What the Senate's $2.61 billion catch-up budget would mean for Boston: sheriffs' shortfalls, a museum grant and city purchasing rules

State Senate leaders on Thursday filed a $2.61 billion supplemental spending bill to pay the state's remaining bills from fiscal 2026, which ended June 30, WBUR reported. The Senate Ways and Means Committee advanced it 15-0. The full Senate plans to debate it Thursday, Nov. 5, its first formal session in three months. The House passed its own version last week, and the two chambers will have to agree on one bill.

The City Council does not vote on state budgets. But several pieces of this one reach Boston: the county jails that hold people arrested in the city, a museum going up downtown, and the rules the city follows when it buys things.

What is in it

Most of the money pays existing state bills, according to WBUR:

• MassHealth: $1.8 billion, more than half the bill, plus $52 million for nursing home rates.
• Schools: $368 million for the Student Opportunity Act Investment Fund, and $18.5 million in early education subsidies for family and center-based child care providers.
• Sheriffs: $244.8 million for county sheriffs' budget shortfalls and unpaid bills going back to fiscal 2025. The bill would bar sheriffs from spending more this year than they did in fiscal 2026.
• Boston Holocaust Museum: $10 million. The museum, on Tremont Street, plans to open in summer 2027 and has raised $81 million of its $110 million goal.
• Purchasing: a policy section giving cities and towns more flexibility when they buy goods and services.

The bill also includes consumer protections on subscription cancellations and junk fees. It does not include Gov. Maura Healey's proposed gas tax suspension. Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said the focus is "paying the bills and closing the books," WBUR reported.

Why the sheriff money matters here

The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department runs the Nashua Street Jail and the South Bay House of Correction. Under a 2023 central booking agreement, the sheriff may hold adults arrested by Boston police until their first court appearance, according to a council hearing order on the agreement (order). In February, the state inspector general found that sheriffs' combined fiscal 2025 deficit was about $110 million and called the sheriffs' budget process deeply flawed, GBH reported. WBUR did not break out Suffolk's share of this bill.

What our records show

• Central booking. City Councilor Miniard Culpepper's Oct. 21 order for a hearing on the central booking agreement between Boston police and the Suffolk sheriff is in the Public Safety Committee, with 11 sponsors (docket 1965; our story). The council has also held a hearing on deaths at Suffolk jails (our story).
• City purchasing. City Councilor Julia Mejia's order for a hearing to audit Boston's procurement processes has 11 sponsors and has waited 276 days since it was referred on Jan. 28 (docket 0194). The council votes on city contracts that run longer than three years. On Sept. 16, for example, it approved a six-year contract for fire trucks, 13-0 (docket 1685). Looser state purchasing rules would change the process the city follows before contracts reach the council.
• The city's own catch-up spending. The council votes on city supplemental appropriations, which work like the state's. In July, City Councilor Ed Flynn's resolution calling for a city supplemental budget to restore BPS jobs fell short under a rules suspension. The vote was 6-3, with two members voting present (docket 1348).

What's next

Senators can file amendments until Monday at 2:30 p.m. The Senate takes up the bill Nov. 5, after Tuesday's election. A conference committee will then work out differences with the House version before the bill goes to Healey.