Mayor Frank Picozzi pledged months ago he would allocate $7 million of the City’s American Rescue Act funds to the Warwick Sewer Authority for infrastructure particularly for the Bayside Sewer Project.

The resolution accepting the funds was recently approved by the Sewer Authority, which means that the sewer assessment for the project will be no more than $16,900 per house.

But with $7 million allocated towards that and $3 million set aside for water infrastructure, $10.6 million dedicated towards loss revenue in 2021 and 2022 and another $800,000 going towards a broadband initiative, the City still has about $18 million left to spend.

Picozzi says that he thinks a portion of how those funds are spent should be decided by individual council members.

On Tuesday, Picozzi told the Beacon he is still finalizing a plan with Council President Steve McAllister that would allocate a designated amount (he mentions $200,000 for each of the city’s nine wards) to enable council members to hold community meetings and solicit feedback from their constituents on how they think the money should be spent.

Unlike Cranston that is holding citywide public hearings, Picozzi feels that the city would gain a clearer picture of what’s needed with ward meetings.

”I don’t want to have the big meetings because a lot of special interest groups are going to come out and everyday citizens are not,” said Picozzi.

Picozzi said with ward meetings council members will be able to help identify the needs of each of the areas of the City.

”They’re the ones that know their needs in the wards,” said Picozzi. “I want them to go into their wards and see what playgrounds need to be addressed, what recreation areas, things like that.”

With the remaining funds Picozzi recognized that a good amount will likely need to be spent on infrastructure.

”We have huge infrastructure needs here, and we're still accessing what everything is,” said Picozzi. “The infrastructure hasn’t been touched here in decades.”

Picozzi hasn’t finalized an amount for each ward yet.

”I’ve thrown around $200,000 a ward, I haven’t determined that yet, were still assessing.”

Picozzi said on Tuesday that he still needs to talk to the different council members and said he is hopeful the meetings will get started sometime after the holidays. He thought improved playgrounds would rank high on the list. If the amount is $200,000, that would be $1.8 million directed at ward projects.

”I think they’ll love it,” said Picozzi.