Amherst's BIG 3

31 Spring Street, Amherst

Two weeks ago the Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals approved the conversion of 31 Spring Street to a two family abode, thereby doubling its legal occupancy. The house, contiguous with the newly renovated Lord Jeff Inn, is owned by Amherst College, the largest landowner in town.

The President's House, home to Biddy Martin, is tax exempt

Last year Amherst College, a tax-exempt education institution, paid the town $491,364 for the small part of their vast empire that is on the tax rolls: 31 single family, 5 two-family and 3 three-family houses, the profitable (unlike the town's own Cherry Hill) Amherst Golf Course on South Pleasant Street, the Dakin Property (purchased for $4.3 million in 2005) contiguous with the golf course and the scenic overlook at 69 South Pleasant Street.

In addition last year the college donated $90,000 in unrestricted funds to the town General Fund mainly for emergency services protection provided by Amherst Fire Department.

Although a couple years earlier, before the endowment took a major hit, Amherst College had donated $120,000 to the town they are named after.

Those donations have traditionally (if you call three or four years a tradition) taken place at the start of the New Year.  This past January/February, however, no announcements were forthcoming.  Odd, since their endowment is now comfortably at a historic all time high, $1.64 BILLION.

Meanwhile the "5 year strategic agreement" with UMass/Amherst expires next month.  That Payment In Lieu Of Taxes generated $325,000 per year (plus the regular $100,000 the state always gives Amherst for all state owned land in the town). Umass is the second largest landowner in Amherst--all of it tax exempt except for the Campus Center Hotel that, grudgingly, pays the local option hotel/motel meals tax.

Of course the closing and return of Mark's Meadow Elementary School to the University is a major change.

Former Mark's Meadow Elementary School

According to the expiring 5-year Town/Gown "strategic agreement":

“If, in the future, the Town builds a new elementary school and vacates the Mark’s Meadow facility, the Town, AES, ARPS and the University will negotiate a new agreement in which the University may reimburse the Town for a portion of the net costs of educating students living in University tax-exempt housing. "

Estimates of the number of children attending Amherst Public Schools from our tax exempt flagship University are somewhere between 50 and 60 (two of them Chancellor Holub's children), with our current average cost to educate at $16,413 per student, significantly over the $13,055 state average.

In other words, the $1 million it costs us to educate children coming from UMass tax exempt housing is more than double the amount they currently pay the town.

Last week Amherst Town Meeting approved an Elementary School Budget $218,000 in the red, which had to be made up by tapping reserves, currently around $6 million, but less than 10% of general fund operating revenues. 

The Fire Department also spends about 25% of its time dealing with University related emergencies; and with the AFD budget at $4 million, that too comes to a cool $1 million annually. Recently the firefighers union called upon the town and Umass to consider as part of the negotiations enough (extra) money to fund the addition of two new additional firefighter positions.

Considering the stress placed on AFD just from recent Mullins Center concerts (run by a for profit company cloaked under a tax exempt entity) a reasonable request.

Last night Amherst Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved the town operating budget (police/fire/DPW etc) without a single mention of negotiations with UMass, a guaranteed six digit amount for the FY13 budget.  And no questions concerning the supposedly imminent deal with Blue Wave Capital for placing a $10 million solar farm on the old landfill, thus generating six-digit savings in electric costs on top of $200,000 in annual property taxes.

And then we have the runt of the litter, Hampshire College, who pays the town zero in Payment in Lieu of Taxes and a grand total of $61,613 in property taxes for a few houses and the Bay Road Tennis Club.  Yet expensive trips to Hampshire College are as routine as rain for the Amherst Fire Department.

Black Walnuts near Hampshire College main entrance.  College gave the state a bike lane easement to save trees, but charged the town $200,000 in paving for an easement for Atkins Corner Project

All in all tax exempts own just over half of Amherst, meaning the other half--homeowners and to a minuscule extent, businesses--have to make up that dramatic imbalance. And on top of that we have the most expensive average school costs in the region at $16,413 per pupil, spending a whopping $12 million more per year than our sister city Northampton.

But town officials still act like beggars, pleading with our tax exempt institutes of higher education to "spare a dime." It's time to get serious...and ask (nicely) for real money.

Welcome Back AFD 3

 

From left: Chief Tim Nelson, Earl Bonett ESGR, Reed Frailey, Thomas Messer and William Messer

Amherst Fire Department can now stow the service flag flying under the American flag at AFD Central Station, with three blue stars representing a trio of their own--or I should say "our own"--who were serving in a far off dangerous place, Afghanistan. 

Considering just over 1800 of their comrades returned home to friends, family and loved ones in coffins covered by an American flag, today was indeed a glorious day to celebrate.

Chief Tim Nelson was surprised to receive an plaque from Employer Support of the Guard Reserve  for unwavering support of the men under his charge, which he instantly deflected to include the entire department and all the town officials who continued to show their support by attending today's ceremony.

