News Flash

We had another great year in 2021. We continued to weather the COVID-19 pandemic but also saw an increase in response to our programs and services to pre-pandemic levels. I want to thank everyone on our team for their ongoing dedication to this community!   

In addition to everything else, many of our departments also collaborated to stand up a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Amesbury High School where thousands of Amesbury residents received their vaccine.

Looking forward to all that 2022 will bring!
Kassandra

244 days that City offices were open in 2021.
City offices closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January), Washington’s Birthday (February), Snow Day (February 1), Patriot’s Day (April), Memorial Day (May), Independence Day (July), Labor Day (September), Columbus Day (October), Veterans Day (November), Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving (November), the day before Christmas (December) and New Year’s Eve (December).

$5,219,375.68 in grant funding received across all departments.
Grants received for emergency services equipment, IT improvements, Council on Aging programming and more. See a full list of grants applied for and received here.

149 exemptions granted and $190,383 tax dollars abated by the Office of the Assessor.

• 45 senior exemptions totaling $36,323 tax dollars abated
• 92 veteran exemptions totaling $142,560 tax dollars abated
• 12 blind exemptions totaling $11,500 tax dollars abated

194 babies born in Amesbury.
The City Clerk processed 194 birth certificates in 2021.

99% and 98% collection rates for FY21 real estate and FY21 personal property taxes, respectively, by the Office of the Collector / Treasurer.
The Collector / Treasurer works hard to get as close to 100% collection on real estate and personal property taxes.

110 development applications processed by the Office of Community & Economic Development
This included 64 Conservation Commission permit applications and 46 Planning Board permit applications.

738 COVID-19 vaccine appointments made by the Council on Aging.
At the beginning of 2021 the COA was instrumental in helping older adults get vaccination appointments at the Lower Merrimack Valley Regional Collaborative clinics as well as other surrounding vaccine sites. They surveyed almost 4,000 people and made/received nearly 3,000 phone calls to help our residents get vaccinated.

2,304 kids attended Recreation programs.
The Recreation Department is almost back up to pre-pandemic numbers for their programs (2,623 in 2019).

314 permits issued by the Health Department.
Including 10 pools, 53 burial permits and 138 food establishments.

105,567 items checked out of the Amesbury Public Library.
The Library reopened the building to the public while also continuing to provide curbside services.

1,914 building permits issued by Inspectional Services.
This included 205 electrical permits, 36 new construction residential and 13 decks.

3,600 hours of training completed by the Amesbury Police Department.
Full-time APD officers completed annual training which included First Responder/CPR, De-Escalation and Use of Force, Implicit Bias, Responding to Pandemics, Mass Gatherings, Longevity in Law Enforcement, Legal Updates, Domestic Terrorism and responding to Emergencies of those with a Mental Illness are to name a few.

1,212 medical calls responded to by Amesbury Fire Rescue.
They also responded to 31 fires, 89 car accidents, and over 1,000 inspections.