HERE’S A TWIST: the Baker administration needed financial help from the MBTA to balance the state’s fiscal 2016 budget.
To help close a fiscal 2016 budget shortfall, the Baker administration withheld a $15.6 million T appropriation for June and asked the T to return a similar-sized appropriation for May. State officials say the $31.2 million will be returned to the T within the next few weeks, drawn from a state capital appropriation.
A Baker administration spokesman said in a statement that the money going back to the T will come from an existing fiscal 2016 or fiscal 2017 bond authorization. The spokesman said replacing an appropriation with borrowed funds was appropriate since the T plans to use the money for capital projects.