Tag: MetroWest Daily News

  • Why Bill Galvin is concerned about Gov. Healey’s fiscal ’27 budget

    Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has said that Gov. Maura Healey’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal may not include enough money to cover what he says will be significantly higher costs for local and state elections later this year.

    At least two MetroWest town clerks agree with him.

    Galvin recently told the Joint Committee on Ways and Means that up to 12 ballot questions could appear on the November state ballot. He pointed out that the $89.6 million Healey is proposing to be set aside for ballot printing costs is only slightly more than the $82.9 million spent on fiscal 2025 elections, which included the 2024 Presidential Election.

    Healey’s proposal sets aside $15 million as a contingency, but Galvin said that won’t cover an expected 50% increase in printing costs.

    “In the real world, I need real money. I can’t get an IOU balance,” the state’s top election official said.

    Hopkinton Town Clerk Connor Degan said he appreciates the state anticipating unforeseen costs, given $3.7 billion in federal government cuts to the Commonwealth. But he has concerns about meeting local costs for things like early voting.

    “I know we’ve continued to see less financial support coming from the federal level, so knowing that the state is ready to pick up the slack is comforting,” Degan said.

    Town clerk worries about reimbursements to municipalities

    The state election budget includes funding for reimbursements to municipalities for unfunded mandates such as the costs associated with early voting. Degan said he’s hopeful that “there’s going to be enough money to ensure that reimbursements can be made to municipalities.”

    Degan anticipated a higher early voting turnout for the November mid-term elections, which will include races for governor, state legislators, Congress and a U.S. Senate seat. In past election cycles, Degan said Hopkinton dedicated resources such as staffing to early voting locations but did not see the anticipated turnout.

    Natick Town Clerk Andrew Ghobrial said communities must also budget for town elections. Natick’s budget includes three elections in the upcoming year, including the September primary, the gubernatorial election in November and a town election in March 2027.

    Ghobrial said he has “boosted the budget to ask for funding to cover all the expenses related to vote by mail, early voting, operational costs for overtime, for staff, everything in between.”

    Galvin specifically pointed to the costs associated with the 12 ballot questions. His office is required to include an informational booklet with the full text of each proposal. When including comments from those on both sides of each question, that booklet could run to 100 pages.

    Galvin estimated needing an additional $4 million just for the printing costs, not including postage, adding he doesn’t believe that could be covered by Healey’s $15 million contingency.

    In his eight terms as secretary of the Commonwealth, Galvin said he has never seen more than eight questions on the ballot. He urged lawmakers to resolve some of those issues before May 6, to reduce both the number of questions on the ballot and the costs associated with them.

  • MA rent control opponents say initiative would hurt small landlords

    Advocates for small property owners describe the rent control proposal likely headed for next fall’s ballot as the most “restrictive and aggressive” the state has seen to date, and say it would be detrimental to small landlords.

    Small property owners – who provide more than 65% of Massachusetts’ rental housing, according to the Small Property Owners Association – operate on tight margins, so they’re typically only a few missed bank checks away from bankruptcy or losing their business, according to Amir Shahsavari, the organization’s vice president.

    He said if these “mom and pop” businesses no longer exist, tenants will be in a “tough predicament” if properties are then taken over by larger corporations. That’s because they will no longer have a person to connect with immediately if there are issues in their building – a benefit usually provided by smaller landlords.

    In addition, operating costs like utilities, insurance and particularly property taxes – which Boston Mayor Michelle Wu recently said are expected to increase by 13% in January – have risen in recent years, which factors into rents. However, if caps are put in place, advocates are concerned property owners will not be able to adapt to these costs.

    “On one hand, we appreciate the pressures that renters have when they say that rent is increasing,” Shahsavari said. “But what people miss in this story is that operating costs are also going up exorbitantly for the property owner, too.”

    “If (small property owners) can’t increase rents, what’s going to happen is they have to exit the market,” added Tony Lopes, a SPOA board member. “We can’t afford to supply this housing at a loss every month.”

    The initiative seeks to limit annual rent increases for most residential units by either the amount of the Consumer Price Index increase or 5% – whichever value is lower – during a 12-month period. It would set base rents as of Jan. 31, 2026, but residents would not vote on the measure, which would apply to every municipality, until next November.

    What must happen for the question to make the ballot

    To reach the ballot, it must still go through a process that includes certification of more than 124,000 signatures, legislative review and likely another round of signature gathering if lawmakers don’t approve the proposal.

    To account for small property owners, the measure includes a provision to exempt owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units. Noemi Ramos, executive director of the New England Community Project, said because of this, the notion that the measure will impact small landlords is “out the window.”

