Summit To Probe How Framingham Spends $28M In Stimulus Funds

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Framingham will get about $28 million from the recent American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal stimulus bill. But now the city has to decide how to spend that money in the wake of the pandemic.

For that reason, the Framingham Strategic Initiatives and Financial Oversight Committee (SIFOC) has organized an almost unprecedented summit of top city officials, including Mayor Yvonne Spicer, Superintendent Robert Tremblay and members of the City Council and the School Committee to discuss how to use the money.

"It is our hope we can get these three bodies on the same page regarding the process of distribution and where the funding should be directed," SIFOC Vice Chair MK Feeney said this week.

The summit will take place on Tuesday and will be open to the public. In advance of the event, the mayor, the Council and the School Committee submitted reports to SIFOC outlining ideas for the stimulus money.

A pre-summit report shared by School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg outlined a number of ideas, from hiring mental health counselors to aid students grappling with fallout from the pandemic to helping pay to expand recreation facilities from playgrounds to sports fields.

The federal government has placed restrictions on how the money can be spent. In general, the money can be used to pay for costs related to responding to the pandemic, to help businesses and residents financially affected by coronavirus, to upgrade infrastructure and even provide "premium pay" to essential workers.

Framingham has until the end of 2024 to spend the money. In total, the state of Massachusetts got about $5.3 billion from ARPA, and cities and towns got about $3.4 billion. Spicer has also asked residents to fill out a survey about what they think should be done with the money.

The Framingham ARPA summit begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday on Zoom and will stream live on Facebook.