Moore gives approval to fund public infrastructure improvements, create jobs

Senate, House agree to send "I-Cubed" bill to Governor

June 5, 2008 ... During the Senate's formal session on Wednesday, Sen. Richard T. Moore, D - Uxbridge, and his colleagues, took final action on legislation that will help municipalities and developers fund necessary public infrastructure projects, including work on streets, sidewalks, water and sewer lines, and street lights, which are all essential to successful economic development.

Both the Senate and the House agreed to final terms of the Infrastructure Investment Incentive legislation, or "I-Cubed" bill, which makes significant changes to the original law passed in 2006, including increased community funding and revenue safeguards. I-Cubed is expected to create thousands of jobs for the Commonwealth.

"Keeping our infrastructure up to date and sound not only keeps our citizens safe, but also provides economic opportunity for Massachusetts", said Sen. Moore, who voted in favor of the bill. "The 'I-Cubed' bill addresses both of those needs and will prove to be economically practical for the Commonwealth as job creation, which is extremely important at this time, will be a key result of the bill."

Senate President Therese Murray, D - Plymouth, said the bill will benefit communities across Massachusetts in the form of fiscally-prudent investments for economic development.

"I'm proud of the work the Senate and the House did on this bill," President Murray said. "It will promote public and private partnerships that are essential to the construction of new real estate projects, including housing, retail and mixed-use developments."

The legislation includes built-in safeguards to protect the Commonwealth from any loss of revenue, and ensures that laws relating to the classification of employees, health insurance, workers compensation and unemployment insurance are adhered to by developers.

The bill allows Massachusetts to invest in infrastructure projects by issuing up to $250 million in bonds - $50 million more than the original law. This change makes I-Cubed funding more widely available to eligible economically-distressed areas.

The legislation also eliminates the five-project cap and a sunset date instituted by the original law, thereby making I-Cubed funding an option for more projects in more communities.

How I-Cubed works:

Through the sale of bonds, the state provides the initial capital money to build the project.

Once a project is approved, the parties (the state, the municipality, and the developer) enter into an agreement that lays out the requirements for special real estate tax assessments and payment of the debt service.

Project developers are then responsible for the debt service payments. Once the project is up and running, the debt service payments are made through the new revenues generated by the project.

Bonds are repaid by the tax assessments on development parcels that benefit from the infrastructure improvements.

This entire concept is dependent upon agreements between the municipality, the developer and the Commonwealth. Studies are conducted to find out how much new revenue a project is expected to generate, and the amount of debt service paid on the bonds is calculated to ensure that all outstanding debts are covered by the new project.

The bill will now go to the Governor's desk for his anticipated signature.

Previous Page | Print this Document