    But Shahsavari said the provision is “misleading” because property owners with four units or fewer are a minority among the small property owner community. Because of the tight limit, those who exceed this amount – which he said is the “vast majority” of small property owners – would be categorized with companies that operate on a much larger and commercialized scale.

    Instead, he said the definition of a small property owner depends on a business structure’s size, scope and reach, rather than the number of units an owner manages.

    “What one small owner can handle might be different from the capacity that another owner would have,” Shahsavari said. “It ultimately comes down to the degree to which the owner can manage his or her business in a hands-on way without expanding too far out to the point where they really become a conglomerate.”

    Ramos said Homes For All Massachusetts, the statewide coalition behind the ballot initiative, decided to use four units as the cut-off after speaking with small property owners and deciding “what are our values when we think about how we define small landlords.”

    “I remember asking a developer in the (city of Boston’s Rent Stabilization Advisory Committee), ‘How do you define a small landlord?’ and they said, ‘Fifty units or less,’” Ramos said. “When you think about 50 units, that’s a business. That’s no longer a small landlord.”

    Developers say threat of rent control has ‘chilling effect’

    Another provision in the initiative addresses development by exempting units where the “first residential certificate of occupancy” is under 10 years old, or 10 years from when the certificate of occupancy is validated

    Tamara Small, CEO of the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association of Massachusetts, said the “threat of the (rent control) question” is already having a chilling effect on investment and development. If put in place, she said the measure would also lead to decreased quality of housing and repairs, which would result in either subpar conditions or units being taken off the market.

    Antonio Ennis, a Dorchester community organizer at City Life / Vida Urbana, disagrees. He said landlords should always factor in money for property repairs and keeping buildings up to code. Ennis, a small property owner who occupies one unit and rents out two others in a three-decker, would not be affected.

    Developers and property owner advocates say the primary solution to solving the state’s housing crisis is increased development, which they say rent control hinders.

    “If rent control is in place in the market, investors do not go to that market. They go elsewhere,” Small said. “Without those investment dollars, projects are not built.”

    “No financial decisions and investments are made on a 10-year time horizon,” added Conor Yunits, committee chair for an opposition group for the measure called Housing for Massachusetts.

    Mark Martinez, staff housing attorney for the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, pointed out that despite not having rent control for more than 30 years, Massachusetts remains behind in terms of housing production.

    “This isn’t a development policy. This is a stabilization policy,” he said. “Judging a stabilization policy based off whether it’s going to spur development doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

    He said the measure is a “commonsense” policy, but not the only measure that needs to be taken to solve the housing crisis.

    “It’s going to take a decade, if not longer, to build all the housing that we need,” Martinez said. “But in the meantime, families need to be able to stay around.”

    Small pointed to cities like Austin and Phoenix as models for Boston to solve its housing crisis. In both cities, an increased housing supply resulted in lower rent growth and prices.

    How high are rents in Massachusetts?

    Massachusetts historically has some of the nation’s highest rents, and recent reports have ranked it as the state with the second highest cost of living. In May, the Consumer Affairs Journal of Consumer Research ranked Massachusetts as the fifth worst state for renters due to a lack of affordability and availability.

    “This is a statewide issue, and we’re continuing to see the crisis intensify,” said Carolyn Chou, executive director of Homes For All Massachusetts. “We can’t wait while corporate landlords come into our cities and towns and hike up the rent and displace our communities.”

    Over 40% of state residents who rent are “cost-burdened,” as of 2022, meaning they pay above 30% of their incomes on housing, according to data from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. In some areas, such as Springfield, Boston, Cambridge, Newton and Barnstable, it’s more than 50% of renters.

    Residents paying over 50% of their income on housing are classified as “severely cost burdened,” according to the Healey administration’s “A Home for Everyone” initiative. The percentage of renters in Massachusetts who fall into this category ranges from about 20%-30%, depending on the area.

    When families have to spend an excess amount of their income on housing, they have less money for needs such as food, transportation and childcare. They’re also unable to “save money for opportunities that could provide a pathway to higher income, as well as wealth-building,” which includes education, job training or homeownership, according to the initiative.

    “Rent is often the first place people put their money toward,” said Chelsea Sedani, director of advocacy at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. “If you don’t have that, it makes a lot of other things very challenging.”

    Rent control advocates say measure would help economy in other ways

    Decreased rents could have an effect on the larger economy as well, because they could potentially increase purchasing power.

    “If we alleviate the pressure that people are feeling around housing costs, we’re going to make it easier for them to spend in other areas of their lives,” Sedani said.

    The last time Massachusetts had a rent control measure in place was in 1994 – but voters overturned it. Many opponents cite this as another reason the measure should not be implemented.

