22 Snell StreetSo that whooshing sound you hear and the glare reflecting off bright white siding is the look and sound of local tax dollars evaporating.
Yes Amherst College, the #1 landowner in town, is taking yet more property off the tax rolls. Last year they paid Amherst $330,000 (or about the tuition of 6 0r 7 students out of 1,648) mostly due to 44 houses they own and rent to professors, thus making them the largest single taxpayer in town (they also pay taxes on the Lord Jeff Inn and, unlike the town's Cherry Hill Golf Course, their more successful Amherst Golf Course.)
However, they recently purchased the Fiber Arts Building in town center for $2.3 million--but since it was only valued at $1 million the loss of tax revenue is $16,000. And with these two houses now going off the tax rolls that will be an additional drain of $15,500.
Not to mention they are using them for commercial office space which if owned by a private individual doing that extensive expensive amount of renovation work could almost double the valuation. And if Barry Roberts can’t lease the business space they are abandoning in the downtown, he can always request abatement from the assessor.
Yeah I know, Amherst College “donated” $100,000 last year to the town. Yippee. That does not even cover the $120,000 in fire and ambulance costs the taxpayers incurred servicing them.
Meanwhile the Lord Jeff Inn sits forlornly like blight on the downtown because Amherst College nixed/postponed the renovation project. That too cost Amherst tax money because--unlike the Umass Campus Center Hotel--the historic Lord Jeff did collect the 4% local hotel/motel tax and last year that amounted to $40,000 (plus the state is talking about raising it to 6% to help out local communities.)
So come on President Marx, I know the endowment took a hit and decreased to only $1 billion. But with Amherst public schools implementing devastating cuts, our award winning public safety departments stretched to the breaking point and state aid drying up like the War Memorial Pool, it’s time to for Amherst College to step up.
14 Hitchcock StreetThe Bully Reports:
Fiber Arts Building dead in downtown centerDeadbeat Umass Hotel
Amherst College is expanding office space into the residential neighborhood near Alumni Gymnasium and Pratt Field where it owns housing stock. The homes are renovated and to accommodate office space. That's money locally spent on construction projects. And its also not Amherst College further expanding into the town center. I would say it's a thoughtful and considerate expansion plan.
ReplyDeleteWhen the property was a home, it paid real estate taxes. When it's office space for academic or administrative purposes it doesn't. There is nothing nefarious about this - it is allowed under the tax law of the US, Commonwealth and Town of Amherst. Aren't you a law and order guy?
Do you have any idea what the size of the Amherst payroll is and what percentage of it is spent in the valley?
Yeah, actually I do: they pay less than Umass (only #2 in property ownership in Amherst) so AC's somewhat-poor Professors can wine-and-dine less than their UMass public counterparts.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think Umass has to STEP UP as well (especially closing the loophole that allows the Campus Center Hotel to avoid the 4% local hotel/motel tax that a commission headed by Stan Rosenberg five or so years ago concluded would generate $70,000 badly needed dollars for Amherst--way more now especially since it may go to 6%)
And I also could not help but notice that the contractors on these projects (as well as the landscape work on the Dickinson Homestead) were NOT Amherst small businesses.
ReplyDeleteLARRY EXCELLENT POINT ON THE USE OF NON-LOCAL CONTRACTORS.....GOOD PIECE TODAY
ReplyDeleteTHANKS
No problem. My life is but to serve (although my wife would accept it better if I were paid.)
ReplyDeleteFunny, I saw a Whirlwind Design vehicle (and sign) at the Dickinson homestead and Steve Prothers of Amherst Landscaping (along with vehicle) watering plantings on the property on Snell St. just last week. Are they not local contractors?
ReplyDeleteGee, I guess you are more sagacious than I.
ReplyDeleteHave not been by Miss Emily's since they whacked all those trees; and that contractor was from Hamp.
Larry, the difference between Amherst College and UMass is that Amherst College is tax exempt -- UMass is a separate TOWN under mass law. So unless you are going to go start taxing Hadley, you can't touch UMass.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you are going to try to go after UMass, why not also go after the Amherst Housing Authority???
UMass is not it's own Town under Mass Law. If it were it would be entitled to all the benefits and obligations Municipalities are subjected to. There would be no need for the wavier of the Hotel and meals tax on campus because UMass would receive those funds not Amherst or Hadley. The University would be able to run its own primary school system with support from the state. No need for this messy Marks Meadow issue. And the best thing would be that the students would be able to vote for the Mayor/Select Board of their Municipality. The UMass facality would just be municiple employees providing services to the residents.
ReplyDeleteAnd they would have create/fund their own many-million dollar Fire Department
ReplyDelete