budget which is expected to carry the commonwealth through October. State operations have recently been funded by a monthly budget approved by the Legislature and Governor Charlie Baker.
The original timeline had the Legislature finalizing a budget by September, which a number of communities had been counting on to be able to finalize their own budgets. A number of cities and towns either had to pass over certain budget items or drop funding altogether for capital items because of a projected state budget gap of between $2 billion and $8 billion. Among the key state aid figures towns are waiting for is Chapter 70 education funding, which some school districts are depending on to fully fund staff positions and programs going into the new educational year.