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Date: 1/9/2024
SPRINGFIELD — The city of Springfield will soon recognize and repair several roads with the assistance of funds from the Fair Share Amendment.
In 2022, Massachusetts voters approved a new 4% additional surtax on income above $1 million. That money was to be set aside for transportation and education.
In December 2023, it was announced that all 351 state municipalities would receive a total of $100 million to support local infrastructure. The grant awards come from revenue generated by the Fair Share Amendment.
The Fair Share Amendment funds will be distributed as follows: The first $50 million is being distributed by using the Chapter 90 formula based on local road mileage, population and employment. The other $50 million is being distributed using a formula based on each municipality’s share of road mileage.
Depending on how the two formulas apportion the money determines the amount each community is receiving. The apportionment is automatically incorporated into a municipalities’ existing Chapter 90 contract with MassDOT and no further action is required by the municipality.
According to Mayor Domenic Sarno’s Communications Director Bill Baker, the city of Springfield is not receiving anything for the education side. “It looks like the state is going to use that funding to pay for their free school meals in the commonwealth program,” Baker said.
Springfield already offers free school meals through a federal program it qualifies for, so it will not participate in the state program. Baker said suburban communities that do not qualify or meet eligibility qualifications for the federal program, such as Wilbraham and Longmeadow, will likely opt in and take advantage of that.
On the transportation side, Baker shared that it his understanding and that of Chris Cignoli, director of the Department of Public Works, that the state is going to allocate about $1.6 million for roads in Springfield. He explained that this will be given to the city through the Chapter 90 account. Chapter 90 funds can only be spent on certain items such as eligible roads and sidewalks.
In addition to the $1.6 million for roads from the Fair Share Amendment, the city also anticipates receiving $3.6 million from Chapter 90, bringing the total to about $5 million for paving for the coming season.
Baker said specific projects cannot be identified yet because the city is still waiting on the official Chapter 90 letter from the state which should come in February.
Regarding the funding for roads, Baker said, “We’re definitely [going to] take it and use it because we always have roads, curbs and sidewalks to pave. There [are] definitely no shortages of paving work that we can do.”
He continued, “This $1.6 million is definitely welcomed and we’re looking forward to eventually getting it.”
The City Council was scheduled to authorize use the Fair Share Amendment funding at its Jan. 8 meeting, after Reminder Publishing’s deadline. Once approved and the Chapter 90 letter is received, the city will start putting together a list of the streets to be addressed through this funding.