Stockbridge — As a founding member of the town’s Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) Committee, Chair Tom Stokes approached the Select Board on November 6 asking for a “candid assessment” on whether the timing was right to move the program forward. He and the other remaining committee member, Jay Bikofsky, have been living with the stalled project—that would offer a method for nonprofit organizations to voluntarily contribute to the town’s expenses—for the past eight years. Those organizations are exempt from paying property taxes.
The PILOT Committee began in 2018 when Stokes was on the Board of Assessors and “has been through various phases,” including being on hold during the pandemic when nonprofit groups were essentially shut down. The program was never quite organized enough to present it to the town until now.
“Now we’re looking at a new opportunity to bring it back,” Stokes told the Select Board.
He said the timing seems to be right as the town is “experiencing real expenses,” citing its new fire house buildout as well as new high school. “It’s a good time to be asking people to chip in when they can,” Stokes said. However, with federal funding cutbacks, the program may prove to be at issue once again, a cause for bringing the program’s future to the dais to weigh in, he said.
The two committee members previously conferred with Town Administrator Michael Canales, who prepared an outline of what moving forward might look like for the program. “The idea of a PILOT Committee is that it provides a framework for the not-for-profit sector to see how they might want to contribute to the town finances,” Stokes said.
The Boston Model of such a program came out on top for the group, he said, with that model built around nonprofit organizations contributing one quarter of what they might otherwise contribute in real estate taxes to the town. Additionally, up to one half of that one quarter can come from in-kind services, such as free admission for the public to educational programs.
Stokes commented on the large local disparity of entities that “give generously and those who don’t give at all,” including one nonprofit organization that pays its share of real estate taxes despite not being obligated to do so. “A program like this provides a guideline that tries to be fair, tries to be understanding, and it also provides some peer pressure for people who are not contributing,” he said. “And, it’s public. It’s transparent. It’s equitable.”
Stokes acknowledged the cultural and tourism benefits the nonprofits bring to Stockbridge as well as what those groups gain from the town like medical services should a patron fall ill. He also noted that research showed other towns lacked interest in creating a PILOT program even when those communities might have possible program members waiting in the wings such as Tanglewood, whose umbrella organization, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is part of Boston’s PILOT program.
“So, in Berkshire County, we would be sort of pioneers on this,” Stokes said. He addressed the Select Board on two options: move forward with the program or delay its start, with the latter meaning a new committee would need to be created to revisit the idea at a more appropriate time.
Bikofsky clarified that the Select Board was not being asked to comment on whether the PILOT program is viable in Stockbridge but rather whether the establishment of a strategic planning committee—including Stokes, Bikofsky, Canales and a Select Board member—would be useful to determine the future of such a project. The purpose of the group would be to determine the parameters of a PILOT program committee that may include hiring a consultant. Those plans would be presented to the Select Board for approval before going to the town as “a reconstituted PILOT effort,” Bikofsky said.
The PILOT budget still has $5,000 remaining in its coffers that could be used to implement such a plan, but additional monies might be needed. As for a timeline, the goal is to gain approval of a PILOT program by early 2026, in time to be presented to the town at its annual meeting in May. Either way, the PILOT program would remain voluntary for nonprofit organizations to join.
Stokes said the bulk of local nonprofit organizations do not donate funds in lieu of required taxes, but Select Board members replied that donations are made to public safety departments such as the police and fire departments even if their monies are not paid directly to the town.
“We’re all invested in Stockbridge,” Stokes said. “We want for Stockbridge to thrive, and we also want our finances to be solid, particularly at a time like now when we’ve just passed a two-and-a-half [percent tax] proposition to help fund for the schools and the mounting expenses we see with the EMT.”
However, Select Board member Jorja Marsden was not convinced that the program should advance now but left the door open for those entities to help with town expenses in an alternative way. “I know it’s hard times for everybody, and [the nonprofit groups] are not getting the funding,” she said. “They give us so much for the town of Stockbridge that I’m not sold on it.”
Canales challenged Stokes and Bikofsky. “Why should the Select Board consider another committee?” he asked. “It sounds like you’re just renaming the PILOT Committee.”
The existing committee has already conducted interviews with some nonprofit organization officials and would need to complete that process, filing a report reflecting their findings with the Select Board before seeking town approval, Stokes said.
Canales will assemble information for the Select Board regarding the research he has done previously and the group’s options, with an eye toward continuing the discussion at the November 20 meeting.
Select Board heads toward terminating Pine Street Park courts lease by mutual agreement
Following concerns raised this summer by Austen Riggs Center Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer Chauncey Collins about the deterioration of the Pine Street Park courts it owns but leases to the town, the Select Board unanimously agreed to authorize Canales to draft an agreement that would terminate its 99-year lease with the psychiatric residential treatment center. The Select Board will be presented with that draft at its November 20 session and anticipates more discussion prior to the final vote on whether to terminate the 1970 lease.
Although center had the option to terminate the lease due to Stockbridge’s failure to comply with the maintenance portion of the agreement, it had continued to negotiate with officials for months toward a resolution. The cost for site repairs had previously been estimated to be around $500,000, and similar facilities are available on Main Street.
In a September 8 email read by Select Board Chair Jamie Minacci, Collins offered $50,000 on behalf of the center to add a court or other recreational amenities at the Main Street site in exchange for the town agreeing to mutually terminate the Pine Street Park lease, waiving a requirement that it restore that property “to its original state” by removing the courts and relocating the existing equipment. The correspondence noted the center may, in the future, have other plans for the park property and gave the dais an ultimatum: either restore and maintain the courts as the lease requires or the lease terminates.
Collins was present during the deliberation that won over Select Board member Ernest “Chuck” Cardillo. “My opinion is, if we’re going to invest [$400,000] or $500,000 in the courts, I would rather do it on town property to begin with,” he said. “We can invest in courts down the road if need be, but at this time, I can’t see the town investing that much money into tennis courts.”
Marsden spoke to the passion residents have for the Pine Street tennis courts because of their quiet location away from the pickleball courts but was ultimately in favor of accepting the center’s offer, applauding the nonprofit’s generosity over the years. She suggested adding a new tennis court on Park Street.
“I do feel empathy for the people that use the Pine Street courts and the quietness and that it’s the nostalgia because it’s been there for a very long time,” Minacci said. “But we haven’t been good tenants.” She referred to the pandemic and the soaring costs of repairing the site as reasons for the delay in maintenance and noted that the estimated repair cost is huge given the town’s looming expenses associated with building a new school and fire station.
Canales said he reviewed the estimated repair costs and found those to be closer to $400,000, “still substantial costs” that roughly translate into about a $25,000 annual payment derived from a 20-year bond. Minacci questioned where that $400,000 repair payment would come from in the town’s budget and noted the expenditure must be approved at a town meeting, leaving the issue still to be resolved months later.
Residents were split on both sides of the issue, with one speaker advocating the town proceed with the proposal so the extra funds could benefit the Main Street courts. Two other citizens pushed to keep the lease in place for the remaining 44-year term, with the town fulfilling its maintenance obligation and providing continued use to visitors, citizens, and students.
