Chelmsford To Receive $3.5 Million In Federal Relief Funds

CHELSMFORD, MA — Chelmsford will get roughly $24 million in federal funds from the coronavirus relief and stimulus bill passed earlier this month, according to estimates from the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

One of the $1.9 trillion bill's provisions is $350 billion for state and local aid, including a $130 billion Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. That fund will send $3.4 billion to Massachusetts, according to the Committee's estimates.

Most of that funding will go to counties and the state's 37 largest cities and towns, but $368 million will be split between the other 314 communities. That money is allocated by population.

The committee estimated that Chelmsford will get $3.49 million — about $100 per resident, according to 2019 Census Bureau estimates. (Westford will get $2.45 million).

The funds must be spent by 2024 and can go to specific categories, according to an analysis from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation those include:

• "Response to both the pandemic and related economic consequences
• Provision of government services necessitated by revenue reduction due to the pandemic
• Investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure"

The bill also has billions in funding for state capital projects, K-12 education, transit and other categories.