Jones, Tarr Deliver $525,000 For North Reading Projects

House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North Reading) and Senate Minority Leader Bruce E. Tarr (R-Gloucester) have secured $525,000 in state funding for the Town of North Reading 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 Tarr noted that House Bill 5374 will provide North Reading with:

· $50,000 for the resurfacing of the basketball court and street hockey rink at the Ipswich River Park;

· $100,000 for the restructure, repair and replacement of the Kidspot playground;

· $250,000 for the continued development of the town’s wastewater and sewerage system;

· $25,000 for the Reading-North Reading Chamber of Commerce to support its work on behalf of the local business community; and

· $100,000 for improvements to the function facility at the municipally-owned Hillview Country Club

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

“Representative Jones and I have worked closely with North Reading town officials to identify priority areas that we could advocate for to secure support from the state legislature, and significant support is included in the Economic Development bill now on Governor Charlie Baker’s desk,” said Senator Tarr. “Our team effort, and effective working partnership between state and local government officials, have produced real results and resources that will make a difference in addressing these and other important priorities.”

Jones and Tarr previously secured $50,000 for renovations to the Kidspot playground as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 state budget. In October, North Reading received the second of two consecutive $100,000 state MassWorks grants to assist with the development of a wastewater and sewerage system that town officials say will help spur economic development and multi-family housing production.

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.