    However, state Sen. Patricia Jehlen, D-Somerville, pointed out that Boston, Brookline and Cambridge voted in favor of keeping rent control before it was outlawed statewide in 1994. She said Massachusetts needs to not just create more housing but to preserve “naturally occurring affordable housing.”

    “People are not going to stay in Massachusetts if we just count on building new housing,” she said. “It’s not fast enough and not cheap enough.”

    High rents make it difficult for residents to plan and save money long term, so rent caps would provide predictability that would keep people in their homes longer, Martinez said.

    Although both supporters and opponents presented different ways on how to approach the housing affordability crisis, they agreed on one solution: increasing the supply of housing.

    “Supply, supply, supply,” Yunits said. “That’s really all there is. We’ve got to build.”

  • Framingham MA officials decry bill seeking change in teacher layoff policy

    (Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct an attribution error.)

    With several Massachusetts school districts anticipating having to make staffing reductions next year, a state bill under consideration could reshape how those decisions get made.

    The proposal aims to keep high-performing and bilingual educators in classrooms by prioritizing performance over seniority, but officials in Framingham and elsewhere argue the bill takes a backward approach. They say it focuses on who leaves the profession, rather than expanding the pathways that allow new educators to enter it.

    “It doesn’t address the core barriers,” said Christine Mulroney, president of the Framingham Teachers Association. “It doesn’t address the student debt crisis, the challenge of the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure (MTEL) subject matter proficiency requirements or the lack of district-based teacher pathways.”

    The bill, filed by state Sen. John Cronin, D-Fitchburg, is backed by the national nonprofit Educators for Excellence, which argues the state’s current seniority-first layoff rules weaken districts’ ability to retain strong early-career educators. The bill would allow districts to keep teachers who hold required certifications and have attained higher performance ratings, with local student needs and collective bargaining criteria factored into those decisions.

    Framingham school official: ‘Very ageist and misguided perception’

    Supporters point to research tying teacher diversity to improved student outcomes, and say Massachusetts’ system — the state is one of just six nationally that requires early-career teachers to be let go first — disproportionately affects bilingual educators and educators of color, according to Educators for Excellence Executive Director Lisa Lazare.

    But in Framingham, where bilingual and early-career educators are concentrated in district-grown pathways — structured routes that guide educators through the stages of professional growth — officials say the bill rests on a flawed assumption.

    “The idea that people with high seniority are not good teachers,” said Inna London, Framingham Public Schools’ assistant superintendent for human resources, “is a very ageist and misguided perception.”

    Framingham Public Schools poised for cuts after enrollment decline

    The proposal would represent a significant shift from Framingham’s seniority-first layoff system. After losing more than 600 students this past year — and facing an $8 million budget deficit, as Chapter 70 state aid drops accordingly — layoffs are expected under current rules, leaving district leaders to assess how a state-mandated, performance-based model would function in practice.

    “We know we will be looking at staffing cuts,” London said, leaving early-career educators (many bilingual or trained through district-grown pathways) in a vulnerable position.

    Those pathways are central to Framingham’s hiring strategy. The district partners with Framingham State University on a teacher residency program and works with Lesley University in Cambridge to help paraprofessionals earn licensure while working in schools.

    “It would be really unfortunate if individuals who benefited from the pathways we’ve provided — many of whom speak multiple languages — are the first to go,” London said. “Many are educators of color.”

    School officials: Bill ignores structural barriers to becoming a teacher

    London and Mulroney also said the proposal overlooks the structural barriers that limit who can enter the profession in the first place: the cost of educator preparation programs, the difficulty and expense of MTEL licensure exams, and the lack of statewide support for alternative routes.

    They further questioned how performance evaluations, a central feature of the bill, could be applied fairly in high-stakes layoff decisions.

    “Performance evaluation is very subjective,” Mulroney said. “I’ve seen evaluations over the years that clearly take into account an administrator’s personal opinion. It’s hard to get that out of the equation.”

    Framingham’s evaluation practices also vary across schools, London said, and a performance-based layoff system would require substantial implementation work: retraining administrators, aligning evaluation practices and defining what rating categories (“exemplary,” “proficient,” etc.) mean in practice.

    “There is a level of subjectivity that cannot be eradicated,” she said. “We would need to retrain administrators to ensure consistency of evaluations.”

    How would such a law change the teaching profession itself?

    Any shift in law, London added, would also require impact bargaining with the Framingham Teachers Association to determine how evaluations would be standardized and applied.

    Framingham officials also raised broader concerns about how the proposal would reshape the structure of the teaching profession itself.

