'It's The Beaches': Swampscott Reconsiders ARPA Spending Funding Vote
SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The new-look Swampscott Select Board reversed course on $1.5 million of the $2.1 million in American Recovery Plan Act spending approved during its April 17 meeting and reallocated that money toward a Fisherman's Beach sewer infrastructure project on Wednesday.The re-vote reduces the money previously allocated to myriad projects in town and eliminates — at least for now — $400,000 in investments in town parks and $500,000 in pedestrian safety that was approved last month.That 3-2 vote on April 17 included a vote in favor of the original town administrator spending proposal from former Select Board member Peter Spellios, along with Chair David Grishman and Doug Thompson. MaryEllen Fletcher and Katie Phelan had voted against that plan and argued that most, if not all, of the ARPA money go toward sewer infrastructure.Danielle Leonard, who won the open seat on the Board earlier this month when Spellios did not run for re-election, was seemingly a swing vote in favor or prioritizing the sewer spending during the latest two-hour ARPA funding debate among the Board on Wednesday night."I cannot ignore the fact that I have had the opportunity to talk to so many people in this town over the last three months (during the campaign) and everyone says the same thing — it's the beaches and the bacteria," Leonard said. "At the end of the day, we're here based on what the residents and taxpayers of this town want to see us do. And if we can't guarantee them safety at the beach, and not getting bacteria or E. coli, or whatever they could potentially get, that's our first responsibility."The new allocation includes $1.5 million for sewer infrastructure pertaining to Fisherman's Beach, $50,000 for affordable housing, $60,000 for an economic development study, $75,000 for a climate action manager, $200,000 for a resiliency project (which may be subsidized with $160,000 in state grant funding), $50,000 for a Fisherman's Beach Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination program, $122,000 for public health programs and $50,000 for historic preservation of the Glover House.That proposal trims $150,000 from public housing, $500,000 in pedestrian safety initiatives, the $400,000 for parks, $50,000 from the Glover, $25,000 from the climate action resiliency manager, $40,000 from the economic study and money toward putting an ADA-compliant bathroom facility at Phillips Beach.The new $1.5 million in infrastructure spending is in addition to $3.5 million in capital spending approved at last week's annual town meeting through a state revolving sewer enterprise fund derived from a projected rise in water and sewer rates."Going forward we are not going to be able to fix the pipes with $2.1 million coming out of ARPA — or any amount — we are going to need to be doing more and more and more," Phelan said. "We've also just had a very difficult meeting regarding the school budget, and we've made a commitment to having tough conversations about the school budget going forward. We are negotiating major contracts in the upcoming years with fire, police, the teachers union."All these things are expensive. And I can't tell you today that next year we won't be in this seat raising taxes to cover some of these other items, which are not nice-to-haves, they're must-haves. ... I would like to do my best to help fixed-income residents, other residents, and do something today (through expiring one-time ARPA funds) because I might not have any mechanism tomorrow."Those who supported the original spending vote from last month — before eventually relenting on Wednesday's compromise — argued that, while the sewer infrastructure must be a town priority, it cannot be the only priority."Throwing money at the sewers is not going to fix the problem any faster," Grishman said. "I certainly understand the need to keep our sewer rates as low as possible. However, we've chronically underinvested here. I just want to make sure that we have balance and we're not chronically underinvesting in every other priority that we have."My concern is that we become so myopic and focused on fixing one issue that we ignore all of the other issues. We are not an advocacy board. We are the Select Board."(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)The article 'It's The Beaches': Swampscott Reconsiders ARPA Spending Funding Vote appeared first on Swampscott, MA Patch.
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