State budget honcho Matthew Gorzkowicz told municipal officials Tuesday that Massachusetts is on track to rake in nearly $3 billion from its surtax on household income greater than about $1 million, more than double the estimate used to craft this year’s budget.

The Department of Revenue reported last month that the state had collected just less than $2.6 billion from the 4% surtax between July 1, 2024, and April 30, 2025, surpassing the $2.46 billion that the surtax generated in fiscal 2024 in just 10 months of fiscal 2025. May and June collections are expected to add to that total, and Gorzkowicz said Tuesday that he now thinks total fiscal 2025 surtax collections “could be closer to $3 billion.”

“We will have the benefit of being able to spend those dollars on education, transportation, as you’ve seen us do with our January supp as part of our transportation package this past year,” the secretary of administration and finance told the Local Government Advisory Commission, referring to the surtax surplus spending bill that is now in conference committee. “We’ll have another opportunity to do that again.”

The Healey administration and legislative Democrats have used conservative collection estimates in the first few years of the surtax, which was approved by voters in 2022. Under the constitution, revenue generated by the surtax can only be used for education or transportation initiatives and the conservative estimating has given lawmakers extra money to dole out separate from the traditional state budget process.

When they built the fiscal 2025 budget, the administration and legislative leaders agreed to spend $1.3 billion in surtax revenue this year. If Gorzkowicz’s estimate proves correct, the Legislature could have as much as $1.7 billion to spend sometime after DOR certifies the full-year surtax collection amount in the fall.

When they agreed on a consensus revenue estimate for fiscal 2026 earlier this year, Gorzkowicz and the Ways and Means Committee chairs mutually estimated the state will collect $2.4 billion from the income surtax in fiscal 2026. But they agreed to spend at most $1.95 billion from that in the annual budget bill, which like the surtax surplus bill is also the subject of conference committee negotiations.

A Newton judge accused of helping an undocumented immigrant evade federal immigration custody in April 2018 had a hearing before the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct on Monday.

Judge Shelley Joseph allegedly allowed Jose Medina-Perez, a Dominican national, to escape out a downstairs back door while an ICE agent waited in the lobby to detain him. Medina-Perez was facing a fugitive from justice charge on a warrant out of Pennsylvania along with two misdemeanor drug charges.

“This case is about the integrity, impartiality and independence of the Massachusetts judiciary,” said Judith Fabricant, special counsel for the commission.

“Judge Joseph that day was trying to respect the rights of everybody before her,” said Elizabeth Mulvey, Joseph’s attorney.

Joseph was first indicted on federal charges of obstruction of justice in 2019 under the first Trump administration. After admitting to certain facts, those charges were dropped under the Biden administration, and her case was referred to the commission.

Monday’s hearing started with a viewing at Newton District Court, with Denis J. McInerney, the hearing officer appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court for this case. Fabricant and Mulvey then presented opening statements in Suffolk Superior Court.

The defense claims Joseph had nothing to do with the conspiracy to help Medina-Perez escape, laying blame on David Jellinek, who was his defense lawyer.

“Before Judge Joseph even knew that David Jellinek was in the courthouse, he had already made a deal with court officer Wes MacGregor,” Mulvey said. “He had this deal that if he could get his client back downstairs, the court officer would let him out the sallyport door,” Mulvey said.

Jellinek was the first to take the stand. In his testimony, he described feeling as though he had Joseph’s permission to bring Medina-Perez downstairs to help him sneak out.

“He told the judge that if his client could go back downstairs, he thought he could get him released through the back,” Fabricant said. “The judge said something to the effect of, ‘Yes, that’s what we’ll do.’”

Joseph’s team said otherwise.

“Nobody told her that Medina-Perez had gone out the back door. She knew nothing about it,” Mulvey said.

Much of this debate stems from what exactly was said when the court recording was shut off for 52 seconds. Fabricant asked Jellinek why he requested to speak to Joseph off the record.

“I wanted to go off the record because I knew that the next phase of our conversation and what I was going to suggest or ask for as a defense lawyer was perhaps right on the edge of acceptable or appropriate,” Jellinek said.

The hearing could last several days. The Commission on Judicial Conduct has the power to recommend discipline but does not have the power to remove Joseph from the bench.

Chilly air, wildfire smoke and scattered showers will shroud Massachusetts Monday before more widespread rain comes later in the week.

While no air quality alerts were issued by the National Weather Service as of 6 a.m. on Monday, smoke from fires in Canada was still in the atmosphere statewide. Air quality alerts were issued for parts of New Hampshire near the border.

The air quality was at a “moderate” level and considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups” in parts of Eastern, Central and Western Massachusetts and on the Cape & the Islands as of 6 a.m., according to data from the DEP map. Those affected should take precautions in spending too long outside.

Temperatures were cool in the mid to upper 50s after sunrise on Monday morning. They’re expected to reach just the 60s and high 70s throughout the day, with the warmest areas in Western Massachusetts.

Under the overcast skies, there’s a chance for scattered showers statewide during the daytime and into Monday night, forecasters said.

This comes before more widespread, heavy rain and thunder move into the state on Tuesday. Forecasters are eyeing up to two inches of rain that could fall throughout the day on Tuesday and bring some street flooding.