Local News

Westborough’s ‘townie baby’ award would pay natives $1,000 to have babies there

The Town Meeting warrant includes a "townie baby" award that would incentivize Westborough natives to build locally-grown families.

February 24, 2024

1 minute to read

A Massachusetts town is apparently so desperate for local babies that it’s paying residents to give birth to new residents.

Next month, Westborough voters who turn out to address municipal matters such as planning board members and town budgets will also tackle an article on the Town Meeting’s warrant that would pay Westborough-born residents $1,000 to have in-town babies.

A tipster told Boston.com that the proposal was put forth by a Westborough resident and got enough signatures to be allowed on the town’s warrant.

“You may find Article #45 to be….different?… It’s causing a HUGE uproar in town!” said the resident.

According to the town’s website, Article 45 would “establish a ‘Townie Baby’ award to encourage current residents of Westborough, who were born in Westborough, to start families and to have children. To see if the town will vote on a non-binding petition for the establishment of a taxpayer-funded award to encourage current residents of Westborough, who were born themselves in Westborough, to start families and have children.”

The warrant item goes on to say, “The award is $1,000 per child. The intention and goal of the award is to encourage family creation by Westborough residents who were born here, with the over-arching goal of keeping cultural longevity of the common shared values of the community. Furthermore, this effort hopes to encourage local families to stay here, thus preserving the shared cultural and historic ‘memory’ of Westborough, its collective knowledge base, and its heritage.”

The Town Meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. on March 12 at Westborough High School at 90 West Main St. The town, located about 34 miles west of Boston, had a population of about 21,600 people as of the 2020 Census.