    “Reducing the more veteran educators would take away a lot of the historical knowledge, particularly in our language programs,” Mulroney said. “Often, they are mentors to new educators.”

    Weakening seniority protections, London added, could discourage prospective teachers from entering a profession already facing declining interest and erode the long-term commitment that keeps educators in the classroom.

    “The bill undermines the concept of tenure that’s so embedded in the way the profession has been conceived and running for decades,” she said.

    While Mulroney and London both support efforts to diversify the educator workforce, they say the bill’s approach does not match the district’s needs.

    “Anything we can do to encourage a more diverse group to enter education would be great,” London said. “But there has to be ongoing support from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to ensure people stay.”

    The bill, proposed as a pilot from 2026 to 2032, would require DESE to assess whether the policy increases the number of teachers of color statewide. Framingham education officials say meaningful diversification depends on expanding entry pathways and providing sustained support — areas they say the proposal does not address. And with the Massachusetts Teachers Association opposing the measure, its prospects on Beacon Hill remain uncertain.

    “Having a deep workforce… newer educators, diverse educators and the more senior educators… makes this a much more enriching community,” Mulroney said.

  • MA seeks solution to decline in number of primary care doctors

    Arline MacCormack has had four primary care physicians in the past four years.

    MacCormack, a college administrator and longtime Newton resident, saw the same “fabulous” doctor through Newton-Wellesley Physicians Primary Care for more than two decades. But four years ago, her doctor suddenly retired, telling her she was frustrated with the health care system.

    After searching for more than a year – without assistance from her former physician’s office – MacCormack found a new doctor and made an appointment. During her first visit, the doctor told her that she would soon be leaving her practice.

    MacCormack then switched to another doctor within that practice, but was notified that the doctor was leaving before she even had her first appointment. Again, after one visit and a prescription refill, MacCormack was left to find her fourth primary care physician in four years.

    She now sees a physician assistant at Wellesley Family Care Associates and does not have trouble getting appointments.

    “I’m happy now, but it was a scary three years,” MacCormack said. “Bigger picture, health care in our country is very broken, and we need to learn from others who are doing it better.”

    She’s not alone in her struggle to find stable primary care.

    Massachusetts has seen decline in primary care physicians

    Primary care services are facing difficulties throughout the country. In Massachusetts, trends show that the number of primary care physicians in the commonwealth is declining. Employment in physician offices has barely increased from pre-pandemic levels and lags far behind national trends, according to the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.

    The HPC also said that Massachusetts has one of the smallest proportions of its physicians specializing in primary care, and of new doctors entering primary care following their residencies. This shortage of doctors, coupled with a growing population, has created more difficulties in accessing care.

    “We know that access to primary care improves health outcomes, reduces health disparities and can ultimately help avoid unnecessary emergency department and hospital use,” said HPC Executive Director and Primary Care Task Force Co-Chair David Seltz in a statement. “Yet despite this overwhelming evidence, support and investment in primary care is declining and represents a shrinking portion of our health care dollar.”

    Jessica Benjamin of Newton said seeing her primary care physician just once a year has led to a lack of continuity in her health care.

    She first entered the Mass General Brigham health care system in 2017, when she began seeing a new doctor. When the doctor moved away in 2022, Benjamin was reassigned to another doctor within the system, and since then she has only been able to see that doctor for annual checkups. For anything else, she has been assigned to another doctor, nurse practitioner or sent to urgent care.

    Over the past few years, Benjamin has been treated for chronic pain. In November 2024, she made an appointment with a doctor she had never met and they prescribed her a muscle relaxant called Robaxin – but never told her about possible side effects.

    In May, Benjamin fainted and broke her ankle. Later, she learned that fainting is a known side effect of Robaxin. The injury was a displaced fracture that required surgery, followed by months of recovery. She couldn’t put weight on her foot until July and started physical therapy in September. Because she was out of work for so long, she was ultimately separated from her job.

    “You’re seeing all these different people who don’t know you and your history, and I think that contributed to me breaking my ankle,” Benjamin said. “I used to be able to call my doctor and she knew about my various issues, which is just a lot easier than going to see a new person every time.”

    Healey establishes primary care task force

    The Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force was established in January by Gov. Maura Healey to develop recommendations to stabilize and strengthen the primary care system throughout Massachusetts, including a primary care spending target. Since its first meeting in April, the task force has completed its first deliverable to define primary care services, codes and providers.

    A study on primary care appointment availability discovered that out of four states, Massachusetts wait times were more than twice as long as any of the other states.

