But on Friday, less than six months later, Romney vetoed $5.7 million in state aid meant to help Peabody prevent such flooding in the future. The move stunned city officials, who called Romney's actions politically motivated.

"I'm pretty upset about this and I think the people of Peabody should be, too," state Sen. Fred Berry, D-Peabody, said yesterday. "I don't know how we can trust a governor who plays politics with people's lives."

City and state officials had hoped to use the money — part of a $724 million supplemental budget approved by the Legislature earlier this month — to secure a $22 million federal grant to implement an ambitious flood-control plan. But without state money, the city is unlikely to receive federal help, city officials said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency uses the state's commitment to gauge whether U.S. dollars are warranted.

"It's an opportunity to leverage federal dollars because of the publicity," Rep. Theodore Speliotis said. "We don't want to lose the momentum on this."

No one in the governor's office could be reached for comment over the weekend. On Friday, Romney said he made many of the aid cuts because he was unable to get sufficient information on projects in time for a decision.

"You would think that with matters of this scale at hand, there would be a line outside our door weeks before this legislation reached our desk with people explaining the project," Romney said. "But we literally sit down with a bill saying, 'Does anyone know what this is?'"

Berry said he discussed the issue with Eric Kriss, Romney's secretary of administrations and finance, and other administration officials, and sent photographs of flood damage and other documentation to the governor's office. And Mayor Mike Bonfanti said he had tried to discuss the issue with the governor's staff, but had not received calls back.

"I have personally on a couple of occasions called the administration's office," Bonfanti said. "In keeping with Romney's communication skills, they never got back to us."

Berry said he had worked with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, a state agency controlled by Romney.

"The MEMA people were delighted the we put the money in there because it gives them a leg up," Berry said. "It was all their idea, and that's what's so disturbing about this governor's comments. It was his administration."

The agency has been involved in the issue since April, when Romney declared a state of emergency after a storm dumped eight inches of rain in 24 hours. The resulting flood turned streets into rivers deep enough to drive a boat in, left cars completely submerged, and did hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to homes and businesses.

Peabody Square sits below sea level at the confluence of three rivers. Photographs dating back to the turn of the last century show the square under water. With increasing development, flooding has become more common in recent years, with four 100-year floods — that is, floods of a magnitude expected once in a century — hitting in the past decade.

City officials have been working on ways to mitigate the problem for years. Last April's storm moved the issue off the back burner. Public services director Richard Carnevale said at the time that a complete solution to the problem — which would require widening the North River in Salem and diverting other brooks — would cost $45 million. Bonfanti said the more than $25 million requested in state and federal aid would have gone a long way toward reducing the frequency and severity of the floods.

Bonfanti said he hoped Romney would reconsider his decision.

"This is important to the city of Peabody," Bonfanti said.

But Bonfanti said he suspected the governor of playing election-year politics. Both Speliotis and Rep. Joyce Spiliotis are facing Republican challengers in November.

"What I'm looking at is political agenda on the part of the Romney administration," Bonfanti said, "and the people of Peabody will be the ones to suffer."

Not all the news was bad for Peabody. Romney left intact $400,000 in unrestricted aid, which will go into the city's coffers without any strings attached.