Busy night last night around Town Hall. Across the street at the fire station, the Catamount Information meeting drew a crowd of about 30. The first block of 65 units will hopefully be breaking ground this fall. With a new entrance, and down the road an updated lodge, for those who Ski Cat it will be a boon. The project will also be hiring local throughout construction and operations, so a benefit economically to both Hillsdale and ourselves going forward. While change is anxiety provoking, Catamount is making every effort to engage and inform The Finance Committee opened up its discussion on whether to recommend the CPA. Their concerns are both philosophical – it is a tax, and that seemed to be reason enough for rejection. But also practical - will it put pressure on our town’s infrastructure to implement this program? And is that pressure worth the money? Of course we are asking for the least amount possible, 1%, so the annual collection would be quite small (around 24k our share) compared to Stockbridge, or Williamstown who went for 3% several years ago and have now collected in the hundreds of thousands, and who were referenced in the dialogue last night. To my ears a somewhat apples to oranges comparison as the monies we would raise could not begin to engage the complex projects these two towns have undertaken, but all concerns need to be opened and addressed so when we do get into running it, we will have looked in all the corners. Marj and I have been looking into some of the issues of implementation, and will continue to do so. It would appear that the major pressure would be on the assessor’s office, however we do already have in place the computer programs needed to implement it, and state systems to offer support. Oversight of programs was mentioned. Certainly, as we lay out the details of the bylaw, it is good to keep in mind developing a process of application and follow through. It was a really good opener and the FC will be attending the Information meeting on April 12th, Saturday, 10am at the No. Fire Station. I encourage all to do so. A representative from Boston will be there to answer questions, as well as two members of the Stockbridge CPA to answer all our questions. Please park in front of town hall and walk over. .
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:07:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015