"Finance Officer" means the Finance Officer of the City, as appointed under Chapter 2.08. "Account" means a record of charges for utility services provided to a service address. Here is our latest offer.For the purposes of this chapter, the following words are defined as follows: Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Reach Mary Whitfill at Wollaston church wants to tear down parish and parsonage, replace with 4-story building "Folks will subscribe to participate in this program as if they'd affixed a water pipe to their home and paid for that over a certain period of time."Ĭane said state and federal programs will provide financial assistance to families that cannot afford municipal broadband service. "This isn't a mandatory program, it's opt-in," Cain said. Homeowners who decide not to participate in the public internet service will not have to pay into the enterprise fund. The municipal broadband service will be paid for by ratepayers, like the sewer and water services are. The city's water and sewer systems are also run with enterprise funds. In the time since, Walker said, the state has allowed communities to establish enterprise funds instead − a simpler process that does not require a ballot vote of residents. The establishment of the enterprise fund comes a year after city councilors voted to establish a municipal light plant, a process city officials said was legally required to provide broadband. What we saw during the pandemic is that internet isn't a luxury, it's a utility." "Quincy Point and Merrymount will have an opportunity to see what works with this program, what we can improve upon and help expand it to the whole city. "Quincy Point in particular has a lot of economic and cultural diversity, and I think that's really important to emphasize as we move forward," Ward 2 City Councilor Anthony Andronico said. Toland Time: Three brothers help build family feel with North Quincy High baseball More: Developer unveils long-awaited plans for 2-story restaurant, housing in downtown Quincy No specifics were given on which parts of the two neighborhoods will be part of the test. Walker said they don't yet know how much the pilot program will cost. He'll come back before city councilors at that point and ask for money to launch a pilot program in Merrymount and Quincy Point. Most Quincy residents are customers of Comcast, and city councilors say the company has a monopoly they've blamed for high prices and spotty service.Ĭurrently, Comcast owns its own infrastructure in Quincy. Under the proposal to offer municipal broadband, Quincy would build and maintain more than $75 million in infrastructure – such as fiber optic cables and servers – that could be used by any number of companies to bring internet to residents, making it another player in the marketplace of providers.Ĭain said the broadband program is in the engineering and facility phases and studies should be completed in the next two months. Does Quincy have options other than Comcast? It has been five years since Cain first floated the idea of municipal broadband to councilors as a way to expand affordable internet access to more residents. This is innovation at its finest here for a municipality, and it's taking local control over essential infrastructure."Ĭlosing the 'digital divide': Interest in municipal internet is rising on the South Shore, nationwideĪ culinary resurgence: 6 of the best Quincy Center meals, drinks and desserts "When we do complete it, this project will bring national recognition. "We view this as an essential infrastructure project," Cain said. QUINCY − Parts of Merrymount and Quincy Point will be the first to have homes served by a municipal internet utility in the coming months as Quincy tests its broadband network in the two neighborhoods.Ĭity Councilor Ian Cain gave an update on the plan to bring public internet service to Quincy as councilors approved the creation of the Municipal Broadband Enterprise Fund at this week's council meeting.Įstablishing an enterprise fund will help the city "treat it like any other utility" when it comes to paying for operating expenses through rate payments, said Chris Walker, Mayor Thomas Koch's chief of staff.
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