What Falmouth Gets In $3.8 Billion MA Spending Bill

FALMOUTH, MA — A $3.8 billion spending plan was signed by Gov. Charlie Baker. The bill uses a combination of federal pandemic stimulus dollars and state surplus money to pay for an enormous variety of initiatives — but omits permanent tax cuts that were part of discussions earlier this year.

Baker signed the bill into law after months of back-and-forth between his administration and the state legislature.

Included in the bill are funds earmarked for communities across Massachusetts. Among those funds for Falmouth are:

• $100,000 to FalmouthNet, Inc. "for professional services and research expenses in support of efforts to build a town-wide, community-based fiber-optic network"
• $2 million " to support the operations, design and 946 construction costs for a state-of the-art coastal research port infrastructure currently called the Complex for Waterfront Access To Exploration and Research in the town of Falmouth, operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution"
• $30,000 "to Joe Q Veteran Coffee Break, Inc. for building renovations to convert the former senior center into a veterans outreach and wellness service center in the town of Falmouth"
• $50,000 for the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation, Inc. for the distribution of food to veterans in need in Barnstable County
• $50,000 to the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation, Inc., for the reimbursement of vehicle fuel costs associated with the delivery of food to veterans

According to Patch reporting, the spending plan is on top of tax refunds heading to about 3 million state residents, the result of an obscure law that caps how much income tax revenue the state can collect in a given year.

There are key items that were omitted from the bill on top of tax cuts, including bringing back happy hour, and proposed $250 stimulus checks for some state residents.

Read more on the bill: What's In The $3.8 Billion MA Economic Development Spending Bill