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Lives in limbo7/29/2023 “Any decrease in the Senate version of UGGA would require us to find another revenue source, which, you know, we don’t want to say it, but it very well could be property taxes,” McLaughlin said. In Waltham, McLaughlin said, councilors approved a city budget for next year that anticipates the Senate’s proposed amount of local aid winning final approval, not the lower offerings from Healey - which the Massachusetts Municipal Association previously described as insufficient - or the House. “Although Waltham has experienced a gradual return to pre-pandemic amounts from local revenue sources, we are still not fully recovered, hence the need for the state to continue to bridge that gap,” he said. Many cities and towns rely on UGGA to help craft their own budgets, McLaughlin said, warning that local sources of revenue like hotel taxes have not returned to pre-COVID levels despite substantial spending needs. Maura Healey proposed about $1.255 billion in UGGA, about 2 percent more than the current budget, and the House budget would allocate $1.25 billion. The Senate’s plan would increase UGGA about 3.2 percent over fiscal year 2023 levels. Waltham City Councilor John McLaughlin called revenue-sharing between the state and its municipalities “critical,” and he endorsed the $1.27 billion in unrestricted general government aid (UGGA) in the Senate-approved budget as the best option for cities and towns. With the contours of a fiscal 2024 budget bill now in the hands of a House-Senate conference committee, members of the Local Government Advisory Commission on Tuesday pitched the Healey administration on what they want to see in the final spending plan, typically backing the most generous funding levels under consideration. BOSTON (SHNS) – Cities and towns will likely need to wait weeks longer to find out how much state aid they’ll receive in the next year, and the answers they get will have spillover effects on municipal budgets and possibly even local property taxes.
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