INFRASTRUCTURE, HOUSING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Conference Committee report includes major policy changes for transportation and infrastructure, dedicating a new funding source for public transportation and maintenance of state roads. The Conference Report includes substantial cuts to the state’s housing, workforce and economic development programs.

In the area of transportation, the Conference Report creates the new Massachusetts Transportation Fund (MTF) and provides $275 million in funding. The MTF, which was included in both the House and Senate final budgets, will provide funding to the MBTA, Regional Transportation Authorities and the state’s Turnpike Authority (or successor agency). The MTF is funded through 0.385 percent of sales tax revenue² as well as any revenue collected from tolls, fares or fees collected from the MBTA, Regional Transportation Authorities and the Turnpike Authority.

Of the $275 million transferred to the MTF:

• $100 million is transferred to the Turnpike Authority;

• $160 million is transferred to the MBTA; and

• $15 million is transferred to Regional Transportation Authorities.

The fund is to be used to for debt service, infrastructure and maintenance requirements.

Aside from the new transportation fund, the Conference Report:

• Funds Regional Transportation Authorities (RTA’s) at $44.7 million, identical to the funding level in the final Senate budget. This appropriation is $12.2 million below the final House budget funding level and $13.2 million less than the FY 2009 GAA. However, with the $15 million transfer from the new transportation fund, RTA’s will be funded at $59.7 million, $1.8 million above the FY 2009 GAA.

• Funds summer jobs for at-risk youth at $4 million, identical to the funding level in the final Senate budget. This appropriation is $4 million below the final House budget funding level and $4.1 less than the FY 2009 GAA.

• Funds the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism and the state’s Sports and Entertainment Commission at $8.7 million, identical to the funding level in the final Senate budget. These appropriations are $3.7 million below the final House budget funding levels and $28.4 million less than the FY 2009 GAA. The reason for the steep decline from the FY 2009 GAA is due to the elimination of earmarks for funding of local tourism projects around the state.

• Funds Workforce Training Grants at $10 million, identical to the funding level in the final Senate budget. This appropriation is $11 million less than both the final House budget funding level and the FY 2009 GAA. This program provides grants to employers for worker retention and training.

• The Conference Report adopts the Senate’s proposed funding levels for a number of affordable housing programs. These final levels, which are lower than the FY 2009 GAA, raise questions about how the state can continue to maintain existing levels of service for individuals and families who rely on these programs. The Conference Report mirrors the final Senate proposal by providing $65.3 million in funding for public housing authority subsidies. This funding is $1.2 million below the FY 2009 GAA and $6 million below the final House budget proposal. Vouchers provided to individuals with disabilities are funded at $3.4 million which is $500,000 below the FY 2009 GAA and the final House proposal. The Residential Assistance to Families in Transition receives $5 million which is $500,000 less than both the House proposal and the FY 2009 GAA.

• Rental assistance provided to low-income families through the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) receives $30 million in the Conference Committee’s budget, a reduction of $3 million from the FY 2009 GAA and almost $6 million below the House budget request. Outside Section 129 of the Conference Report requests that MassHousing continue to provide $5 million in MRVP funding in FY 2010 that it committed to in FY 2009 when the Governor made cuts to the program through his 9C Authority.

• The Conference Report eliminates a number of programs that were funded in the FY 2009 GAA. It includes in Outside Section 129 a request that quasi-public housing agencies provide the same level of funding for some of these programs in FY 2010 that they provided in FY 2009 when the Governor made his 9C cuts in October 2008. The Conference Committee follows the Senate’s recommendation to eliminate the Soft Second Loan Program, which provides assistance to first-time home buyers who are low-income. In its budget the House recommended providing $2.5 million for this program while the FY 2009 GAA approved $5.8 million. Section 129 of the Conference Report requests that the Massachusetts Housing Partnership continue to provide $2 million to support the Soft Second Program through FY 2010. The Conference Report also eliminates funding for interest subsidies to private developers of affordable housing which neither the House nor the Senate recommended funding in their final budgets. This program which received $4.5 million in the FY 2009 GAA was eliminated when the Governor made his 9C cuts and MassHousing agreed to fund the subsidies. The Conference Report has requested that MassHousing continue funding this program in FY 2010.

• The Conference Committee budget eliminates the Individual Development Account program that received $700,000 in the FY 2009 GAA but that neither the House nor the Senate recommended funding in their FY 2010 budget recommendations.

²Budget language requires that in years where 0.385 percent of sales tax revenue is less than $275 million, money will be transferred from the General Fund to the MTF to ensure that it receives an additional $275 million annually.