"Eighty-three percent of all parcels in Great Barrington would benefit or be neutral [under the residential exemption]. If you include second homes, that changes to 74 percent.”
--- Finance Committee Chairman Michael Wise
The Town Meeting narrative: Dark doom filled the auditorium like the sky in Harry Potter. I checked my warrant and understood why: we were now entertaining the Finance Committee’s proposed bylaw to receive “regular and special reports and statements” about town and school district finances. The proposed bylaw was the by-product of a Mexican standoff between committee chair Sharon Gregory and the school district over her requests for detailed reports.
Dave Long of Housatonic, an outspoken critic of last year's Monument Mountain Regional High School renovation plan, and now an advocate for a systemic change to address the district’s financial and infrastructure issues, “implored everyone” to vote for the school budget. “If we start ripping apart the fabric of the schools, I think it could be disastrous,” he advised.
Great Barrington — Both the Selectboard and Finance Committee last night (March 25) approved the proposed $10.9 million operating budget and recommended for voter...
“I do have a problem with anyone questioning the validity and accuracy of our numbers. We are meticulous, we have the highest credit rating that is enviable to any town. I strongly object to any incorrect implication about the accuracy of the numbers. We are following what we’re required to do from the Department of Revenue, which is not a private sector business, and we are also offering open books, full transparency.”
-- Great Barrington Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin
It is important “to tell everyone, including the taxpayers, that we have a liability, so they are aware of what the cost of doing business is."
-- Town Accountant/Financial Coordinator Lauren M. Sartori
The original bylaw [defining the responsibilities of the Finance Committee] in the town charter, and adopted in 1974, assigns a budget advisory role to the committee. The new bylaw asks for more from the town and extends the role to the [regional] school district.
“Basically, we’re going after the school budget and the school committee. That [budget] has been bloated for years. [The district] wins every year by packing the [town] meeting. That’s the thing that’s driving expenses."
-- Republican Town Committee member George Beebe
“If you’re looking for public documents that are available, we’ll comply with that in a heartbeat. But some of the information you’re looking for takes 6 to 8 hours of research."
-- Berkshire Hills School Committee Chair Stephen Bannon, responding to Sharon Gregory's demand for a different format of detailed school district financial reports
The auditor recommended an increase in the stabilization fund, which, she said was “a little low,” and creating an OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) trust account to have money put aside for future pension liabilities.
In her letter, Sharon Gregory claims that "strategic resource planning and belt tightening" are preferable to renovation of the high school, and that "programmatic and facilities duplication has not been addressed."
“People are hurting and we need to do something about it, to make our principal source of revenue progressive."
-- Michael Wise, member of the Great Barrington Finance Committee
"Great Barrrington is the only community in Berkshire County with a large business center that does not employ a split tax rate."
--School Committee member Richard Dohoney
“It appears to me that they’ve stacked the numbers to make it look as rebuilding the school or simply repairing it would cost the same."
-- Finance Committee Chairman Sharon Gregory
