MBTA officials are planning to put off the release of a new, five-year capital plan until June 2022, a move that reflects the financial uncertainty caused by the coronavirus and also the political calculus of a governor running out of funding options for the T’s ambitious capital spending program.

 It may sound like a minor issue, but good government types recommend setting out capital spending targets in five-year increments. The Government Finance Officers Association says a multi-year plan is the best way to ensure proper development and management of capital assets and send a message to contractors that the money for projects is in the pipeline. “A capital plan should cover a period of at least three years, preferably five or more,” the association says.

 But officials with the state Department of Transportation and the MBTA announced at a joint board meeting on Monday that they are planning to issue one-year capital spending plans for fiscal 2022 – the second year in a row the agencies have gone that route.

 “Due to the ongoing uncertainty and the changes we all face with COVID, the one note here is we do not expect to proceed with a complete reset this year,” said acting state Transportation Secretary Jamie Tesler, referring to earlier plans to return to a five-year capital plan.

 Betsy Taylor, a member of the MassDOT board, said planning into the future is impossible with so many unknowns — about ridership as well as state and federal funding. “While this is not where we thought we had been heading, I welcome this change and support it,” she said.

A one-year capital plan also allows Gov. Charlie Baker to put off for another year any discussion about a looming shortfall in capital funds.

 Andrew Bagley, a vice president at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, appeared before the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board in November and warned its members that the state’s available funding for capital projects is going to fall off a cliff in fiscal 2025. By not putting out a five-year capital plan next year, Baker puts off the discussion about what to do about the cliff for another year.

 Bagley predicted capital funding sources for the T will start falling about $1 billion short of what’s needed in fiscal 2025. The T’s operating budget faces similar challenges. Fare revenue has plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic and the T’s latest projections indicate ridership will not return to pre-COVID levels by the fall of 2023 – and possibly never, given the growing acceptance of telecommuting.

“You really need lots of operating revenues and capital revenues, which right now don’t appear to be available,” Bagley told the control board.

Baker has been loath to say new transportation revenues are needed. Still, putting off the debate for another year comes with a downside, since next year the governor’s race is likely to be in full swing.

Some sources say Baker may be hoping possible Biden administration initiatives on bus electrification and transportation infrastructure will bail the state out. Or perhaps the way forward is with less, not more, transportation investment, which may explain why state transportation officials are backpedaling on a $1 billion makeover of the I-90 Allston interchange and moving cautiously on bus and train electrification.

Joseph Aiello, the chair of the control board, on Monday predicted continued operating deficits at the T for a number of years. He said the T may need to keep using money it typically sets aside for capital projects to help balance the operating budget.

“We’ve got to scrub every capital program for any kind of flexibility we can buy over the next five years or so,” he said.

BRUCE MOHL

FROM COMMONWEALTH

The MBTA tries a new approach with commuter rail cuts, spreading service out through the day in a way that more closely resembles the regional rail, subway-like service envisioned more than a year ago.

Sen. Eric Lesser, the branch’s point person on gambling, unveils a sports betting bill that takes an aggressive approach on taxation while barring bets on college games.

A new poll from the MassINC Polling Group indicates Gov. Charlie Baker remains teflon.

Attorney General Maura Healey joins a lawsuit accusing a Virginia company of running an immigration bond scam charging customers $420 a month for ankle bracelets.

Rep. Jon Santiago, an ER doc at Boston Medical Center, jumps into the race for Boston mayor, joining three Boston city councilors.

FROM AROUND THE WEB

BEACON HILL

The Legislature, which will question Gov. Charlie Baker at a rare oversight hearing on Thursday, seems to be flexing its muscles more in its relationship with the governor. (Boston Globe) 

Lawmakers refile a bill to let immigrants without legal status apply for drivers’ licenses in Massachusetts. (MassLive)

Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld says Attorney General Maura Healey, without Donald Trump around to sue anymore, has set her sights on attacking Gov. Charlie Baker (though Battenfeld’s claim that the governor’s “popularity is plummeting” is not supported by results of a new MassINC Polling Group survey). 

