Guv’s Office Says Old Funding Formula Needs Fresh Update
JAN. 24, 2025…..Gov. Maura Healey’s proposal to increase state funding for local road and bridge projects also overhauls the way those dollars are distributed, and includes major boosts for smaller and rural communities with smaller property tax bases but more road miles to care for.
Healey on Friday filed legislation (HD 4323) authorizing $1.5 billion in bonding for the Chapter 90 program over five years, which would both raise the amount of money distributed each year and also give cities and towns the multi-year commitment they have long been unable to secure from the Legislature. It would also further reshape how state dollars flow to communities to reimburse road and bridge repair projects.
Under the bill, $200 million per year — the same annual funding level that has been in place for most of the past decade and a half — would continue to be distributed according to a formula that takes into account roadway mileage, population and employment.
The extra $100 million on top of that would be carved up based solely on road mileage, effectively giving greater priority to more rural communities with long stretches of roadways.
“We know that municipalities rely on the Chapter 90 program to fund critical improvements to their roads and bridges,” Healey said in a statement. “Under our bill, and with this new, mileage-based formula, every single city and town – including our small towns and rural communities – will see a significant increase in Chapter 90 funding. This means that local officials can put these dollars to work easing congestion, strengthening resilience, and improving safety and quality of life for all of their residents.”
Dozens of cities and towns in central and western Massachusetts could see a 75 percent to 90 percent increase in combined Chapter 90 funding under the bill, and more than 120 others in those areas and southern stretches of the state could receive 60 to 75 percent more, according to data the administration published in a summary of the bill.
The state’s urban core would see less of a boost under the governor’s Chapter 90 plan. Healey is pushing through other legislation, including her annual budget, for a significant funding boost for the MBTA, which serves Boston and dozens of neighboring communities in eastern Massachusetts.
Officials said they built the proposal based on the recommendations of an advisory group, which Healey tasked last year with discussing “challenges and potential improvements” in the Chapter 90 program.
“The Chapter 90 Program has been funded at $200 million annually since 2012, except for a one-time increase in 2015 and some supplemental funds from the Fair Share surtax in 2023 and 2024. The Advisory Group felt strongly that funding was not keeping pace with municipal needs considering inflation, rising construction costs, and the impacts of climate change,” Healey’s office wrote in a summary of her bill.
“Flat funding levels have made it difficult for municipalities to address larger projects in a timely manner, forcing them to store annual program funds over multiple years to cover such work. The distribution formula, based on roadway mileage, population, and employment, has not been changed in 50 years and the Group found it outdated considering demographic and work pattern changes over that time.”
Municipal leaders have long pushed for reforms to the Chapter 90 program with little success. Legislative leaders last year spiked Healey’s proposal for a two-year, $400 million authorization, and instead approved another single year of funding supplemented with additional grants.
Healey outlined her proposal at a Massachusetts Municipal Association conference Friday, more than a week after her administration first signaled plans for a five-year, $1.5 billion proposal as part of a sweeping transportation funding package.
The governor also told city and town leaders she plans to file a “Municipal Empowerment Act 2.0” next week.
Last year, Healey offered the initial version of that bill, which would have allowed cities and towns to increase local taxes on meals, lodging and vehicle registration, plus targeted several other reforms designed to support local government staffing. It proved unpopular in the Legislature and never emerged for floor votes.
It’s not clear how closely the 2.0 version of the bill will hew to the original. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll on Wednesday suggested it would once again pursue increasing the maximum available hotel and meal taxes.