    In 2023, 91% of Massachusetts residents reported having a primary care physician. But 41% of those residents said they had difficulty accessing care because they couldn’t get an appointment at a doctor’s office or clinic when needed, according to a survey by the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis

    The HPC’s research found that two main factors largely contribute to the shortage: Primary care is a low-reimbursed medical field and there is a high administrative burden. Without higher pay, new medical graduates are less incentivized to enter the specialty and may run into financial limits for hiring or retaining support staff. High volumes of administrative work can lead to burnout and contribute to caregivers’ reduction in patient hours.

    Alan Sager, professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, said part of what’s driving the shortage is that it’s no one’s job to make sure there’s enough primary care in the United States.

    “It’s not the job of the federal or state government, medical schools, teaching hospitals or anyone else to make sure we have enough family doctors,” he said.

    To combat the shortage, Sager suggested three possible solutions: draft physicians into primary care, pay them more, or improve working conditions. Regardless of the method used, Sager said people with political and financial power need to be designated and held accountable for training, organizing, locating and paying enough doctors to go into the field.

    ‘Everybody talks about it, nobody does anything’

    As a short-term solution, Sager said experienced nurse practitioners can handle monitoring patients, but it would be helpful to have an on-site doctor to consult with if anything goes wrong.

    “Primary care is like the weather,” Sager said. “Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.”

    He said the problem is only worsening, which he believes isn’t acceptable considering the United States spends six times as much on health care as it spends on defense. He said a lot of the money is wasted on low-value care, administrative waste, high prices for drugs and devices, CEO salaries and theft.

    While Sager is optimistic that coordinated changes within the system can be made, he said it will probably take a crisis to “give us health care that’s as good as our caregivers.”

    “Primary care isn’t just about finding a doctor who will see you when you’re sick, it’s about building a long-term relationship of trust, and you can have confidence that they know you and care about you,” he said.

    Mass General Brigham said in a statement that it’s taking steps to address the primary care shortage across the commonwealth and country, by expanding access to care and reducing physician burden.

    In May, the hospital announced a nearly $400 million commitment over five years to invest in additional support staff positions for primary care teams, AI tools to streamline clinical visit notes and new partnerships to improve primary care physicians.

    “We’re using feedback from our clinicians to ensure we’re improving every day on our mission – providing the best quality care for our patients,” MGB said in a statement.

  • SNAP benefits were frozen. How Mass. food pantries are trying to fill the gap

    With the federal shutdown creating uncertainty for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, food pantries throughout MetroWest are trying to fill the gap for the more than 1 million Massachusetts residents who rely on the program to buy groceries.

    Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell joined those from 22 other states on Tuesday, Oct. 28, in a lawsuit accusing the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Brooke Rollins of unlawfully suspending the food assistance program that serves more than 40 million Americans.

    State Rep. James Arena-DeRosa, D-Holliston, who led the USDA’s Northeast Food and Nutrition Service during a 2013 government shutdown, said the agency has previously used emergency funds to sustain SNAP benefits and could do so again. Sure enough, two federal judges ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to fund SNAP using contingency funds during the government shutdown.

    “SNAP is a lifeline to over 1,800 residents in the towns (Holliston, Hopkinton, Sherborn and Millis) I serve,” Arena-DeRosa wrote in an email. “President Trump says this situation is ‘not an emergency’ — tell that to the people whose benefits will run out and will be stressed trying to feed their families.”’The well has run dry’: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture says SNAP benefits won’t go out on Nov. 1

    The lawsuit comes as Gov. Maura Healey faces pressure from advocates like the Make Hunger History Coalition to tap the state’s $8 billion rainy day fund to offset potential losses. Instead, her administration and the United Way of Massachusetts launched the United Response Fund last week to support local food providers and other community-based organizations.

    Greater Boston Food Bank revives direct distribution strategy

    But with federal benefits at risk, local food banks are becoming the backbone for hunger relief.

    “We’ve been averaging about 200 new families a month, but in the past few weeks we’ve seen an additional 20 to 30 new families every single day,” said Joe Mina, program director at the Pearl Street Cupboard & Café for the United Way of Tri-County.

    Based in Framingham, the pantry serves as a regional hub for food distribution, supplying nearly 30 smaller pantries through its cross-dock network. The operation distributes roughly a quarter-million pounds of food each month, receiving donations from more than 250 supermarkets, restaurants and food producers through its partnership with Feeding America.’Creating needless fear’: Campbell, other AGs sue Trump administration over SNAP benefit suspension

    To meet rising demand, the Greater Boston Food Bank is reviving its direct distribution strategy, first launched during the pandemic to send pallets of food directly to partners like the United Way of Tri-County. The effort, a GBFB spokesperson said, will help food reach communities faster as SNAP funding remains uncertain.

