Why is it when Amherst negotiates with Umass it’s always a three-steps forward and two steps back scenario? At first the $425,000 in annual payments for Fire protection sound pretty good…but then read the fine print.
Umass takes credit for the $100,000 state Payment in Lieu of Taxes we get anyway so now we’re down to $325,000; and they were also paying $181,000 anyway for ambulance/fire service, so now we’re down to $144,000; and Umass got the town to donate wastewater that would have cost them $37,800 this year so now we’re down to about $100,000.
Amherst educates 50 or 60 children of Graduate students living in tax-exempt housing at an annual cost exceeding $500,000. The Campus Center Hotel has refused to pay the local 4% sales tax that everybody else including the Lord Jeff Inn (owned by tax exempt Amherst College) has paid since 1995. Next year that would generate over $50,000 to the town, IF Umass paid it.
And Umass recently purchased and leveled “Frat Row” on the entryway to the campus, thus taking $5 million worth of property off the tax rolls. Thus denying Amherst the $60,000 paid last year by those properties.
And I would guess at least the same 18% of the Police budget goes to Umass related events, as does 18% of the Fire/Ambulance Budget. So with a $3.6 million Police budget in FY07 Umass share would be well over the $450,000 cost of Fire protection.
Since Town Meeting axed two police officers this year to save $80,000, perhaps that extra $100,000 Umass money from heaven could be used to reinstate those officers?
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