Puerto Rico's fiscal crisis being felt in Mass.

Juan Algarin is worried he will have to start sending more money to his sons and daughter living in Puerto Rico, where a $1 billion budget shortfall has led to an anticipated government shutdown today.

Carlos Maldonado may have to make room in his small Fenway home for his daughter, son-in-law, and infant granddaughter if they are forced to leave Puerto Rico.

And José Massó, a Puerto Rican government employee in Boston, hopes he has enough cash saved up to last him through the island's fiscal crisis.

The government's deficit has led the island's governor, Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá, to order at least 43 government agencies closed today, including the Department of Education. Acevedo-Vilá says the government has run out of operating funds.

Yesterday, island lawmakers were still trying to craft a plan that would avert a government shutdown.

An additional 5 percent tax on companies that generate profits of more than $10 million a year would pay for a $530 million loan from Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank to cover government workers' salaries for the rest of the fiscal year, the opposition-dominated House of Representatives said in a statement. It was not immediately clear, however, whether the Senate and the governor would approve the bill.

The standstill may result in school closings and tens of thousands of government employees without wages.

The island's instability is affecting many of the 207,000 Puerto Ricans living in Massachusetts. Many worry about the financial well-being of their relatives and friends. Others are urging loved ones to move to the Bay State.

Massó, who is regional director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration in the South End, said his office would have to shut its doors today unless government leaders reach a compromise.

Puerto Ricans in northern New England depend on Massó's office to obtain such important documents as birth certificates, Massó said. But nonprofit organizations that help Latinos in the community also count on Massó's office for help obtaining federal grants.

Massó said he and the two employees in his office would be without wages until the crisis is averted because their salaries are funded by the Puerto Rican government.

He said he is optimistic the crisis will last only a few days, but if it goes on for months, Massó will have to dip into his savings and rely on the salary from his second job as announcer and producer of Con Salsa!, a Latin music show on WBUR.

Those living in the island, however, may feel they have no other choice but to leave the region.

Maldonado, 54, left Puerto Rico for Boston about eight months ago, after he lost his job. Now he wonders whether the rest of his family, including his parents and daughter, will follow.

''The situation is critical," he said yesterday, as he bought bread at Fuentes Market on Parker Street in Roxbury. ''I'll help however I can."

Algarin, 45, a security guard at the store, said he tries to send about $150 a month to Puerto Rico, where his three children live. He is unsure whether he can afford to send more. ''I'll have to find a way," he said, shrugging.

There may be other worries besides financial ones. The government has said it would continue to pay for police, but some fear tensions on the island may force residents to revolt, said Eliezer Gonzalez of East Boston, a Puerto Rican native who is running for City Council.

''Right now, they're in fear," Gonzalez said of his relatives in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. ''They are afraid people could get violent."

Material from the Associated Press, Reuters, and the Miami Herald was used in this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.