    “The number of clients keeps going up while the resources available to us keep going down,” Mina explained. “Leaders have to think about their constituency and the people they represent — you want to make sure families are taken care of, not make it part of a political backlog.”

    Local programs can’t replace sustained federal support

    State leaders acknowledged that even strong local programs can’t replace sustained federal support.

    “Feeding children, families and individuals has consistently been one of the Legislature’s top priorities,” a spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, wrote in an email. “That said, no state can permanently sustain the hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term SNAP funding that the federal government is deliberately withholding.”

    That challenge is already playing out in Hopkinton, where Project Just Because founder President Cherylann Walsh said her pantry, which serves about 900 families a week, has been inundated with calls from residents who say their benefits were cut or delayed.

    “I had 19 emails this morning alone,” Walsh said Wednesday, Oct. 29. “One mother told me she skips meals so that what she gets can stretch far enough to feed her children.”Fees waived: DoorDash, Gopuff launch emergency food responses for SNAP recipients

    The pantry receives about 16,000 pounds of food each week from GBFB, supplemented by donations from Trader Joe’s, Stop & Shop and other grocers. Still, Walsh said her seven-person team is struggling to keep up as demand spikes and suppliers face the same squeeze.

    “Before, what they received from SNAP could carry them through the week, and we were simply a supplement,” said Ashley Dasilva, Project Just Because’s warehouse manager and multilingual interpreter. “Now, we’re their primary source of food.”

    Food insecurity is at ‘the forefront of public conversation’

    In Franklin, Tina Powderly, executive director of the Franklin Food Pantry, said she registered as many new clients in a single day this week as she typically does in a month.

    “The threat to SNAP benefits has brought food insecurity to the forefront of public conversation,” Powderly said. “But the reality is that the demand has been rising sharply for months. People are losing their jobs, housing costs are at historic highs, and health insurance premiums are skyrocketing.”EBT cards will still work: Unused SNAP money is expected to roll over into November

    To meet that need, the Franklin pantry is purchasing food directly from wholesalers and extending hours to help new clients with registration and assistance programs. Powderly said financial donations are the most effective support because the pantry can purchase food tax-free and at steep discounts.

    In Maynard, Open Table, a pantry serving 21 communities, has added 40 new households in the past four days, roughly four times its usual pace. Executive Director Alexandra DePalo said the organization serves nearly 10,000 households a year, many of whom visit weekly for groceries or prepared meals.

    “Even with SNAP, people already rely on us,” she said. “The food pantries are equipped to provide additional support for families and community members. We’re not equipped to be the sole provider of food benefit dollars.”

    Even with the lawsuit pending, gaps in food assistance remain likely if the shutdown persists. Other states, including New York and California, have already committed emergency funds to cover missing SNAP benefits. For now, MetroWest pantries are counting on community donations.

    “For every call there’s been asking for help,” DePalo said, “there’s been another asking how they can help.”

  • Report warns of ‘perfect storm’ pressuring local budgets throughout Mass.

    A new Massachusetts Municipal Association report warns that inflation, shrinking state aid and the limits of Proposition 2½ are creating a “perfect storm” for local budgets, one that towns like Franklin and Natick are already weathering through staff reductions, stopgap revenues and tax overrides.

    “We’ve had to be extraordinarily creative in how we approach growth and business development,” said Franklin Town Administrator Jamie Hellen, who also serves as president of the MMA. “But any superintendent or city manager will tell you that you can only pull so many rabbits out of the hat. At some point, you reach in, and there’s not a rabbit left.”

    Hellen said Franklin’s experience reflects a broader trend now documented in the MMA’s analysis, produced in partnership with Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis. The study found that real municipal spending has grown just 0.6% a year since 2010, while Unrestricted General Government Aid, the flexible state funding cities and towns rely on for core services, has dropped 25% since 2002.

    At the same time, Massachusetts’ 1980 law known as Proposition 2½ limits property-tax growth to 2.5% a year, and with no local income or broad sales taxes allowed, municipalities have little flexibility to meet rising costs.

    “It’s really those three pressures swirling together,” said MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine. “Inflation, the constraints of Proposition 2½ and state aid that hasn’t kept up — that’s what’s creating this tight pinch for cities and towns.”

    ‘A slow erosion of local government services’

    Some wealthier communities have found short-term relief through tax overrides — voter-approved overrides to Proposition 2½’s cap on property-tax growth — to maintain services. But for many towns, that option isn’t viable.

    “A lot of communities simply don’t have the property wealth or median income to support an override,” Chapdelaine said. “So we’re seeing a slow erosion of local government services — fewer public works employees, fewer health inspectors, fewer library hours — and we’re worried that without action, that slow erosion could turn into something much more rapid.”

