Public Meeting Notice  December 5, 2025 Capital Debt Affordability Committee Meeting

Teleconference line: 1-646-931-3860

Meeting ID: 943 1039 0732

Passcode: 823452

The meeting was called to order at 1:03pm

Board members comprising a quorum:

Timur Kaya Yontar, Chair, Executive Office for Administration & Finance

Martin Benison, Appointee of the Treasurer

Pauline Lieu, Office of the State Comptroller

Sue Perez, Office of the Treasurer and Receiver-General

Michelle Scott, Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Catherine Walsh, Appointee of the Governor

Others in attendance:

Representative Michael Finn, Chair of Bonding, Capital Expenditures, and State Assets Joint Committee Senator Paul Mark, Vice Chair of Bonding, Capital Expenditures, and State Assets Joint Committee

Daniel Aldridge, Office of the Treasurer and Receiver-General

Cory Bannon, Office of the Treasurer and Receiver-General

Aidan Bettencourt, Office of State Representative Michael Finn

Angela Liang, Executive Office for Administration and Finance

Gita Swamy, Office of Senator Paul Mark

Joshua Tavares, Office of Senator Ryan Fattman

Minutes:

Mr. Yontar called the meeting to order and noted that, following Kaitlyn Connors’ departure from A&F, Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz had made Mr. Yontar his interim designee, and that he would be chairing this and the next Debt Affordability Committee (DAC) meeting. He then conducted the roll call to establish quorum. Ms. Lieu was not initially in attendance.

He immediately moved into the agenda and called the first item of business, which was Administrative Matters. He asked for the approval of the meeting minutes from the November 21, 2025, committee meeting. Upon a motion made by Ms. Scott, and duly seconded by Ms. Walsh, the minutes were approved unanimously. Ms. Lieu joined the meeting immediately after the approval of minutes.

Mr. Yontar then moved on to the next item on the agenda, where he recapped objectives for the current meeting: reviewing the modeling analysis, voting on a Recommendation to the Governor, and setting expectations around the what the Committee would send to the Governor and when those materials would be reviewed and finalized.

As discussed at the prior meeting, with the assumptions for model “Scenario #1”, the result is that annual bond cap growth of $110 million will breach neither the debt service percent of revenue threshold nor the statutory debt limit. Those assumptions are: 5% coupon increasing by 10 basis points per year until reaching 5.5%, no surtax revenue, revenue CAGR 3.2%, and 10% bond premium. Of note, the last is the bond premium assumption that the Treasurer’s office is budgeting for upcoming 5% coupon bond issues; it was also the median premium level from the last four years. Mr. Yontar also reiterated the model results that if we assume 8.5% bond premium, the debt limit will be breached in 2031 at annual bond cap growth of $110 million (Scenario #2), but not if annual bond cap growth is reduced to $95 million (Scenario #3). Mr. Benison noted that we should emphasize the concern that a reduction to $95 million per year would be a shock to capital budget expectations.

Mr. Yontar then noted that the DAC’s vote will be on a Recommendation to the Governor for bond cap growth for FY27 only. The Letter to the Governor, which contains the Recommendation, will also emphasize that if the growth trajectory continues, we will be close to the statutory debt limit, and that hence the DAC will monitor that limit closely and may recommend to reduce bond cap growth in the future. The Letter will contain modeling assumptions, data, and scenario outputs, and the supporting Deck will contain the main presentation materials from this year’s DAC meetings. Mr. Yontar also observed that the DAC does not vote on the Letter or Deck, only the Recommendation to the Governor, but that he intends to provide polished drafts of the Letter and Deck to the DAC in advance of the final meeting and will welcome their feedback.

Mr. Yontar then presented the draft Recommendation to the Governor. Upon a motion made by Ms. Perez, and duly seconded by Ms. Walsh, the following Recommendation was approved unanimously:

To recommend to the Governor a bond cap increase of $110 million for fiscal year 2027, resulting in a recommended bond cap amount of $3,337,200,000 for fiscal year 2027, and to make the slide deck report with modeling publicly available online

Finally Mr. Yontar recapped next steps: at the December 12 meeting, the Committee would finalize the Letter and Deck. The Letter must be sent to the Governor by December 15.

There were no further questions from Committee members, nor any new business.

On a motion made by Mr. Benison, duly seconded by Ms. Lieu, and approved unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 1:21 pm.  

1. Administrative Matters
   • Adoption of meeting minutes from November 21, 2025 (Vote)
2. Debt Affordability Committee Recommendation Discussion
   • Modeling review
   • Recommendation amount (Vote)
   • Recommendation letter
   • Supporting materials – comprehensive deck including modeling outputs
3. Other DAC Business
4. Adjournment