What MA Spending Bill Means For Woburn

WOBURN, MA - The city of Woburn and a pair of area nonprofits will all soon receive money under an economic development spending bill state lawmakers sent to Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this month.

The Woburn earmarks amount to $600,000 out of a roughly $3.8 billion package that Baker later signed into law on Thursday of last week.

The agreement hashed out by legislators combined unspent federal pandemic stimulus money and state surplus funds to back projects ranging from MBTA safety and service upgrades to broadband internet access improvements.

It also noted a long list of more specific earmarks for individual municipalities.

Woburn earmarks are as follows, as described in the text of legislation:

• $100,000 to Social Capital Inc. "for civic engagement initiatives for youth and for developing the next generation of leaders."
• $200,000 to Food Link, Inc. to address food insecurity in the city of Woburn and the towns of Arlington, Billerica, Burlington and Lexington.
• $300,000 for the redevelopment, design and construction of the Hurld Wyman Elementary School park in Woburn

Social Capital Inc. is a nonprofit running various community activities and civic engagement initiatives in Woburn.

Food Link, Inc. is an Arlington-based nonprofit. The organization runs food rescue services, picking up viable food products from various restaurants and retailers that might otherwise throw such products away. Food Link then distributes rescued food to partnered community organizations, such as food pantries, who can help get food into the hands of those in need, as described on the Food Link website.

Woburn, meanwhile, has been in the process of conceptualizing and implementing a new future for the site of its now closed Hurld Elementary School. The city has already received hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal funding to design and build what officials are envisioning as a “heat resilient park” with heat mitigation, flood management and other impacts in the area.

State Rep. Richard Haggerty said the project will offer "beautiful open spaces" in comments last week as legislators celebrated their agreement on the economic development spending bill. He specifically noted plans to address current flood concerns in the area through the project.

"Most importantly," he continued, though, "this Bill ensures our Commonwealth remains focused on job creation and economic growth while helping residents with their home heating bills this winter, encourages housing creation, and provides additional support for our human service workers."

The total $3.8 economic development spending bill emerged on Nov. 3 after months spent stuck in talks between legislators.

The bill sent to Baker for his review had drawn mixed reactions from Baker and other state leaders, who have expressed disappointment that lawmakers scrapped envisioned tax cuts and stimulus checks for some taxpayers.

State officials have nonetheless touted now ongoing distribution of separate tax refund checks triggered by a law limiting annual income tax revenues at the state level.

The refunds total close to $3 billion. They are being sent automatically to eligible Massachusetts residents.