Stockbridge — After months of fierce discussion and debate, Board of Selectman Chairman Patrick White said that the idea of a Residential Tax Exemption for the town has been dropped by the board.
According to the Department of Revenue, the program was enacted in 1979 as a municipal option under Chapter 59 of the state’s General Law. If enacted by a municipality, the RTE “shifts the tax burden within the residential class from owners of moderately valued residential properties to the owners of vacation homes, higher valued homes, and residential properties not occupied by the owner, including apartments and vacant lands.”
The program is not popular with municipalities, with only 16 communities enacting the program during the 43 years since it was implemented. It also has not been popular with Stockbridge part-time residents, with many of them up in arms about the idea of the town implementing the program.
In an interview with The Berkshire Edge on Thursday, September 15, White said that the idea of the town implementing RTE is dead. “I don’t believe that this town has any support [for the RTE] either among my colleagues or anyone else for us to do this,” White said. “A change like this would require broad support, which this doesn’t have. As far as I’m concerned, this matter is settled.”
White said that other members of the town’s municipal government, including Selectman Jamie Minacci, were not supportive of the idea of the town adopting RTE.
As for the contentious debate concerning the possibility of the RTE, White said, “[D]ebates are a good thing … Debates mean that decision makers are getting to engage with the public.” White elaborated, “More than half of the public in Stockbridge are second homeowners, and they don’t get to vote. The fact that folks championed their strong beliefs, I have no problem with that. I would rather have an engaged electorate, even when that electorate doesn’t always agree with me, instead of an electorate that is apathetic or is not engaged. It’s good for the town to have folks who are involved in the decisions of the municipality, so I don’t hold any ill will towards anyone.”
White added that the town’s annual tax classification hearing has not yet been scheduled, but it is typically held at some point in October.
