BOSTON - Gov. Maura Healey signed a supplemental budget for fiscal year 2023 Tuesday, just a few weeks after announcing her FY-2024 budget. As Doug Howgate of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation explains, this is normal and is essentially a way for the state to pay their bills. 

“The supplemental budget that Governor Healey just signed was essentially an exercise for programs that had demand that was greater than expected and they ran out of money and adjustments needed to be made," said Howgate. 

When the budget goes into effect most years on July 1, there is no way of knowing what may come up. Supplemental budgets account for costs, paid often by moving money from excess funds built in to cover the gap.

This particular supplemental budget funds programs like universal free school lunches, which would have run out of money before the end of the school year. It also has money to help people who rely on federal COVID-era SNAP benefits, which are also running out.

Howgate told Spectrum News 1 there’s a fine line when it comes to supplementing federal funding with state dollars, because the federal government may use it as an excuse not to fund a program in the future.

"I think one of the dangers we also face is that if Massachusetts says, 'hey federal government, we are just going to fund this now,' that sends a really dangerous message to a divided Congress who might say, 'we don’t have to fund this program because the states who want it will just do it themselves,'" Howgate said.

This may not be the last supplemental budget that will come up before July. Last week, Healey introduced another, much larger proposal which includes funding for clean energy and combating climate change, as well as $200 million to go towards attracting and retaining health and human services workers.