To the editor:
Your article, “GB selectboard, finance committee, approve 2022 spending plan with nearly 6 percent rise,” presents an incomplete report of our budget presentation on March 30. Key details about taxpayer impact and projected revenue are entirely missing.
To clarify, we project a property tax increase of just 1.5 percent, or 23 cents per $1,000 of property valuation next year. This is the smallest tax levy increase since 2014 and should be noted.
To achieve this low-impact tax increase, the town will use $3.5 million in free cash, along with revenue from retail cannabis businesses, to offset taxation and reduce future borrowing for capital costs.
Other key spending items will enhance our town’s quality of life and public services. Our FY22 budget will, if approved, upgrade the wastewater treatment plant; improve town parks; pay for a new speed trailer for additional traffic enforcement; and fund long-overdue clean-up costs for the town-owned Ried Cleaners property. Funding for the construction of new public restrooms downtown is also proposed. Another highlight that was overlooked, is that we are proposing significant investments into our Town’s stabilization, or savings, accounts, totaling $400,000.
The town is also investing funds in Police Department community outreach and will provide financial support to the Claire Teague Senior Center’s outreach and transit services for seniors.
Each year there are fixed cost increases over which the town has no control, such as insurance, debt service, retirement contributions, and these must be funded. For everything else, our financial planning involves balancing fiscal caution against key initiatives that protect our town’s quality of life and public services.
We hope future budget stories will provide accurate and full context for readers of The Edge.
Stephen Bannon
Great Barrington
The writer is chair of the Great Barrington Selectboard.
