Worcester Mulls What To Do With $110.6M In Stimulus Funds

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester is getting more than $110 million from the recent American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal stimulus package — and now officials have to decide what to do with the money.

In a letter to the City Council this week, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said a comprehensive stimulus spending plan is forthcoming, but he also presented a few ideas about where they money might end up:

• $500,000 for "public health navigators" to connect residents to resources
• $2 million per year to fund affordable housing
• $250,000 per year to boost the Worcester Arts Council
• $1.5 million to improve public buildings like City Hall, the DCU Center to "better prepare for pandemic conditions"
• $15 million to build an "enterprise resource planning system" so city government can function remotely
• $250,000 to fund a study on how to improve the local broadband internet network

The money won't all come at once. Stimulus funds are being doled out in several phases and must be spent by the end of 2024. Worcester got half of its $110,617,389 this spring; the next half will come in about a year. The amount of money is based on the size of a community. For example, Framingham, with a population less than half of Worcester's, is getting about $27 million.

The federal government is also restricting how money can be spent. Generally, it can be used to support public health spending, replace lost government revenue, provide "premium pay" for essential workers, invest in infrastructure and broadly "address negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency, including economic harms to workers, households, small businesses, impacted industries, and the public sector."

Augustus says he is planning to bring a more specific plan to the City Council for approval, and it may include spending for items like premium pay and water and sewer infrastructure upgrades.