SWAMPSCOTT — The town’s Finance Committee discussed federal-funding amounts and its potential uses at its meeting on Monday, largely agreeing that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money should go toward infrastructure and water and sewer improvements.
Swampscott’s Director of Finance and Administration Amy Sarro said that the town was awarded $4.57 million of funding through the American Rescue Plan Act and has already received half of that amount in the first tranche. This ARPA money is to be expended through 2024.
It is not clear yet how much money Swampscott will receive through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Sarro said, and there is no guidance on how the communities are to spend this funding.
“We are going to be resuming a working group in February,” said Sarro, as the first working group that was looking into spending ARPA money paused its work in November 2021.
The first working group has asked all of the department heads to review the guidance for ARPA funding and come forward with the ideas for spending. To facilitate visibility and public engagement in spending ARPA money, Sarro said, the committee is planning to add a section to the town’s website which will show where and how the money is being spent in real time, and allow for residents to provide feedback on different projects.
“It will be updated every single night from our system,” Sarro said.
In terms of potential uses, she said that the administration has received suggestions to fund a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant to set up a respective program; to establish programs for senior citizens within the community; to invest into community development to build equity in the town and to finance infrastructure improvements for water and sewer.
Members of the Finance Committee expressed their desire to see the ARPA funding go largely towards infrastructure.
“I personally would like to see every penny going into infrastructure,” said Mary Ellen Fletcher, vice chair of the committee who represents the Finance Committee in the working group. “I think it is important that everyone else here weigh in on what they would like to see.”
Mathew Kirschner, an at-large member of the Finance Committee who is also part of the working group, said that water and sewer seem to be the most urgent priority as well as the coastline since Swampscott is a coastal community.
“I’d be supportive even with just internal infrastructure within the town,” said member Eric Hartmann, mentioning water-main breaks, for example. “There is tons of work to be done there.”
The Swampscott school district has received two out of three tranches of funding from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, which was established within the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in 2020. So far the schools have received $149,023 under ESSER I and $645,485 under ESSER II. The school district has hired an occupational nurse and an information technology (IT) specialist to support remote learning with ESSER I money, Sarro said.
The ESSER III tranche to the Swampscott school district will amount to $1.43 million. All ESSER funding is to be spent by the end of the calendar year 2024 on school-specific needs, including combating COVID-19 and bridging the learning gap.
