Milford state Rep, Brian Murray requests funds for Mendon infrastructure projects

BOSTON — The House has passed a $58 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2025, and it includes three amendments totaling $325,000 that would benefit Mendon.

The amendments were among nine filed by state Rep. Brian Murray, D-Milford, and would address planning for Providence Road, the Taft Public Library and the Mendon Senior Center.

“I didn’t file as many money requests as I had previously, because we’re told the revenue is tight this year,” Murray said.

According to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, House lawmakers filed 1,495 amendments — 71 fewer than last year — totaling roughly $2 billion in impact.

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One of Murray’s amendments would put $200,000 toward engineering plans for repairing a culvert on Providence Road in Mendon.

A bad storm last winter led to the road being flooded with 3 feet of water, which exposed problems with the pipes and culvert that run underneath the road, according to Mendon Highway Surveyor Jonathan Dudley.

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“It’s a real problem because that (road) is a main tributary between state roads and there’s a lot of local trucks that uses that route along with the school buses and it creates a major hardship when it’s shut down,” said Select Board Chair Mike Merolli.

With the funding, the town would be able to hire an engineering firm to inspect the culvert and create designs and get estimates, Dudley said.

Merolli said the increased frequency of extreme weather and need for stormwater management should lead to the earmark finally being passed. But unlike recently passed Chapter 90 funding, funding from this earmark would go toward a larger project, not just regular road maintenance.

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“They’re looking to key into some MassDOT Highway grant programs, specifically for these types of projects,” Murray said. “However, you need to have engineer documents to apply for that, and that’s expensive, and that’s why the town asked me to get some funds.”

Although not included in this budget cycle, Merolli said the town has wanted funding for commercial water and sewer connections to increase usable commercial property along Route 140 and Route 16.

Due to a limited amount of commercial property in Mendon, Merolli hopes new connections could lead to more businesses and capture new sources of revenue in the face of inflationary and budgetary pressures.

“These earmarks are a great way to distribute that money back into the town without increasing the local taxes of all the real estate owners,” he said.

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Mendon’s public library would receive $25,000 for a feasibility study on utilizing the old church rectory connected to the building, whether that be for “converting the space or raising the space and making an outdoor pavilion,” Merolli said.

The last $100,000 would be directed toward a feasibility study at the Senior Center.

Outside Mendon, the House also passed Murray’s amendment to change fund distribution to regional transit authorities. According to the amendment, funding allocations would be based on total ridership, area population and the amount of square mileage serviced.

“It deals with distribution of the funds throughout the RTAs and trying to do that equitably, as opposed to some RTA services getting a large amount of funding and others do not,” Murray said.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Milford lawmaker's budget amendments target improvements in Mendon