Legislature Drops CPA Surplus Funding from FY24 State Budget

At the end of July, the FY24 State Budget was released from Conference Committee, whose members were charged with reconciling the differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget. And while the Coalition was optimistic after the Senate's proposal for the budget included language allocating $30M in surplus funding for the CPA Trust Fund, unfortunately this language was dropped in the newest version of the state budget.

This development is especially disappointing during a year in which revenue for the Trust Fund has dropped by over 33% (primarily due to rising interest rates and declining home sales across the state). Without any additional revenue in the form of surplus dollars, it is likely that the CPA Trust Fund distribution in November will be significantly lower than what municipalities received in 2022. With that said, the current circumstances are far from unprecedented. Last year, the CPA surplus language was also dropped from the FY23 state budget after being caught up in a line-item veto from Governor Baker - the Coalition later succeeded in securing a supplemental distribution of $20 million to CPA cities and towns through a separate bill filed in the fall.

The Coalition will continue to provide updates on any new developments in the coming weeks.