    That erosion is already visible in Franklin, which has operated at its maximum levy limit for the past 25 years and has failed twice by about 1% to pass tax overrides in the past two years. Despite a commercial base accounting for about 21% of its tax revenue, the town of about 36,000 residents has cut about a dozen municipal staff, including teachers, police officers, paramedics, and a part-time nurse at the senior center, while also raising fees for school programs, sports and facility rentals.

    “The problem really hasn’t been our local receipts,” Hellen said. “Like the report shows, the challenge is that state aid to cities and towns has flatlined. UGGA (unrestricted general government aid) has flatlined over the last decade. UGGA is like our blood. It’s our lifeline. It’s our oxygen. It gives communities the flexibility to spend money where it’s needed most.”

    To close gaps, Franklin has leaned on smaller, less stable revenue sources, including about $500,000 a year from cannabis sales taxes and a local hotel room tax. But Hellen said those efforts can only go so far.

    “If we don’t fix the local aid issue, we’re going to see cuts that are going to be very dramatic and they’re going to be felt,” he said. “I know for a fact everyone on Beacon Hill knows that. The challenge is how we can work collaboratively with them to make sure we get our slice of the pie.”

    Natick voters approve $7M override after years of structural deficits

    Hellen’s call for collaboration has been echoed on Beacon Hill. In a recent interview on CBS Boston’s Keller @ Large, Senate President Karen Spilka said she’s not currently considering new taxes but is focused on “working with (her) partners in government” to “protect Massachusetts” amid tightening budgets.

    As state leaders weigh broader fiscal solutions, towns like Natick are taking matters into their own hands. In March, voters approved a $7 million tax override, giving Natick some breathing room after years of structural deficits and the loss of American Rescue Plan Act funds, the federal pandemic aid that temporarily balanced local budgets. The measure, which passed 65% to 35%, reset Natick’s tax base, sustaining existing services but leaving little room to grow.

    “It helped us in the short term,” Town Administrator Jamie Errickson said. “But the long-term issue remains. We’re not adding new programs or positions that would increase costs.”

    Instead, Natick is focused on government efficiency. The town of about 37,000 residents has reorganized departments through staff turnover, implemented new software and expanded online services that began during the pandemic. Its OpenGov platform, first used for building permits, now processes liquor, health and inspectional permits, allowing three employees to handle more than 5,000 applications a year.

    Errickson said Natick also uses Munis, a financial management system common across Massachusetts, and is exploring the use of artificial intelligence to automate routine administrative work.

    “We’re looking for places where technology can improve service quality without adding cost,” he said.

    Regional dispatch center expected to improve efficiency

    Addressing the crisis, Errickson said, will require both local innovation and state-level flexibility. One example, he noted, is regionalization — combining municipal services across communities to save money and improve efficiency.

    Natick is already working with Framingham and Wayland to develop a shared emergency dispatch center, a state-incentivized effort expected to improve efficiency and reduce costs once construction is complete next year.

    “There could be other opportunities for regionalization in local government that are not just encouraged but incentivized by the state,” Errickson said. “That can lead to a more efficient use of resources, higher-quality services, or even some cost savings for communities.”

    Still, he said, local innovation can only go so far without structural reform.

    “I think there’s a way to consider everything from adjusting Proposition 2½ to providing more flexibility to town governments to increase revenue, whether through special fees or expanded enterprise funds that could help other services become self-funded,” he said.

    The MMA is developing a series of policy recommendations, including renewed commitments to local aid, added flexibility under Proposition 2½, and new local revenue options. Those proposals, expected later this fall, will aim to give cities and towns greater stability before the next fiscal storm hits.

  • From Wayland ‘future leader’ to Senate candidate: Why Alex Rikleen is challenging Ed Markey

    When Alex Rikleen was a Wayland High School student in 2005, the MetroWest Daily News recognized him as a “future leader” for spearheading a campaign for later school start times. Two decades later (and with those later start times since adopted), the 38-year-old father of two is testing that title on a statewide stage, mounting an insurgent challenge to U.S. Sen. Edward Markey in the 2026 Democratic primary.

    “The reason I’m running is because Democrats in Washington are playing it safe,” Rikleen told the Daily News in a recent interview. “We are in the midst of a crisis and the United States Senate is where individuals have the most ability to push back and fight back and defend against this crisis, and Sen. Markey is not doing all of the things that he can be doing.”

    Massachusetts hasn’t unseated a sitting Democratic senator in decades, and Markey — seeking a third term after serving nearly 40 years in the House of Representatives — comes armed with experience, money and plenty of progressive goodwill earned through his promotion of the 2019 Green New Deal climate proposal with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York.

