Auditor Suzanne Bump chronicles dire state of infrastructure in Western Mass

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS have long bemoaned their standing in “a tale of two Commonwealths.” The urban, eastern part of the state, they say, sucks up most of the attention – and funding — on Beacon Hill, while wide swaths of Western Massachusetts, which deal with far different concerns, are often overlooked. The economic boom that has benefitted the Boston region in recent decades has largely bypassed the state’s four westernmost counties, where property values remain low and the population is aging as young people seek jobs elsewhere.

A new report by Auditor Suzanne Bump (D), being released Tuesday, argues that the state needs to pay more attention to ailing infrastructure in Western Massachusetts.

“Aging and declining populations, stagnant or decreasing property values, increased education costs, and statewide policies that benefit urban areas all serve to disadvantage the largely rural areas in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire Counties,” the report says. “Small municipal staffs without professional engineers, grant writers, or planners are challenged to pursue funding for infrastructure, and state eligibility requirements or formulas make them ineligible for certain funds altogether.”

The report is being released as state budget writers are deciding how to distribute a huge influx of federal COVID-19 relief money. If Congresses passes a federal infrastructure bill, that could create another new pot of money, as could the success of a 2022 ballot question that would raise the tax rate on income over $1 million. Bump argues that some of this money should be spent in a targeted way to make major investments in infrastructure in Western Massachusetts. She plans to testify on Tuesday at a joint hearing of the House and Senate ways and means committees, which will determining how to spend federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Read more: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/economy/auditor-suzanne-bump-chronicles-dire-state-of-infrastructure-in-western-mass/