The noise surrounding a potential Massport-funded soundproofing initiative concerns District 6 Councillor Giovanni Recupero.
Recupero and Councillor-At-Large Roy Avellaneda introduced a proposal this spring asking the City to allocate $300,000 from its $600,000 yearly Massport mitigation payment toward soundproof windows for residents experiencing aircraft noise from Logan Airport operations.
However, City Manager Thomas Ambrosino raised complications in correspondence to the City Council regarding the feasibility of automatically dedicating those funds for such a program.
“I am not opposed to creating some local
grant program, operated through our Planning Department, to provide funding for
soundproofing to residents adversely impacted by airport related noise,”
Ambrosino stated. “Deciding who should qualify for such grants, and how to
prioritize areas of the City, might be a bit challenging. But, I feel with some
time, we can work out those details together in collaboration with the City
Council.”
According to Ambrosino, the Council’s funding proposal presents legal obstacles. Since the state’s revenue department classifies the annual mitigation payment as payment in lieu of taxes, it functions as general revenue that flows into the City’s general fund rather than being available for direct program allocation.
“If the Council desires to depend upon this
Massport payment to help fund a soundproofing program at the level of $300,000
annually, it must appropriate the $300,000 separately,” Ambrosino stated. “It
can do that either in an annual Budget line item, or as an isolated appropriation
from a source such as Stabilization or Free Cash.”
Rather than making the soundproofing program a permanent budget line, Ambrosino suggested the City commit to appropriating $300,000 from Free Cash whenever funds become available.
“I can see what
the City Manager is saying, but this money comes to us direct from Massport, we
get it all the time, so why do we have to wait and put it in free cash?”
Recupero asked. “What kind of guarantee can the City Manager give us? I want
the City Manager to give us some kind of guarantee that the money will be used
for that purpose, not all of it, but a piece of it.”