The cost of running the state’s emergency shelter system through the next fiscal year is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1 billion dollars.
That estimate was revealed before the state’s five-day stay limit for migrants takes effect on Thursday.
Massachusetts House and Senate Republicans are warning that taxpayers may need to shell out more than $1 billion dollars each year for several more years to come.
That’s if the number of people in need of state-funded shelter services does not subside.
“This is one of these things that could sink the Commonwealth financially, and we can’t let that happen,” said Sutton Republican Senator Ryan Fattman. “It’s a billion dollars next year. It’s a billion dollars after that, and there’s no end in sight.”
‘Nowhere to go’: Newly arrived migrants in Massachusetts find themselves stranded
Senator Fattman is among those suggesting that the state make permanent changes to the shelter system to help control the overwhelming cost.
He said surplus dollars left over from previous fiscal years won’t be available to help fund the migrant crisis come next year.