GOV. MAURA HEALEY is launching two new revolving loan programs meant to help municipalities kick-start building projects from planning to completion.
Read more Complicated decisions ahead as lawmakers crystallize Big Tech response
The new infrastructure lending program, dubbed Build for Mass, would provide cities and towns with flexible, low-interest financing to address funding gaps, advance priority projects, and maximize access to federal resources, according to a release from the administration.
Projects supported partially by federal funding and related to economic development, clean energy, climate resilience, and municipal infrastructure would be eligible for the low-cost financing under the so-called General Loan Program. The other new Green Loan Program would cover bridge financing for municipal clean energy projects that qualify for the federal Direct Pay program through the Inflation Reduction Act, enabling municipalities to cover upfront costs and receive IRS Section 48 tax credits upon completion.
The release says the programs could support the installation of ground-source heat pumps or battery storage at municipal buildings with upfront bridge financing; advance federally supported downtown revitalization projects; reconstruct aging seawalls with flexible, low-cost financing; and modernize aging water, sewer, stormwater, and streetscape infrastructure by leveraging federal funds.
The program was announced Tuesday afternoon during a Local Government Advisory Commission meeting.
“We’re trying to be mindful of the challenges that happen at the municipal level, particularly with respect to capital projects, the needs of infrastructure. The joys of being in an older historic state, those costs don’t ever seem to go down,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said at Tuesday’s LGAC meeting.
Driscoll said the programs aim to help fill gaps, particularly for “upfront money you might need before you get reimbursed” by the federal government.
The administration’s Director of Federal Funds Quentin Palfrey said the revolving loan fund will be seeded with $50 million of federal matching funds, which is estimated to spur $160 million in projects over 20 years.
Read more The Mass. angle on US Supreme Court decisions
The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs will support another $25 million directly for clean energy investment and energy affordability, he said.
“We know that infrastructure projects are more expensive now, we know it’s harder and harder to get federal dollars to fund projects, and that challenge is particularly significant in the clean energy decarbonization and resiliency spaces,” Palfrey said.
The state will prioritize rural communities and the mid-sized, post-industrial cities classified as Gateway Cities, though every municipality is eligible to apply.
“I hope you use this as a tool. I want us to be able to come back and say we need more money because so many people are using the infrastructure dollars to get projects underway,” Driscoll said.
Peter Cusolito, a member of the Leicester Select Board, said during the meeting that the announcement comes at a moment when the Highway Department is repairing collapsed stormwater infrastructure in Leicester.
“Funding has always been hard — doesn’t matter the size of the town — but smaller rural communities do struggle. There’s a lot of competing needs for available dollars, and this year in particular, operational costs, particularly energy, consumed what was, I hate using the phrase excess funds, but funds that might have been available,” Cusolito said.
Read more SJC upholds Walsh’s spot on ballot; Manning Martin case still pending
