Jones, Crighton Deliver $210,000 For Lynnfield Projects

House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North Reading) and State Senator Brendan P. Crighton (D-Lynn) have secured $210,000 in state funding for the Town of Lynnfield to help support a series of local initiatives as part of a comprehensive economic development bill recently finalized by the House and Senate.

House Bill 5374, An Act relating to economic growth and relief for the Commonwealth, was enacted by the House and Senate on November 3 and is now on Governor Charlie Baker’s desk for his review and signature. The bill represents a compromise reached by a six-member House and Senate conference committee that has been in negotiations since July attempting to resolve the differences between earlier versions of the bill approved by both legislative branches.

Representative Jones and Senator Crighton noted that House Bill 5374 will provide Lynnfield with:

• a $50,000 matching grant for the repair, replacement and reconstruction of the tennis courts at Lynnfield High School, which have not been upgraded for many years and are currently unsuitable for use by the school’s tennis teams;
• $100,000 for the design costs and related expenses associated with the construction of a water treatment plant to assist the town with the remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the town’s drinking water; and
• $60,000 for the Wakefield Lynnfield Chamber of Commerce to support its work on behalf of the local business community

“The economic development bill will provide an infusion of federal and state funding to assist the Town of Lynnfield and communities across Massachusetts in recovering from the impacts of COVID-19 and building a stronger economy,” said Representative Jones. “Working together, Senator Crighton and I were able to successfully advocate on the town’s behalf to ensure that the final bill reflects some of Lynnfield’s top local priorities.”

“This major funding will help tackle some of the most pressing challenges that our residents are facing including economic uncertainty, rising energy costs, workforce shortages, and transportation reliability,” said Senator Crighton. “It will also make key investments in important local priorities like these projects right here in Lynnfield.”

House Bill 5374 is funded through a combination of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money and surplus state budget dollars. Earlier versions of the bill had also proposed using bond proceeds to fund various local and statewide projects, but those items had to be dropped from the final bill because a roll call vote is required to authorize bond funding, which can only happen during formal sessions, which ended on August 1.

Governor Baker has until November 13 to review the bill and sign it into law.