For Baker, says Globe columnist Joan Vennochi, gov means never having to say you’re sorry. (Boston Globe) 

The House approved a home-rule petition that would let Boston waive a possible special election this summer and wait until the regular fall election to choose a new mayor. (Boston Herald) 

Lawmakers introduce bills to address mental health issues among police officers. (Boston University Statehouse Program)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

Hampden town administrators are calling for administrators of the Hampden County Regional Retirement System to resign after a scathing audit of the retirement system found questionable spending and violations of state rules and business best practices. (MassLive)

A task force reports on racial equity efforts in Salem. (Daily Item)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

UMass Memorial Health Care is offering a mobile vaccine clinic to seniors in Clinton, giving them COVID-19 shots in their homes. MassLive rides along.

Boston City Councilor-at-Large and mayoral candidate Michelle Wu wants a COVID-19 vaccination site in every zip code throughout Boston. (GBH)

The state has paid more than $400,000 to the Maryland firm that developed the vaccine sign-up website that crashed last week. (Boston Herald) 

North Shore towns are banding together in a new campaign to encourage people to carry the anti-overdose drug Narcan. (Gloucester Daily Times)

There are only nine patients left at a COVID-19 field hospital run out of the DCU Center in Worcester. (Telegram & Gazette)

MassHealth will pay for transportation services to take seniors to and from COVID vaccine appointments. (MassLive)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

The death toll nationally from COVID-19 tops 500,000. (NPR)

The Supreme Court rules that a state grand jury in New York City can have access to eight years of former president Donald Trump’s tax returns and other financial information. (New York Times) US House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal, who is pursuing his own federal lawsuit to try to gain access to former President Trump’s taxes, welcomes the high court ruling.  

Neal also says he expects the US House will vote Friday on President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. (MassLive)

The national economy is suddenly picking up steam. (USA Today)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Nurses at the Milford Regional Medical Center vote to unionize with the Massachusetts Nurses Association by a vote of 256-195. (MetroWest Daily News)

Employees of a port-a-potty company picket outside an Amazon distribution site in North Andover that is under construction, after the site’s general contractor rented port-a-potties from a larger, non-unionized company. (Eagle-Tribune)

The New Hampshire-based Cinemagic closes all eight of its movie theaters, including one in Sturbridge, permanently. (Telegram & Gazette)

Cambridge software firm Pegasystems added hundreds of jobs in the state last year, and will add more in 2021. (Boston Globe)

EDUCATION

The state’s board of education will vote on whether to make permanent standards requiring students learning remotely to spend at least 40 hours over a 10-day period learning live from their teachers, referred to as “synchronous” learning, rather than via video or independent work. (Gloucester Daily Times)

Boston has fallen far short of the vow Mayor Marty Walsh made when assuming office of providing free, universal pre-kindergarten to all families. (Boston Globe) 

A white Smith College employee resigns and plans to sue the college, citing a “racially hostile” environment where she was asked to focus publicly on her own and her students’ skin colors. (MassLive)

A new report says one way to close the achievement gap is to build more low-income housing in suburban communities with higher-performing schools. (Boston Globe) 

The Worcester School Committee is split on whether to remove student resource officers – who are in-school police officers – from schools. (Telegram & Gazette)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

State regulators approve a controversial Eversource electric substation in East Boston. (WBUR)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

Cases that were supposed to be heard at the Roderick Ireland Courthouse in Springfield may be moved into former movie theaters at the Eastfield Mall to allow more space for social distancing. (MassLive)

A man arrested for threatening US Rep. Katherine Clark and one of her staffers said he was willing to abolish government by spilling blood and “taking out four to five Democrats.” (MassLive)

Lonnie Durfee, who pleaded not guilty to torching his neighbor’s hay-bale Biden-Harris political display, prepares to change his plea. (Berkshire Eagle)

MEDIA

Local newspapers in South Carolina band together to launch investigative projects in areas of the state where local news coverage is minimal or nonexistent. (Nieman Journalism Lab)