The ceremony also included swearing in a new front line firefighter (but not a new position), Adam Cormier.  Mike Roy had been acting as both firefighter and fire prevention officer but will now do fire prevention full-time, and will no doubt work closely with the town's other newest employee, building inspector/code enforcement officer Jon Thompson.

Adam Cormier sworn in by Town Clerk Sandra Burgess. Town Manger John Musante (conservative red tie) looks on

Fire in the Hole

Another dumpster fire at Hobart Lane late last night, an almost weekly event over this past year.  And it happened right around the same time AFD was responding to an attempted suicide in another part of town.  Just one of the many reasons dumpster fires are not taken lightly by authorities, as they tie up valuable resources with more important things to do.

Last January police arrested a Umass student for the idiotic activity, but the fires persist.

Shutesbury Shenanigans

 Shutesbury Town Hall

The reverberations over the contentious Shutesbury Library override issue, recently settled by Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup who upheld the defeat, continued to be felt today...like a seismic aftershock.

Amazingly--with the ink barely dry on a Superior Court decision--the rights of long time residents Richard and Joan Paczkowski were again challenged by disgruntled library supporters Michael DeChiara and Joanne Sunshower.

Library proponents filed suit to have Richard and Joan Paczkowski's "no" votes thrown out.   Judge Rup not only sustained those two votes but she went even further by throwing out two "yes" votes from the grown children of local attorney Michael Pill--making the final vote 522-520.

In her decision Judge Rup wrote: "Like many retired persons, the Paczkowskis maintain two residences and divide their time between the two locations. While they may have focused their lives in Florida for over 20 years, it is reasonable to accept that they have now decided to re-focus their lives on the community where Richard was raised and they began their married life."

DeChiara and Sunshower should be reprimanded for "contempt of court" over their heavy handed tactics to bully and intimidate voters with whom they disagree.

Election Results

Shutesbury Town Meeting Warrant (all articles passed)

Rescue the Rescuers

 Cooley Dickinson Hospital ER

Overwhelming police presence and a rare temporary increase in staffing at AFD managed to keep a lid on the routine end-of-semester party itch combined with sunny spring weather, and a dance concert at the Mullins Center Saturday night of the same genre that the week before produced 24 calls for help with 14 of those requiring ambulance runs to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital for drug or alcohol overdose.

This time the concert produced "only" 14 calls for help with four requiring emergency transport by AFD and one additional alcohol overdose handled by privately contracted Westfield Fire Department ambulance. A good thing since the ER at Cooley Dickinson was busy enough as it was and ten more OD cases could have overwhelmed the system.

Interestingly, with as many as 17 firefighter/EMT professionals on duty Saturday (more than twice the usual), the emergency traffic was such that all the extra help was kept busy. Perhaps why Northampton, our sister city to the west, has roughly that number of firefighter/EMTs assigned all of the time.

Northampton maintains a ration of 2.1 firefighters per 1,000 population vs. Amherst with only 1.1 firefighters per thousand.

On Wednesday night Town Manager John Musante seemed to indicate to Amherst Town Meeting that (after almost ten years) Amherst may increase the current dangerously low minimum AFD staffing level of seven.  About time.

And reducing time--getting to the patient, then getting them to the hospital--is what it's all about .

Guess who's coming to Amherst?

Donna Kelley, Ted Koppel and lots of newspapers

So my wife had the good fortune of sharing an airplane from Washington, DC to Bradley Airport this evening with none other than the iconic dean of mainstream journalism, Ted Koppel.

Mr. Koppel is keynote speaker at UMass Undergraduate Commencement ceremonies on May 11, but he and his wife are vacationing in our neck of the woods for the next week.

My friends at the Springfield Republican snag an exclusive interview

Judge agrees: No it is!

M.N. Spear Library, Shutesbury

After hearing two hours of testimony on Monday, April 23 from both sides of the contentious Shutesbury Library Override debate , Judge Mary-Lou Rup decided in favor of the two challenged no votes but threw out two yes votes thus changing the original January 10 tie vote to 522-520, meaning the $3.5 million renovation Override failure is upheld.

"Friends of the Library" filed suit to have two "No" votes voided, those of Richard and Joan Paczkowski, who winter in Florida but spend nine months annually in Shutesbury in a home they have owned there for thirty five years.

Attorney Alan Seewald represented the NO side, and he argued that if the Paczkowski's votes are ruled out then the judge should also throw out Jessica Buck (wife of Chris Buck, who already had his vote ruled out by the Board of Registrars on January 25 because he signed a legal document in Kentucky a month before the Shutesbury vote giving up his right to vote anywhere else) and attorney Michael Pill's grown children Shoshana Holzberg-Pill  and Jacob Holzberg-Pill who live and reside in New York and California respectively.

The Judge's decision to uphold Richard and Joan Paczkowski's right to vote in their hometown combined with agreeing with Attorney Seewald's argument for nixing the yes votes of Shoshana Holzberg-Pill  and Jacob Holzberg-Pill brings the final vote tally to 522-520.

Judge Rup's Decision