Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
On Nov. 20, the Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture gave a favorable recommendation to a water infrastructure bond bill that combines two earlier bills.
The new bill (S. 1947) would provide an increase of $50 million in debt capacity for the Water Pollution Abatement Trust – raising the spending cap from $88 million a year to $138 million – and direct the trust to provide matching grants, principal forgiveness, and interest-free loans to help cities and towns meet their drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs.
The bill would give cities and towns more tools to raise their own revenue by allowing them, at local option, to charge developers a reasonable fee to offset new or increased impact on water systems and then use the funds for environmental improvements, a process that falls under the broad concept of “water banking.”
The legislation would also provide matching grants to cover half of the $5 million entrance fee for communities to join the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. It would also provide incentives for communities to invest in “green” infrastructure projects such as dam removal, land preservation and stormwater recharge.
The bill would authorize $450 million in new infrastructure funding from the Commonwealth, with $250 million coming in a new bond for the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust, which would be distributed to communities based on the Chapter 90 road and bridge formula.
The bill also includes $200 million that would come from excess receipts that would otherwise have gone into the state’s stabilization fund. This money would be used to supplement the existing Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund and would fund a Water Infrastructure for Small Communities Grant Fund.
S. 1947 incorporates S.1880, filed by Senate President Therese Murray and Sen. Jamie Eldridge, and H. 690, filed by Rep. Carolyn Dykema. Eldridge and Dykema were co-chairs of the Water Infrastructure Finance Commission.
The overall financial need for water infrastructure across the state is $20.4 billion over the next 20 years, according to the Water Infrastructure Finance Commission. Last January, the MMA membership endorsed a resolution calling for more funding for water infrastructure, interest-free loans, and water banking.