Swampscott Wants Feedback On How To Spend APRA Funds

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Swampscott officials are looking for resident and business owner input on how to spend the approximately $4.1 million remaining of its COVID-19 funding through the American Recovery Plan Act.

The town allocated about $400,000 toward salary compensation for town employees — both union and non-union — who carried an extra burden during the health crisis. The remaining funding must be allocated and expended by Dec. 31, 2024.

While ARPA has a broad range of allowable spending categories, the funds do come with limitations on how these funds can be spent in the community. Most importantly, there must be a relationship between the pandemic, its effects, and the steps the town is taking to respond and recover from it. The broadly acceptable categories of use include costs incurred to:

1. Respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality;
2. Pay workers providing essential work during the COVID-19 public health emergency;
3. Provide government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue to the Town due to the COVID-19 public health emergency in the most recent full fiscal year; and
4. Make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.

The town is looking to identify places where one-time investments can have a long-term benefit to the community.

The full survey can be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)