    But Rikleen insists the moment demands more.

    “People are really fed up with the Democratic establishment, and Sen. Markey is a core part of that,” Rikleen said. “He is the longest-serving Democrat in Congress and he continues to stand by (Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer’s — what I would argue is — disastrous leadership.”

    Lessons from the government shutdown

    Rikleen says the recent government shutdown only underscores his critique, arguing that while Democrats finally showed a willingness to resist, he wonders whether it was for the right cause.

    “I am glad they picked something to hold the line on,” he says. “Tactically, I don’t think they picked wisely. Trump’s a dictator. Now let’s debate health care nuance? A much cleaner argument would have been to pick a line related to Trump’s overreach.”

    As a former history teacher, Rikleen looks to the textbooks. Authoritarian takeovers, he says, can be overcome when opposition parties use every tool available to delay: unanimous consent, committee holds, filibusters — procedural tactics he believes Democrats have been too timid to deploy.

    “Senator Markey, ask yourself: Is the Democratic Party in America today acting as strongly as opposition parties in Norway or in Portugal, where their authoritarian past is now so far behind them that we almost forget they happened?” Rikleen saids. “I think that you will come away profoundly disappointed.”

    He uses Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s confirmation as an example of a missed opportunity. Confirmed six weeks after Inauguration Day, she immediately began pushing major cuts.

    “If Democrats had delayed her appointment even a month, that’s money in towns across the state, helping families with disabled students get services for another couple weeks,” Rikleen said.

    Rikleen stresses priorities, not a platform

    On his website, Rikleen describes his agenda not as a “platform” but as “priorities” — policies he says will be dead on arrival unless structural reforms come first. He points to likely Supreme Court roadblocks on Medicare for All, AI regulation or climate action. His strategy, he says, divides into two phases: obstruct and delay during Trump’s presidency to minimize harm, then rebuild democratic guardrails afterward.

    “When you combine the power of the office with the power of your platform, they amplify each other,” he said. “At the moment, Democrats are not using their power in the Senate and not using their voices to amplify a narrative. That cedes the ground to Trump and the Republicans.”

    Establishment vs. insurgent

    Rikleen is framing the race as establishment vs. outsider. With U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., also weighing a Senate bid, some see the anti-Markey vote splintering.

    Rikleen disagrees.

    “People are mad at D.C. Democrats, and where has Seth Moulton been for the last 10 years? In Washington,” Rikleen said. “He’s part of the establishment that’s not doing enough.”

    He also said signals from Moulton’s centrist leanings misread the current mood.

    “We are in a moment where the difference between the center and the left politically doesn’t even matter, because the government is so broken that neither of our policies can get passed,” Rikleen said.

    Markey knows something about insurgent challenges. In 2020, he fended off then-U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III in a nationally watched Senate primary, winning 55.4% of the vote and carrying Boston, the suburbs and college towns with the backing of the Sunrise Movement, an organization that advocates for action on climate change.

    That race was widely seen as establishment vs. progressive energy — a dynamic Rikleen now hopes to flip. He cites Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, where turnout among voters aged 25-35 exceeded that of those aged 55-65.

    “People are upset and showing it and they want change,” Rikleen said. “I think there is a large appetite for a challenge like mine.”

    A race about urgency and accountability

    For Rikleen, the race is less about policy differences than urgency.

    “I think Sen. Markey and I are aligned on a lot of issues. I’m not running because of his age,” Rikleen said. “I’m running because there are things he can and should be doing that he’s not.”

    Markey, first elected to Congress in 1976, will be 80 by Election Day and 86 at the end of another Senate term. It’s a reality, Rikleen says, that carries its own risks.

    “Any serious telling of the last 20 years of American political history has to reckon with the fact that an important factor is particularly people on the left damaging their own legacy by staying on too long,” he said.

    Deploying a grassroots strategy

    Rikleen, who lives in Acton and manages the PTO at his children’s preschool, leans heavily on community-level organizing. He has served as a delegate to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention and worked on campaigns before, experience he says shapes his grassroots approach — from town committee appearances and protests to community service events.

    He has stops scheduled in Holliston, Wayland, Westborough and Northborough.

    “Of course, the primary goal is to win,” Rikleen said. “But … getting Sen. Markey to start using these tactics is (also) a win. If my campaign can make our senator be a better senator, then that’s worth it.”

    That message is embodied in the campaign’s bright pink branding — chosen for Rikleen’s son, who was bullied for liking the color.

    “This campaign is, in a lot of ways, about standing up to bullies,” Rikleen said. “Having pink was a nice way to show support for my son and keep both of my children with me while I’m out and about.”