Waltham To Receive Over $24 Million In Federal Relief Funds

WALTHAM, MA — Waltham will get roughly $24 million in federal funds from the coronavirus relief and stimulus bill passed last week, according to estimates from the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

One of the $1.9 trillion bill's provisions is $350 billion for state and local aid, including a $130 billion Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. That fund will send $3.4 billion to Massachusetts, according to the Committee's estimates.

Most of that funding will go to counties and the state's 37 largest cities and towns, but $368 million will be split between the other 314 communities. That money is allocated by population.

The committee estimated that Waltham will get $24.07 million — just about $385 per resident, according to 2020 Census Bureau estimate that put Waltham's population to be around 62,359.

By way of comparison; Newton, with a population just under 88,000, will get about $48 million (or about $535 per resident) and Brookline at around 59,000 residents will get about $34 million (or about $578 per person).

The funds must be spent by 2024 and can go to specific categories, according to an analysis from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation those include:

• "Response to both the pandemic and related economic consequences
• Provision of government services necessitated by revenue reduction due to the pandemic
• Investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure"

The bill also has billions in funding for state capital projects, K-12 education, transit and other categories.